Sténio Joseph Vincent (February 22, 1874 – September 3, 1959) was President of Haiti from November 18, 1930 to May 15, 1941.

Biography

Sténio Vincent was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. His parents were Benjamin Vincent and Iramène Brea, who belonged to the mulatto elite.

Presidency

In October 1930, while still under

occupation Occupation commonly refers to: *Occupation (human activity), or job, one's role in society, often a regular activity performed for payment *Occupation (protest), political demonstration by holding public or symbolic spaces *Military occupation, th ...

by the United States, Haitians elected representatives to the national assembly for the first time since 1918. It elected Vincent as President of Haiti. He had graduated from law school at age 18 before ascending to head of Haiti's Chamber of Deputies by 1915.HAITI: Five More Years for Stenio – TIME Magazine
/ref> He ran a nationalist campaign for the presidency based on his fierce opposition to the

United States occupation of Haiti The United States occupation of Haiti began on July 28, 1915, when 330 U.S. Marines landed at Port-au-Prince, Haiti, after the National City Bank of New York convinced the President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, to take control of ...

. From 1915 to 1934 Haiti was occupied by U.S. Marines; the United States had intervened after the murder of a president. In August 1934 U.S. President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

withdrew the Marines; however, the United States maintained direct fiscal control until 1941 and indirect control over Haiti until 1947. In 1935, Vincent conducted a plebiscite about extending his term in office, receiving a favorable vote to extend it to 1941. The plebiscite also approved an amendment to the constitution so that future presidents would be elected by popular vote. In 1936, the

Haitian Communist Party The Haitian Communist Party (french: Parti Communiste Haïtien; ht, Pati Kominis Ayisyen) was a political party in Haiti, founded in 1934 by Jacques Roumain. Roumain was the general secretary of the party. Roumain was an initiator of the Haitian ...

was disbanded by Vincent. In October 1937 troops and police from the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

massacred thousands of Haitian labourers living near the border in the

Parsley Massacre The Parsley massacre (Spanish: ''el corte'' "the cutting"; Creole: ''kout kouto-a'' "the stabbing") (french: Massacre du Persil; es, Masacre del Perejil; ht, Masak nan Pèsil) was a mass killing of Haitians living in the Dominican Republic's nor ...

. Vincent had enjoyed a cooperative relationship with and financial support from the government of Dominican President Rafael Trujillo. After two years of relative quiet in Port-au-Prince, Vincent's failure to press for justice for the slain workers prompted protests in the capital. He took the case to the Dominican government, which agreed in 1938 to compensate the slain workers’ relatives the following year. In 1941, Vincent declared his intention to step down. The presidency was peacefully transitioned to his successor,

Élie Lescot Antoine Louis Léocardie Élie Lescot (December 9, 1883 – October 20, 1974) was the President of Haiti from May 15, 1941 to January 11, 1946. He was a member of the country's mixed-race elite. He used the political climate of World War II to s ...

References

* Smith, Matthew J.
Red & Black in Haiti: Radicalism, Conflict, and Political Change, 1934–1957
'' Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2009. {{DEFAULTSORT:Vincent, Stenio Presidents of Haiti 1874 births 1959 deaths Government ministers of Haiti Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Haiti) Haitian people of Mulatto descent People from Port-au-Prince 1930s in Haiti 1940s in Haiti 20th-century Haitian politicians