François C. Antoine Simon (a.k.a. Antoine Simon) (; October 10, 1843 – March 10, 1923) was

President of Haiti The president of Haiti (, ), officially called the president of the Republic of Haiti (, , ), is the head of state of Haiti. Executive power in Haiti is divided between the president and the government, which is headed by the prime minister of ...

from 6 December 1908 to 2 August 1911.John Carlos Rowe, ''Literary culture and U.S. imperialism: from the Revolution to World War II'' (Oxford University Press US, 2000), page 274) He led a rebellion against Pierre Nord Alexis and succeeded him as president.

Biography

Francois C. Antoine Simon was born on 10 October 1843 in Les Cayes, Haiti, and died either on 10 January or 10 March 1923 in Les Cayes. He was originally from the town of Savane near Les Cayes and initially worked as a municipal police officer before joining the army as an officer. In 1883 he was appointed commander of the troops in

Sud Sud or SUD may refer to: Places * Sud (Chamber of Deputies of Luxembourg constituency), a constituency in Luxembourg * Sud (department), an administrative subdivision of Haiti * Sud Department (Ivory Coast), defunct administrative subdivision of ...

, a post he held until 1908. During his military career, he was promoted to colonel in 1887. Between 1896 and 1902, He was aide-de-camp of the President Tirésias Simon Sam and was later promoted to general. It was as a general that he led a military revolt against President Pierre Nord Alexis.

Presidency 1908–1911

On 6 December 1908, he was appointed successor to President Alexis. Although he had little formal education himself, he assembled an advisory group consisting of influential men. On 19 December 1908 he announced his six-member cabinet and took the oath of office before Senator Paulin. One of his first policy decisions was to pursue an appeasement policy allowing exiled Haitians to return. This set the stage for some stability during the early years of his mandate. President Simon strove constantly to improve agricultural production. He also had the intention of building a nationwide railway network. To accomplish this required several contracts with American companies, including the so-called "MacDonald Contract" – a contract to build a railway line between

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( ; ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Haiti, most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 1,200,000 in 2022 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The me ...

and

Cap-Haïtien Cap-Haïtien (; ; "Haitian Cape") is a List of communes of Haiti, commune of about 400,000 people on the north coast of Haiti and capital of the Departments of Haiti, department of Nord (Haitian department), Nord. Previously named ''Cap‑Fran� ...

. Embedded in these negotiations was the cultivation and export of sugar and bananas by the Haitian American Sugar Company. However, these contracts were poorly prepared, leading to criticism from intellectuals and politicians alike. On the other hand, the contracts led directly to the paving of streets and electrification of Port-au-Prince. As a result of the modern roads, there was an increase in the presence of cars in Haiti. To satisfy American banana plantations, Haitian companies were taxed, resulting in unrest by small landowners who ultimately paid the price. Small farmers in the north (Cacos) then began to revolt in June 1911. General Cincinnatus Leconte, a former Minister of Public Works and Agriculture under Simon Sam, took advantage of the situation to lead a ''

coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...

'' against Simon. Leconte's initial campaign failed, but a subsequent attempt in August 1911 succeeded in the capture of Port-au-Prince. Simon was ousted from power by supporters of Leconte, who was his successor as President. Simon went into exile for several years, but returned to Haiti where he died in Les Cayes. In ''Tell My Horse'',

Zora Neale Hurston Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891 – January 28, 1960) was an American writer, anthropologist, folklorist, and documentary filmmaker. She portrayed racial struggles in the early-20th-century American South and published research on Hoodoo ...

recounts the elaborate Catholic funeral Simon gave to his pet goat Simalo upon the goat's death.

Family

His ancestors are Pierre Baptiste Simon, Toussaint Louverture. One of President A. Simon’s daughter Anézulia Simon married Sergeant Lubencius Lubin whose children are: Antoine Lubin, Thérese Lubin, Darius Lubin, Alexandre Lubin, Damien Lubin, Claire Lubin; Ulysses Ilemond Simon, Dominique Bienvil Simon and Celestina was a voodoo priestess, Antoine Simon Jeune (Antoinier) whose children with his wife Sanite Augustin are: Max, Alex, Amede, Cecile. A grandson named Charite Simon, and his great-grandchildren Romane Antoine Simon, James Simon, Sintilma Simon,Kettelie Simon, Fred Simon, Franck Simon, Esther Simon, Sylvie Simon, Emmanuella Simon, Cherlin Simon. He also had 2 great-great-grandsons named Marcel Simon and Sean Valere

References

External links

Biography in rulers.org

Haitian Presidents

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20100811000946/http://www.haitianmedia.com/index.php/99 Biography in Haitianmedia* Fearon, James D./ Laitin, David D.
''Haiti''
, Stanford University, 2006 (PDF-Datei; 259 kB)

Library Of Congress, 1989

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simon, Francois C. Presidents of Haiti 1843 births 1923 deaths 1900s in Haiti 1910s in Haiti 20th-century Haitian politicians