Overview:
On the seventy fifth anniversary of Dumarsais Estimé’s ousting, this opinion revisits his contributions, imaginative and prescient for Haiti, and the persevering with relevance of his legacy.
By Stéphane Pierre-Paul
A story of two leaders formed by disaster
It will be unreasonable to match former Haitian president Dumarsais Estimé (1946-1950) to former French president Charles de Gaulle (1944-1946). The 2 males aren’t comparable, given the immense footprint the French basic left in Twentieth-century political historical past—a resistance hero in opposition to Nazism, a army chief, a revered author, a visionary statesman, and the voice of a nation in exile.
But, past their variations, each males belonged to the identical period—one marked by main upheaval, international fractures, human tragedies, financial crises postwar restructuring and shifting political fault strains—additionally they held in widespread what de Gaulle himself, grasp in eloquent turns of thought, as soon as described as “a sure concept of France.” Each had been obsessive about nationwide grandeur and pushed by the need to carve a spot in historical past as leaders of their individuals.
On Could 10, 1950, a army triumvirate composed of Normal Franck Lavaud and Colonels Paul Eugène Magloire and Antoine Levelt —pressured Estimé to resign. The identical trio had ousted President Élie Lescot simply 4 years earlier in the course of the “Cinq Glorieuses” rebellion of January 1946. Mockingly, the day earlier than his pressured resignation, Estimé had paraded by Port-au-Prince with these very males, waving to cheering crowds.
Estimé, affectionately generally known as “Titim,” had tried to sideline the officers by appointing them ambassadors overseas. They refused. From summer season 1949 onward, he tried to push by a constitutional change to hunt a second time period—a transfer supported by the Chamber of Deputies however opposed by the Senate and the army’s highly effective core, led by Magloire, commander of the highly effective Casernes Dessalines, who would later change into president.
Politically remoted and squeezed by opposition events, pupil teams and the army, and an unfriendly Senate—Estimé additionally confronted strain past Haiti’s borders. His determination to claim Haiti’s independence and identification—particularly in the course of the bicentennial exposition, angered Dominican strongman Rafael Trujillo, who ramped up a diplomatic assault that contributed to Estimé’s downfall.
The promise of a contemporary Haiti
Past the circumstances of his fall—already dissected by contemporaries, students and political commentators—what lingers most about Dumarsais Estimé is the political challenge he embodied. Regardless of its ideological limits and historic constraints, the Estimé presidency gave form to a imaginative and prescient of contemporary governance that continues to hang-out the Haitian creativeness. His try and outline the general public good and construct an impartial Haitian state—one rooted in dignity and ambition—resonates all of the extra as we speak, when measured in opposition to the collapse we now endure.
Estimé had already confirmed himself as a cupboard minister below President Sténio Vincent, overseeing public schooling, agriculture and labor. In his 1946 inauguration speech, he declared, “If we, the shepherds of the flock, change into its wolves… if we betray our solemn commitments, the day will come once we should be judged and held accountable.”
Regardless of some authoritarian tendencies—closing opposition newspapers, banning political events and commerce unions, and aligning with U.S. anti-communist coverage—Estimé led with a continuing intent: to rebuild Haiti after the U.S. occupation by reforms rooted in social justice and nationalism. Because the late historian Leslie Manigat described him, Estimé embodied the beliefs of a “progressive nationalist,” born from the unrest and aspirations of 1946.
Concrete reforms, lasting impression
Few presidential speeches have resonated as deeply as Estimé’s March 25, 1947, tackle, by which he referred to as on Haitians to finance their very own freedom. His phrase “Heureux mécompte”—a lucky miscalculation—grew to become a rallying cry.
Estimé’s presidency, although quick, noticed landmark measures:
- In 1946, Estimé launched three new excessive colleges and constructed about 40 rural colleges. Trainer salaries in Haiti rose from 70 to 200 gourdes, equal to roughly $225 to $642 in as we speak’s U.S. {dollars}. Ladies gained entry to secondary and college schooling. He established the École Normale Supérieure and the École Polytechnique and opened public libraries throughout the provinces. High college students earned study-abroad scholarships.
- 1946 Estimé based and launched the Nationwide Espresso Workplace in 1946 to empower and help small farmers.
- In 1947, throughout a monetary disaster, the U.S. refused to launch Haitian reserves. Estimé responded by launching a nationwide marketing campaign. Inside three months, Haitians of all backgrounds raised US $5 million in three months to reclaim management of the Nationwide Financial institution, liberating the nation from debt obligations relationship again to the 1800s.
- That very same 12 months, Haiti repatriated its Nationwide Financial institution from overseas management.
- In 1947, he laid the groundwork for the Péligre Dam. The development started on the Péligre hydroelectric dam, accomplished in 1971
- In 1948, Estimé established the Artibonite Valley Improvement Group (ODVA) with a $4 million mortgage to increase agriculture to spice up agriculture.
- From Dec. 8, 1949, to June 8, 1950, Port-au-Prince hosted the 1949-1950 Bicentennial Exposition, the one world’s truthful held in Latin America or the Caribbean. It celebrated Haitian tradition and launched a brand new period of tourism and showcased Vodou-inspired artwork. The exposition attracted greater than 250,000 guests—regardless of accusations of corruption and a staggering $26 million value. Vodou entered the creative mainstream. Naïve portray, West African-inspired music and well-liked artwork had been celebrated.
- In 1948, Estimé inaugurated Belladère, a mannequin city full with fashionable facilities, to counter neighboring Elías Piña within the Dominican Republic. The border city later declined after Trujillo’s retaliation.
Legacy of dignity in an period of despair
The Bicentennial Exposition’s star energy drew international consideration. Artists akin to Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Marian Anderson and Celia Cruz carried out; artwork from The Metropolitan Museum of Artwork in New York adorned public squares. Below the design of New York architect August Ferdinand Schmiedigen, theaters, casinos, cinemas and museums had been constructed. However the extravagance got here at a worth—$26 million
Diplomatically, Estimé elevated Haiti’s voice. Ambassador Emile Saint-Lot helped draft the Common Declaration of Human Rights and was the primary to learn it publicly. Saint-Lot additionally forged the decisive vote to ascertain Israel and later, Libya’s independence.
Allegations of embezzlement, particularly the rumored disappearance of $10 million, turned public sentiment. Critics accused Estimé of squandering the nation’s restricted assets on spectacle whereas pressing wants went unmet. But, in that second, Port-au-Prince grew to become a cultural capital, and Haiti emerged as a vacation spot. Tourism flourished, energizing accommodations, artisans and artists alike.
When he landed in New York on Could 15, 1950, 5 days after the coup, his household deposited $70,000 in financial savings. His pension was set at $300 per thirty days. That modest sum symbolized a pacesetter who ruled with integrity, regardless of the political battles that consumed his presidency.
I nonetheless keep in mind the quiet dignity of Estimé’s sons, Paul and Lionel, within the neighborhood of Pétion-Ville. Buddies of my household, they lived with out extravagance till their deaths—an echo of their father’s values, grounded in humility and repair.
Right now, as Haiti reels from institutional collapse and relentless crises, Estimé’s title stirs a eager for imaginative and prescient and decency. Whereas time should decide his management in full, the distinction with as we speak’s dysfunction sharpens his legacy. Even Magloire, who helped take away him, tried to construct on a few of his reforms. Within the nationwide creativeness, the interval from 1946 to 1950 has come to characterize a golden period—a uncommon second when management felt tied to goal, and when strange Haitians felt seen.
Seventy-five years after his fall, Dumarsais Estimé’s imaginative and prescient endures. We should ask why his title endures—usually with admiration—lengthy after so many others have pale. And maybe what Haiti wants most as we speak is for historical past to remind us of what’s nonetheless attainable.
With out romanticizing or retreating into nostalgia, maybe the very best factor that might occur to Haiti now could be for historical past to name upon historical past.
Stéphane Pierre-Paul is a journalist native of Petit-Goâve, Haiti, with greater than three a long time of expertise within the discipline. A founding member of the impartial broadcaster Radio Kiskeya, he has served as reporter, information anchor, editor-in-chief, and now information director. He’s additionally a linguist and a poet.
This opinion is a part of the writer’s ongoing sequence, “Citizen’s Tribune,” an area for civic reflection and commentary.