The Political Activities and Temperament of Dr. Duvalier

Chapter 4: The Political Activities and Temperament of Dr. Duvalier

Political Activities

Immediately after the overthrow of President Élie Lescot on January 11, 1946, Dr. François Duvalier became a member of the National Democratic Party. This political party had been founded and was led by Dr. Jean Price-Mars.

At that time, the people did not yet elect the president. Instead, deputies and senators went to the legislative chamber to choose one. A short time before the election scheduled for August 16, 1946, Dr. Duvalier left Dr. Jean Price-Mars’s political party and became a member of MOP, the Peasant Worker Movement, a political party led by Professor Daniel Fignolé.

At the time, MOP supported Colonel Démosthènes Pétrus Calixte as its presidential candidate. Colonel Calixte had been trained by the Americans and became the first commander of the Garde d’Haïti when the Americans ended their first occupation of the country on August 1, 1934.

Before the election scheduled for August 16, 1946, it was clear that Dumarsais Estimé would be elected president. Fignolé and Dr. Duvalier were strongly opposed to Estimé. They planned to set fires in several places in Port-au-Prince at midnight on the eve of the election, thereby placing pressure on the parliamentarians to elect Démosthènes Pétrus Calixte president of Haiti.

Because Dumarsais Estimé won the election and became president, he appointed Daniel Fignolé minister of national education and Dr. François Duvalier director general of public health soon after taking office.

Only two months later, on the evening of October 20, 1946, Fignolé went on the radio and publicly denounced the position taken by Minister of Commerce Dr. Georges Rigaud. He alleged that Dr. Rigaud was conspiring to overthrow the Estimé government and seize power with a group of fellow mulattoes. Fignolé also used the occasion to denounce Senator Louis Déjoie and Senator Max Hudicourt.

Fignolé’s major declarations on the radio caused such a serious crisis for the government that President Estimé forced him to resign. As MOP’s secretary general, Duvalier followed Fignolé out of solidarity with the party and resigned from the Estimé government on November 9.

Two days later, on November 11, 1946, Fignolé accused Duvalier of lacking the qualifications to serve as secretary general of a political party such as MOP. Duvalier immediately left MOP. From that time forward, Duvalier and Fignolé remained enemies until their deaths.

Duvalier then returned to Estimé and remained in his government until the Haitian Army overthrew Estimé in a coup on May 10, 1950. From 1954 through 1956, Duvalier opposed the Magloire government and was forced to go underground and into hiding.

Duvalier’s Temperament

To conclude this chapter, let us briefly examine Dr. Duvalier’s temperament. People who knew him well said that he displayed two temperaments. He was like two different people, one bearing no resemblance to the other. He showed one temperament before becoming president and a completely different one afterward.

According to these people, before becoming president, Dr. Duvalier was an intellectual and a professional physician. He was a simple, unassuming, honest man, full of kindness and courtesy. He always wore large glasses. He commonly dressed in a black suit, black shoes, a black felt hat, and a white shirt. Instead of a necktie, he always wore a brezo, a bow tie, fastened securely at his collar.

He had served as a minister under Estimé, and when Estimé fell, Duvalier left office with clean hands. No one found that he had stolen even five cents of public money.

After Duvalier became president, however, those who had known him well said that they could no longer recognize him because he had changed completely. He had become another person, prepared to do anything, prepared to cut and tear apart. He would retreat before nothing if it meant holding on to power.