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The Withdrawal of the United States from Haiti, 1928-1934

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 January 2018

Donald B. Cooper
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Extract

The United States occupation of Haiti — despite benevolent intentions — was a thinly-disguised military dictatorship. The official view of the Department of State that the numerous U. S. officials there were merely advisers to the legitimate Haitian government, acting in accordance with limitations prescribed by treaty, was a polite fiction. It deceived no one, particularly the large number of Haitians who resented foreign experiments in benevolent despotism in their land.

The real ruler of Haiti, as the system had evolved by the pivotal year of 1928 — the last “normal” year before the political crisis which precipitated withdrawal — was General John H. Russell, United States Marine Corps, the U. S. High Commissioner. The nominal ruler, President Louis Borno, generally relied upon his U. S. advisers. In Russell's own words “[Borno] has never taken a step without first consulting me.” When differences arose, usually as a result of pressures exerted on Borno by local politicians, General Russell was free to make appropriate concessions. But his will prevailed in any showdown conflict. The General was noted for his fairness, however, and his relations with Haitian officials were usually harmonious. Yet his military background, combined with his devotion to efficiency and economy, was not well-suited to preparing a dependent people for enlightened self-rule.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Inter-American Studies , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , January 1963 , pp. 83 - 101
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 1963

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References

1 Decimal files, Department of State, Washington, 838.00/2692, John H. Russell to Henry L. Stimson, December 19, 1929.

2 The Nation, “On Watch in Haiti,” Vol. 129, No. 3359 (November 20, 1929), 574.

3 Buell, Raymond L., “The American Occupation of Haiti,” Foreign Policy Association Information Service, Vol. V, Nos. 19 and 20 (November 27-December 12, 1929), 356 Google Scholar; Gruening, Ernest, “The Issue in Haiti,” Foreign Affairs, Vol. XI, No. 2 (January, 1933), 282–283.Google Scholar

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5 Buell, loc. cit., p. 386.

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7 Toynbee, Arnold J., ed., Survey of International Affairs, 1930 (London, 1931), pp. 410–411.Google Scholar Hereinafter cited as Survey.

8 Constantin Mayard, “Haiti et le Principe de Non-intervention de rAmérique,” Séances et Travaux, Académie Diplomatique Internationale, 9th Année, Nos. 3-4 (Sommaire, 1935), p. 62.

9 U. S., Department of State, Fourth Annual Report of the American High Commissioner at Port-au-Prince, Haiti; 1925 (Washington, 1926), p. 3. Hereinafter cited as Annual Report.

10 Buell, “Mexico, the Caribbean and Tacna-Arica,” Information Service, Vol. III, No. 23 (January 20, 1928), 364.Google Scholar

11 U. S., Congressional Record, 69th Cong., 2d. Sess., 1927, LXVIII, Part 3, 2702.

12 U. S., Department of State, Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States (Washington, D.C., 1861: ), 1928, I, 573. Hereinafter cited as Foreign Relations.

13 Survey, 1927, p. 425.

14 Ibid., p. 413.

15 Quoted in Millspaugh, “Haiti Under American Control,” Current History, Vol. XXXI, No. 5 (February, 1930), 920.

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19 Howland, Charles P., ed., Survey of American Foreign Relations, 1929 (New Haven, 1929), pp. 147–148 Google Scholar; The Nation, “Poor Haiti!” Vol. 125, No. 3237 (July 20, 1927), 51.

20 Howland, p. 147.

21 The Nation, “The Press in Haiti,” Vol. 125, No. 3241 (August 17, 1927), 166.

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29 The Nation, “On Watch in Haiti,” Vol. 129, No. 3359 (November 20, 1929), 573.

30 Foreign Relations, 1929, III, 166-169.

31 Joseph Jolibois made an identical tour. He followed behind Hoover a day or so and at each stop roundly condemned the occupation. Jolibois, “A Letter to Mr. Hoover,” The Nation, Vol. 128, No. 3317 (January 30, 1929), 145.

32 Quoted in DeConde, Alexander, Herbert Hoover's Latin-American Policy (Stanford, California, 1951), pp. 79, 86.Google Scholar

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36 Ibid., 187-191.

37 L. J. de Bekker, “The Massacre at Aux Cayes,” The Nation, Vol. 130, No. 3375 (March 12, 1930), 308.

38 The Nation, Vol. 129, No. 3364 (December 13, 1929), 764.

39 Manchester Guardian, December 9, 1929, p. 13.

40 Foreign Relations, 1929, III, 195.

41 de Bekker, 308.

42 The Nation, Vol. 130, No. 3386 (May 28, 1930), 612.

43 Ludwell L. Montague, Haiti and the United States, 1714-1938 (Durham, North Carolina, 1940), p. 270, n. 23.

44 Decimal Files, Department of State, Washington, 838.00, Commission of Investigation, Personnel 1/17, Telegram from Russell to Stimson, December 30, 1929.

45 Ibid., 838.00/B64/14, Telegram from Russell to Stimson, December 8, 1929.

46 U. S., Department of State, Report of the President's Commission for the Study and Review of Conditions in the Republic of Haiti. Latin American Series, No. 2 (Washington, 1930), pp. 4-6.

47 Foreign Relations, 1930, III, 224.

48 Ibid., 227, 236-237.

49 Ibid., 250-251.

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52 Ibid., 257.

53 Ibid., 1931, II, 424.

54 Bf.uell], “The Evaluation of Haiti,” News Bulletin, Vol. X, No. 45 (September 11, 1931, [p. 2].

55 Foreign Relations, 1932, V, 678-679; The Nation, “Bonds that Bind Haiti,” Vol. 135, No. 3507 (September 21, 1932), 243. Buell, “Haiti's Efforts Toward Liberation,” Foreign Policy Bulletin, Vol. XI, No. 46 (September 16, 1932), [pp. 1-2]. The News Bulletin of the Foreign Policy Association became the Foreign Policy Bulletin beginning with Vol. XI, No. 1 (November 6, 1931).

56 Quoted in Gruening, “The Issue in Haiti,” p. 287.

57 Quoted in Ibid., pp. 287-288.

58 Survey, 1933, p. 358.

59 Foreign Relations, 1933, V, 741.

60 New York Times, August 8, 1933, p. 1.

61 Foreign Relations, V, 1933, 753.

62 Montague, p. 275; New York Times, August 8, 1933, pp. 1-2.

63 London Times, August 17, 1934, pp. 11, 13.

64 Quoted in Survey, 1933, p. 345.

65 Sumner Welles, The Time For Decision (New York and London, 1944), p. 191.

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69 Montague, p. 253, n. 47. Montague states that United States direct investments in Haiti had increased only from four to fourteen millions of dollars from 1913- 1930. The total in 1930 was only one-half of one per cent of the total United States investment in Latin America.

70 London Times, March 21, 1930, p. 15.

71 Foreign Relations, 1931, II, 424.

72 B. Danache, he President Dartiguenave et Les Américains (Port-au-Prince, 1950), p. 11.

73 Letter from Dana G. Munro to Donald B. Cooper, December 24, 1958.

74 Ibid.

75 Ibid.

76 Montague, p. 276.