Sténio Vincent (b. Port-au-Prince, February 22, 1874 – d. Pétion-Ville, September 3, 1959)
President: November 18, 1930 – May 15, 1941 (U.S. Occupation until July 31, 1934)
On November 18, 1930, the newly seated National Assembly elected Senator Sténio Vincent as president for a six-year term. A lawyer, journalist, minister, and prolific writer, he was also a former mayor of Port-au-Prince.
President Sténio Vincent seemed to have assigned one main goal to his administration: the end of the American occupation. Contrary to the majority of the members of parliament who had opted for a quick end to the occupation, the new president favored a policy of partial agreements that would gradually liquidate the 1915 Convention. After long and arduous discussions, it was agreed that the U.S. financial advisor would be replaced by a “fiscal representative”, the Banque National returned to Haitian control; the Garde d’Haïti would be “Haitianized”, and the occupation would end on October 1, 1934. That last point was revised after President Vincent’s visit to President Franklin D. Roosevelt in March 1934. The U.S. President returned the courtesy and was received at Cap-Haïtien on July 5 of the same year. During their meeting, the two presidents agreed that the date for the “Haitianization” of the Garde d’Haïti and the end of the occupation would be moved up to August 1, 1934.
On August 15, 1934, the last contingent of U.S. marines left the Casernes Dessalines. The occupation was over.
A new constitution of July 15, 1932, replaced the 1918 constitution. President Vincent had to fight many battles with parliament. He contended that his executive powers were too restrictive. On July 5, 1933, he asked the legislative chambers to give him “exceptional powers” to deal with the problems of the nation. That demand was rejected. President Vincent issued a decree on January 12, 1935, to the effect of submitting the question of the “exceptional powers” to an extraordinary referendum. Eleven senators protested the constitutionality of such a decree. When the president finally won, those eleven senators were deposed and expelled from the Senate. President Vincent then decided that a new constitution should replace the one in place. On June 2, 1935, the new charter was overwhelmingly ratified, with a special provision proclaiming that “Citizen Sténio Vincent” was entitled to a new five-year term beginning on May 15, 1936.
The Vincent administration had a law passed to regulate the conditions of labor. The day’s work was fixed at eight hours and paid vacation was made mandatory. A law also sanctioned cooperatives. A new legislation created the bien rural de famille that deeded plots of lands to rural families, and a special effort by the department of Agriculture helped the peasant improve the quality of the coffee produced in the countryside.
For the first time in the nation’s history, a government was concerned about social justice. Rural dispensaries were built, public libraries were opened in the main cities, and houses were built in newly created cités ouvrières, or workers’ housing developments, to provide affordable dwellings for the working class.
In 1934, writer Jacques Roumain launched the Haitian Communist Party (Parti Communiste Haïten). To balance the lopsided commercial relations between the United States and Haiti, a trade agreement was signed on March 28, 1935.
Many contracts were signed. An important one was with the U.S. firm J.G. White for the building of roads, bridges and irrigation canals. Another one was for the production of bananas for export. Also a program to fight erosion was put in place and thousands of trees planted.
The Sans-Souci Palace and the chapel at Milot, erected by King Henry Christophe, were restored. The occupation over, the government paid tribute to Charlemagne Péralte, considered the hero of the armed struggle against the occupation. National funerals were organized, with President Vincent in attendance, and his remains were buried in a mausoleum in the Cap-Haïtien cemetery.
Relations between Haiti and its neighbor, the Dominican Republic, appeared cordial at the beginning of the Vincent administration. However, the January 21, 1929 treaty signed by the Borno administration was deemed unsatisfactory by the Haitians, and the other two countries decided to modify it. An agreement was reached on February 25, 1935. President Raphael L. Trujilo came to Port-au-Prince for the signing ceremony on March 9, 1936. things appeared to go smoothly until the massacre, in October 1937, of the tens of thousands of Haitian workers living in the Dominican Republic by the army and the national police, on orders to given by dictator Raphael L. Trujilo.
Although President Vincent is credited with the process of “désoccupation”, his term saw the involvement of the new army in politics, with a plot involving lower ranking officers of the army who wanted to overthrow the government being thwarted.
Supporters and friend of the president had started a campaign for his reelection as early as mid-1939. After a trip to Washington, it appeared that his prospects were far from bright. A resolution granting him a new mandate was voted on in the legislative chambers in March 1941. President Vincent declined. That same day, the National Assembly elected Elie Lescot as president.
Nineteen years of U.S. occupation had severely run down Haitian pride. It must be acknowledged, however, that peace had finally been restored to Haiti, and a measure of badly needed modernization had been achieved. Would both last?
Sténio Vincent (b. Port-au-Prince, February 22, 1874 – d. Pétion-Ville, September 3, 1959)