Jean-Claude Duvalier
*Jean-Claude Duvalier was born on this date in 1951. Nicknamed 'Baby Doc,' he was a Black Haitian president.
The son of Simone Ovide, a Mulatto-Haitian woman, and François Duvalier, a Black Nationalist anti-mulatto leader who became dictator of Haiti, Duvalier was born in Port-au-Prince and was brought up in an isolated environment. He attended Nouveau College Bird and Institution Saint-Louis de Gonzague. Later, he studied law at the University of Haiti under the direction of several professors.
He succeeded his father as the ruler of Haiti after his father died in 1971. After assuming power, he introduced cosmetic changes to his father's regime and delegated much authority to his advisors. Thousands of Haitians were tortured and killed, and hundreds of thousands fled the country during his presidency. He maintained a notoriously lavish lifestyle while poverty among his people remained the most widespread in any country in the Western Hemisphere. Relations with the United States improved after Duvalier's ascension to the presidency.
They later deteriorated under the Carter administration, only to normalize under Ronald Reagan due to the strong anti-communist stance of the Duvaliers. Rebellion against the Duvalier regime broke out in 1985, and Duvalier fled to France in 1986 on a U.S. Air Force flight. Duvalier returned to Haiti in January 2011, after 25 years in self-imposed exile in France. The following day, he was arrested by Haitian police and charged with corruption. In February 2013, he pleaded not guilty to charges of corruption and human rights abuse. Jean-Claude Duvalier died of a heart attack on October 4, 2014, at the age of 63.
