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American Marines in Haiti, 1915-1922

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Walter H. Posner*
Affiliation:
San Diego State College, San Diego, California

Extract

The landing of marines in Haiti on July 28, 1915, was the climax to more than a century of political, financial, and diplomatic problems on that unhappy island. The Haitians had not been prepared for the hard-fought independence proclaimed on January 1, 1804. In the intervening years, they had been theoretically governed under fourteen constitutions. Only two of their twenty-six chief executives had managed to serve a regular constitutional term of office and then retire alive. Indeed, the occuption forces landed when an enraged mob was cutting President J. V. Guillaume Sam into pieces.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1964

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