View source for United States occupation of Haiti

{{Short description|1915–1934 military occupation}}
{{For|the 1994–1995 United States occupation|Operation Uphold Democracy}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2022}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| partof            = the [[Banana Wars]]
| image             = {{multiple image
| border                   = infobox
| total_width              = 300
| image_style              = border:1;
| perrow                   = 1/2
| image1                   = American Marines In 1915 defending the entrance gate in Cap-Haitian - 34510.jpg
| image2                   = Occupation of Haiti.jpg
| image3                   = Airplanes, Haiti, circa 1919 (15513536936).jpg}}
| caption           = '''Top to bottom, left to right:''' [[United States Marines]] in 1915 defending entrance gate in Cap-Haïtien, United States Marines and a Haitian guide patrolling the jungle during the [[Battle of Fort Dipitie]], United States Navy [[Curtiss HS|Curtiss HS-2L]]s and other airplanes in Haiti circa 1919
| date              = July 28, 1915 – August 1, 1934<br>({{Age in years, months, weeks and days|month1=07|day1=28|year1=1915|month2=08|day2=01|year2=1934}})
| place             = [[Republic of Haiti (1859–1957)|Haiti]]
| coordinates       = 
| result            = U.S. victory
| combatant1        = {{flagcountry|United States|1912}}<br>{{flagcountry|Republic of Haiti (1859–1957)}}
| combatant2        = {{Flagdeco|Haiti|1859}} Haitian rebels
| commander1        = {{Flagdeco|United States|1912}} [[William Banks Caperton|W.B. Caperton]]<br>{{flagdeco|United States|1912}} [[John H. Russell Jr.]]<br>{{Flagdeco|United States|1912}} [[Smedley Butler]]<br>{{Flagdeco|United States|1912}} [[Gerald C. Thomas]]<br>{{Flagdeco|Haiti|1859}} [[Philippe Sudré Dartiguenave]]<br>{{Flagdeco|Haiti|1859}} [[Louis Borno]]<br>{{Flagdeco|Haiti|1859}} [[Louis Eugène Roy]]<br>{{Flagdeco|Haiti|1859}} [[Sténio Vincent]]
| commander2        = {{Flagdeco|Haiti|1859}} Josaphat Jean-Joseph<br>{{Flagdeco|Haiti|1859}} [[Charlemagne Péralte]]{{KIA}}<br>{{Flagdeco|Haiti|1859}} Benoît Batraville
| strength1         = '''First Caco War:'''<br>2,029<ref name=clodfelter>{{cite book|last1=Clodfelter|title=Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492–2015|date=2017|page=378}}</ref>

'''Second Caco War:'''<br>1,500 U.S. Marines<ref name=clodfelter/><br>2,700 Haitian Gendarmes<ref name=clodfelter/>
| strength2         = '''First Caco War:'''<br>5,000<ref name=clodfelter/>
| casualties1       = '''First Caco War:'''<br>Unknown, a few casualties<br>18 wounded<ref name=clodfelter/><br>
'''Second Caco War:'''<br>28+ Americans killed, total unknown<ref name=clodfelter/><br>70+ Gendarmes killed, total unknown<ref name=clodfelter/>
'''Total'''<br>146 American deaths<ref>Hans Schmidt, The United States Occupation of Haiti, 1915-1934 (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1995), p. 103; and “Americans Killed in Action,” American War Library, http://www.americanwarlibrary.com/allwars.htm {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180222013340/http://www.americanwarlibrary.com/allwars.htm |date=February 22, 2018 }}.  Schmidt cites 146 Marine deaths in Haiti; and the American War Library cites 144 Marines killed in action in the Dominican Republic.</ref>
| casualties2       = '''First Caco War:'''<br>200 killed<ref name=clodfelter/>

'''Second Caco War:'''<br>2,000+ killed<ref name=clodfelter/>
| casualties3       = 3,250–15,000 Haitian deaths<ref>{{cite book |author=Hans Schmidt |title=The United States Occupation of Haiti, 1915–1934 |publisher=[[Rutgers University Press]] |year=1971 |isbn=9780813522036 |page=102 }}</ref><ref name="Farmer-2003">{{cite book |first=Paul |last=Farmer |author-link=Paul Farmer |title=The Uses of Haiti |publisher=Common Courage Press |year=2003 |page=98}}</ref><br />Hundreds to 5,500 forced labor deaths<ref name="Belleau-2016"/>
| conflict          = United States occupation of Haiti
}}

{{Campaignbox United States occupation of Haiti}}
{{Campaignbox Banana Wars}}
{{History of Haiti}}

The '''United States occupation of Haiti''' began on July 28, 1915, when 330 [[United States Marine Corps|U.S. Marines]] landed at [[Port-au-Prince]], [[Republic of Haiti (1859–1957)|Haiti]], after the [[Citibank|National City Bank of New York]] convinced the [[President of the United States]], [[Woodrow Wilson]], to take control of Haiti's political and financial interests. The July 1915 occupation took place following years of socioeconomic instability within Haiti that culminated with the lynching of [[President of Haiti]] [[Vilbrun Guillaume Sam]] by a mob angered by his decision to order the executions of political prisoners. 

During the occupation, Haiti had three new presidents while the [[United States]] ruled as a [[Military dictatorship|military regime]] through [[martial law]] led by Marines and the Gendarmerie. A [[corvée]] system of [[forced labor]] was used by the United States for [[infrastructure]] projects, resulting in hundreds to thousands of deaths.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xkzoLWt_-NMC&dq=haiti+corvee+us+occupation&pg=PR9 | title=The United States Occupation of Haiti, 1915-1934 | isbn=978-0-8135-2203-6 | last1=Schmidt | first1=Hans | date=March 12, 1995 | publisher=Rutgers University Press }}</ref> Under the occupation, most Haitians continued to live in poverty, while American personnel were well compensated.{{Citation needed|date=October 2024}} The American occupation ended the constitutional ban on foreign ownership of land, which had existed since the foundation of Haiti.

The occupation ended on August 1, 1934, after President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] reaffirmed an August 1933 disengagement agreement. The last contingent of marines departed on August 15, 1934, after a formal transfer of authority to the American-created [[Gendarmerie of Haiti]].

==Background==
{{Main|Haiti–United States relations}}

In the late 1700s, the relationship between Haitians and the United States began when some Haitians fought beside Americans in the [[American Revolutionary War]].<ref name="Gebrekidan-2022">{{Cite news |last1=Gebrekidan |first1=Selam |last2=Apuzzo |first2=Matt |last3=Porter |first3=Catherine |last4=Méheut |first4=Constant |date=May 20, 2022 |title=Invade Haiti, Wall Street Urged. The U.S. Obliged. |language=en-US |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/20/world/haiti-wall-street-us-banks.html |access-date=May 24, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Originally the wealthiest region in the Americas when it was the French colony of [[Saint-Domingue]],<ref>{{cite book |last=McLellan |first=James May |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tIxDYmc0c3YC |title=Colonialism and Science: Saint Domingue and the Old Regime |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-226-51467-3 |edition=reprint |page=63 |quote=[...] French Saint Domingue at its height in the 1780s had become the single richest and most productive colony in the world. |access-date=November 22, 2010}}</ref><ref name="United States Department of State-1949">{{Cite book |title=Agricultural Progress in Haiti: Summary Report, 1944–1949, of the Service Coopératif Inter-américain de Production Agricole (SCIPA) and the IIAA Food Supply Mission to Haiti |publisher=[[Institute of Inter-American Affairs|United States Department of State]] |date=July 1949 |location=[[Washington, D.C.]] |pages=1–34}}</ref> a [[slave revolt]] at the colony beginning in 1791 that led to the successful [[Haitian Revolution]] in 1804 frightened those living in the [[Southern United States]] who supported [[Slavery in the United States|slavery]], raising fears that it would inspire other slaves.<ref name="Gebrekidan-2022"/><ref name="Bauduy-2015">{{Cite journal|last=Bauduy|first=Jennifer|date=2015|title=[https://www.socialstudies.org/sites/default/files/USInvadesHaiti.pdf The 1915 U.S. Invasion of Haiti: Examining a Treaty of Occupation]|journal=[https://www.socialstudies.org/ Social Education]|volume=79|issue=5|pages=244–249}}</ref> Such sentiments among wealthy slaveholding Americans strained relations between the United States and Haiti, with the United States initially refusing to recognize Haitian independence while slaveholders advocated for a [[trade embargo]] with the newly created Caribbean nation.<ref name="Bauduy-2015" /> The [[Haiti indemnity controversy]] – which [[France]] forced upon Haiti through [[gunboat diplomacy]] in 1825 due to France's financial loss following [[Independence of Haiti|Haiti's independence]] – resulted with Haiti using much of its revenue to pay debt to foreign nations by the late-1800s.<ref name="Alcenat">{{Cite web|last=Alcenat|first=Westenly|title=The Case for Haitian Reparations|url=https://jacobinmag.com/2017/01/haiti-reparations-france-slavery-colonialism-debt/|url-status=live|access-date=February 20, 2021|website=[[Jacobin (magazine)|Jacobin]]|language=en-US|archive-date=February 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210226224437/https://jacobinmag.com/2017/01/haiti-reparations-france-slavery-colonialism-debt/}}</ref> 
[[File:USS Philadelphia LOC det 4a13982.jpg|left|thumb|{{USS|Philadelphia|C-4|6}}, flagship of the fleet involved in the 1890 [[Môle Saint-Nicolas affair]] which saw the United States using [[gunboat diplomacy]] in an attempt to obtain [[Môle-Saint-Nicolas]]]]
The United States had been interested in controlling Haiti in the decades following its independence from France.<ref name="United States Department of State-2007">{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=July 13, 2007|title=U.S. Invasion and Occupation of Haiti, 1915–34|url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/wwi/88275.htm|url-status=live|access-date=February 24, 2021|website=[[United States Department of State]]|language=en|archive-date=November 20, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191120111123/https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/wwi/88275.htm}}</ref> As a way "to secure a U.S. defensive and economic stake in the West Indies", according to the [[United States Department of State]], President [[Andrew Johnson]] of the United States began the pursuit of [[annexation|annexing]] [[Hispaniola]], including Haiti, in 1868.<ref name="United States Department of State-2007" /> In 1890, the [[Môle Saint-Nicolas affair]] occurred when President [[Benjamin Harrison]], on the advice of [[United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State]] [[James G. Blaine]], ordered Rear-Admiral [[Bancroft Gherardi]] to persuade newly assumed President of Haiti [[Florvil Hyppolite]] to lease the port to the United States.<ref name="The New York Times-1891">{{Cite news|date=May 17, 1891|title=Home Again from Haiti|page=5|work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref><ref name="Léger-1907">{{Cite book|last=Léger|first=Jacques Nicolas|url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Haiti:_Her_History_and_Her_Detractors/Part_I:_Chapter_XXII|title=Haiti, her history and her detractors|chapter=Chapter XXII |date=1907|publisher=The Neale Pub. Co.|location=New York; Washington|pages=245–247|language=en|access-date=May 29, 2021|archive-date=April 6, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200406200923/https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Haiti:_Her_History_and_Her_Detractors/Part_I:_Chapter_XXII|url-status=live}} {{PD-notice}}</ref> Enforcing [[gunboat diplomacy]] upon Haiti, Gherardi aboard {{USS|Philadelphia|C-4|6}} along with his fleet arrived in the capital city of [[Port-au-Prince]] to demand the acquisition of [[Môle-Saint-Nicolas|Môle Saint-Nicolas]].<ref name="Léger-1907" /> President Hyppolite refused any agreement as Haitians grew angered by the presence of the fleet, with ''[[The New York Times]]'' writing that the Haitians' "semi-barbaric minds saw in it a threat of violence".<ref name="The New York Times-1891" /><ref name="Léger-1907" /> Upon returning to the United States in 1891, Gherardi said in an interview with ''The New York Times'' that in a short time Haiti would experience further instability, suggesting that future governments in Haiti would abide by the demands of the United States.<ref name="The New York Times-1891" />

By the 1890s, Haiti became reliant on importing most of its goods from the United States while it exported the majority of its production to France.<ref name="Hubert-1947">{{Cite journal |last=Hubert |first=Giles A. |date=January 1947 |title=War and the Trade Orientation of Haiti |journal=[[Southern Economic Journal]] |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=276–284|doi=10.2307/1053341 |jstor=1053341 }}</ref> The [[Roosevelt Corollary]] also affected Haiti's relationship with the United States.<ref name="UOH">Paul Farmer, ''The Uses of Haiti'' (Common Courage Press: 1994)</ref> By 1910, President [[William Howard Taft]] attempted to introduce American businesses to Haiti in order to deter European influence and granted a large loan to Haiti to pay off foreign debts, though this proved to be fruitless due to the size of the debt.<ref name="United States Department of State-2007" /><ref name="Schmidt-1995">{{Cite book |last=Schmidt |first=Hans |title=The United States Occupation of Haiti, 1915–1934 |publisher=[[Rutgers University Press]] |year=1995 |pages=43–54 |language=en}}</ref>

===German presence===
{{Main articles|Germany–Haiti relations}}
[[File:Haiti German legation 1900.jpg|thumb|left|Personnel from the German Legation and the Hamburg-Amerika Line]]

The United States was not concerned by France's influence, though German influence in Haiti raised concern.<ref name="United States Department of State-2007" /> Germany had intervened in Haiti, including the [[Lüders affair]] in 1897, and had been influencing other Caribbean nations during the previous few decades. Germany had also become increasingly hostile to United States domination of the region under the [[Monroe Doctrine]].

The United States' concern over Germany's ambitions was mirrored by apprehension and rivalry between American businessmen and the small [[German Haitians|German community in Haiti]], which, although numbering only about 200 in 1910, wielded a disproportionate amount of economic power.<ref name="state">[https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/wwi/88275.htm Occupation of Haiti, 1915–34] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191120111123/https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/wwi/88275.htm |date=November 20, 2019 }}, US Department of State</ref> German nationals controlled about eighty percent of the country's international commerce.{{Citation needed|date=February 2021}} They owned and operated utilities in Cap-Haïten and [[Port-au-Prince]], including the main wharf and a tramway in the capital, and also had built the railway serving the [[Plain of the Cul-de-Sac]].<ref name="Schmidt, 35">Schmidt, 35.</ref>

The German community was more willing to integrate into Haitian society than any other group of Caucasian foreigners, including the more numerous French. Some Germans had married into Haiti's most prominent mixed-race families of African-French descent. This enabled them to bypass the constitutional prohibition against foreigners owning land. The German residents retained strong ties to their homeland and sometimes aided the German military and intelligence networks in Haiti. They also served as the principal financiers of the nation's numerous revolutions, floating loans at high interest rates to the competing political factions.<ref name="Schmidt, 35" />

In the lead-up to [[World War I]], the strategic importance of Haiti, along with the German influence there, worried President Wilson, who feared a German presence near the [[Panama Canal Zone]].<ref name="Bauduy-2015" />

===Haitian instability===
In the first decades of the 20th century, Haiti experienced great political instability and was heavily in debt to France, Germany, and the United States.<ref name="Bauduy-2015" /><ref name="Hudson-2013">{{Cite journal|last=Hudson|first=Peter James|date=2013|title=The National City Bank of New York and Haiti, 1909–1922|journal=[[Radical History Review]]|publisher=[[Duke University Press]]|volume=Winter 2013|issue=115|pages=91–107|doi=10.1215/01636545-1724733}}</ref> The Wilson administration viewed Haiti's instability as a national security threat to the United States.<ref name="Schmidt-1995" /> Political tensions were often between two groups; wealthy French-speaking [[mulatto Haitians]] who represented the minority of the population and poor [[Afro-Haitians]] who spoke [[Haitian Creole]].<ref name="Milieu-1976">{{Cite web|last=Milieu|first=Richard|date=1976|title=Protectorates: The U.S. Occupation of Haiti and the Dominican Republic|url=https://www.marines.mil/Portals/1/Publications/U.S.%20Marines%20and%20Irregular%20Warfare,%201898-2007_Anthology%20and%20Selected%20Bibliography%20%20PCN%2016000000500_4.pdf|url-status=live|website=[[United States Marine Corps]]|access-date=May 29, 2021|archive-date=June 2, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602030021/https://www.marines.mil/Portals/1/Publications/U.S.%20Marines%20and%20Irregular%20Warfare,%201898-2007_Anthology%20and%20Selected%20Bibliography%20%20PCN%2016000000500_4.pdf}}</ref> Various revolutionary armies carried out the coups. Each was formed by ''[[cacos (military group)|cacos]]'', peasant militias from the mountains of the north, who stayed along the porous [[Dominican Republic|Dominican]] border and were often funded by foreign governments to stage revolts.<ref name="Milieu-1976" />

In 1902, a civil war was fought between the government of [[Pierre Théoma Boisrond-Canal]] and General [[Pierre Nord Alexis]] against rebels of [[Anténor Firmin]],<ref name="Belleau-2016" /> which led to [[Pierre Nord Alexis]] becoming president. In 1908, he was forced from power and a series of short lived presidencies came and went:<ref>[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1908/12/08/104772140.pdf "Hurry Election Of Simon In Haiti; Followers Fear Delay May Cause Disorders And Invite Intervention From United States"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210304034010/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1908/12/08/104772140.pdf |date=March 4, 2021 }} ''New York Times'' December 8, 1908</ref><ref>[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1908/12/18/105016384.pdf "Simon Elected President; Following Action by Haitian Congress, He Is Recognized By The United States"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309073618/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1908/12/18/105016384.pdf |date=March 9, 2021 }}, ''New York Times'' December 18, 1908</ref> his successor [[François C. Antoine Simon]] in 1911;<ref>{{cite news|title =Leconte in Haiti's Capital; Revolutionary Leader Takes Possession of National Palace|date =August 8, 1911|url =https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1911/08/08/104873360.pdf|work =The New York Times|pages =4|access-date =January 13, 2010|archive-date =March 4, 2021|archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20210304140706/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1911/08/08/104873360.pdf|url-status =live}}</ref> President [[Cincinnatus Leconte]] (1911–1912) was killed in a (possibly deliberate) explosion at the National Palace;<ref>{{cite journal|last=Hayes|first=Carlton H.|author2=Edward M. Sait|date=December 1912|title=Record of Political Events|journal=Political Science Quarterly|volume=27|issue=4|pages=752|doi=10.2307/2141264|jstor=2141264}}<!--|access-date=13 January 2010--></ref> [[Michel Oreste]] (1913–1914) was ousted in a coup, as was his successor [[Oreste Zamor]] in 1914.<ref>Kaplan, ''U.S. Imperialism in Latin America'', p. 61.</ref> Between 1911 and 1915, Haiti had seven presidents because of political assassinations, coups and forced exiles.<ref name="United States Department of State-2007" />{{sfn|Heinl|1996|p=791}}

===American financial interests===
Prior to the intervention of the United States, Haiti's large debt was 80 percent of its annual revenue, though it was able to meet financial obligations, especially when compared to Ecuador, Honduras, and Mexico at that time.<ref name="Bauduy-2015" /><ref name="Schmidt-1995" /> In the twentieth century, the United States had become Haiti's largest trade partner, replacing France, with American businesses expanding their presence in Haiti.<ref name="Bauduy-2015" /> Due to the influence of Germans within Haiti, they were regarded as a threat to American financial interests,<ref name="Douglas" /> with businesses ultimately advocating for policies of invading Haiti.<ref name="Bauduy-2015" /> Haitian authorities in 1903 began to accuse the [[National Bank of Haiti]] of fraud and by 1908, Haitian [[List of Finance Ministers of Haiti|Minister of Finance]] [[Frédéric Marcelin]] pushed for the bank to work on the behalf of Haitians, though French officials began to devise plans to reorganize their financial interests.<ref name="Apuzzo-2022">{{Cite news |last1=Apuzzo |first1=Matt |last2=Méheut |first2=Constant |last3=Gebrekidan |first3=Selam |last4=Porter |first4=Catherine |date=May 20, 2022 |title=How a French Bank Captured Haiti |language=en-US |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/20/world/french-banks-haiti-cic.html |access-date=May 24, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> French envoy to Haiti Pierre Carteron wrote following Marcelin's objections that "It is of the highest importance that we study how to set up a new French credit establishment in Port-au-Prince ... Without any close link to the Haitian government."<ref name="Apuzzo-2022"/>

Businesses from the United States had pursued the control of Haiti for years and in 1909, the new president of [[Citibank|National City Bank of New York]], [[Frank A. Vanderlip]], began to plan the bank's take over of Haiti's finances as part of his larger role of making the bank grow in international markets.<ref name="Hubert-1947" /><ref name="Gamio-2022" /><ref name="Hudson-2017">{{Cite book |last=Hudson |first=Peter James |title=Bankers and Empire: How Wall Street Colonized the Caribbean |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |year=2017 |isbn=9780226459257 |pages=116}}</ref> In early 1909, [[Speyer & Co.]] promoted a stock to Vanderlip and the bank to invest in the [[National Railroad of Haiti]], which held a monopoly of importing in the [[Port-au-Prince]] area.<ref name="Hudson-2013" /> The Haitian government faced conflict with the National City Bank over the railroad regarding payments to [[creditors]], later leading to the bank seeking to control the entirety of Haiti's finances.<ref name="Hubert-1947" /> Vanderlip wrote to Chairman of National City Bank [[James Stillman]] in 1910, "In the future, this stock will give us a foothold [in Haiti] and I think we will perhaps later undertake the reorganization of the Government’s currency system, which, I believe, I see my way clear to do with practically no monetary risk".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Vanderlip |first=Frank A. |url=http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/archival/collections/ldpd_4079432/index.html |title=Frank A. Vanderlip to James Stillman, April 8, 1909 |year=1909 |language=en}}</ref> From 1910 to 1911, the [[United States Department of State]] backed a consortium of American investors – headed by the [[Citibank|National City Bank of New York]] – to acquire a managing stake of the National Bank of Haiti to create the [[Bank of the Republic of Haiti|Bank of the Republic of Haiti (BNRH)]], with the new bank often holding payments from the Haitian government, leading to unrest.<ref name="Gamio-2022">{{Cite news |last1=Gamio |first1=Lazaro |last2=Méheut |first2=Constant |last3=Porter |first3=Catherine |last4=Gebrekidan |first4=Selam |last5=McCann |first5=Allison |last6=Apuzzo |first6=Matt |date=May 20, 2022 |title=Haiti's Lost Billions |language=en-US |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/05/20/world/americas/enslaved-haiti-debt-timeline.html |access-date=May 24, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name="Apuzzo-2022"/><ref name="Douglas">Douglas, Paul H. from ''Occupied Haiti,'' ed. Emily Greene Balch (New York, 1972), 15–52 reprinted in: ''Money Doctors, Foreign Debts, and Economic Reforms in [[Latin America]].'' [[Wilmington, Delaware]]: Edited by Paul W. Drake, 1994.</ref><ref name="Gebrekidan-2022"/> France would also keep a stake in the BNRH.<ref name="Apuzzo-2022"/> The BNRH was the country's sole commercial bank and served as the Haitian government's treasury.<ref name="Douglas"/>

Officials of the Wilson administration were not knowledgeable about Haiti and often relied on information from American businessmen.<ref name="Milieu-1976" /> [[United States Secretary of State]] [[William Jennings Bryan]] fired established Latin American experts upon his nomination and instead replaced them with political allies.<ref name="Schmidt-1995" /> Bryan initially proposed forgiving the debt of Caribbean nations, though President Wilson viewed this as too radical.<ref name="Schmidt-1995" /> With his ideas facing rejection, Bryan, who had little information on Haiti, instead relied on the vice president of National City Bank, [[Roger Farnham|Roger Leslie Farnham]], for information regarding Haiti.<ref name="Gebrekidan-2022"/><ref name="Bauduy-2015" /><ref name="Schmidt-1995" /><ref name="Hudson-2013" /><ref name="Milieu-1976" /> Farnham had an extensive background working as a [[financial advisor]], [[lobbyist]], journalis, and [[purchasing agent]] between the United States and the Caribbean, with American historian [[Brenda Gayle Plummer]] writing "Farnham ... is often portrayed by historians as the [[deus ex machina]] single-handedly plotting the American intervention of 1915".<ref name="Hudson-2013" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Plummer |first=Brenda Gayle |title=Haiti and the Great Powers, 1902–1915 |publisher=[[Louisiana State University Press]] |year=1988 |pages=169 |language=en |author-link=Brenda Gayle Plummer}}</ref> Throughout the 1910s, Farnham demanded successive Haitian governments to grant him control of the nation's customs, the only source of revenue, threatening American intervention when Haiti refused citing national sovereignty.<ref name="Schmidt-1995" /> John H. Allen, manager of the BNRH, also met with Bryan for consultation in 1912, with Allen later sharing an account of Bryan being surprised about Haitian culture and stating "Dear me, think of it! Niggers speaking French".<ref name="Gebrekidan-2022"/><ref name="Schmidt-1995" />

In 1914, France began to lose its ties to Haiti as it was focusing its efforts on [[World War I]] and Farnham suggested to the United States Congress that the BNRH's "active management has been from New York".<ref name="Gebrekidan-2022"/><ref name="Hubert-1947" /> Allen later stated that if the United States permanently occupied Haiti, he supported National City Bank acquiring all shares of BNRH, believing that it would "pay 20% or better".<ref name="Hudson-2013" /> Farnham persuaded Secretary Bryan to have the United States invade Haiti during a telephone call on January 22, 1914.<ref name="Hudson-2013" /> Farnham argued that Haiti was not improving due to continuous internal conflict, that Haitians were not interested in the revolts occurring and that American troops would be welcomed in Haiti.<ref name="Hudson-2013" /> Farnham also exaggerated the role of European influence, even convincing Secretary Bryan that France and Germany – two nations then at war with each other – were plotting in cooperation to obtain the harbor of [[Môle-Saint-Nicolas|Môle Saint-Nicholas]] in northern Haiti.<ref name="Bauduy-2015" /><ref name="Schmidt-1995" /><ref name="Milieu-1976" /> The businessman concluded that Haiti would not improve "until such time as some stronger outside power steps in".<ref name="Hudson-2013" /> American diplomats would ultimately draft plans to take over Haiti's finances, dubbed the "Farnham Plan".<ref name="Gebrekidan-2022"/>

After American officials travelled to Haiti to propose the "Farnham Plan", Haitian legislators denounced their minister of foreign affairs, saying he was "endeavoring to sell the country to the United States" according to a telegram of the US State Department.<ref name="Gebrekidan-2022"/> Due to Haitian opposition to the plan, the BNRH withheld funds from the Haitian government and funded rebels to destabilize the Haitian government in order to justify American intervention, generating 12% gains in interest by holding on to the funds.<ref name="Gebrekidan-2022"/><ref name="Schmidt-1995" /> On January 27, 1914, [[Michel Oreste|Haitian President Michel Oreste]] was deposed in a coup. Two generals, Charles and Oreste Zamor, seized control. In response, the [[USS Montana (ACR-13)|USS ''Montana'']] sent a marine detachment on January 29 into Port-au Prince to protect American interests.{{sfn|Johnson|2019|p=66}} On February 5, 1914, military forces from the French cruiser ''Conde'' and British HMS ''Lancaster'' also landed troops. These units agreed to leave the city and boarded their ships on February 9, 1914.{{sfn|Johnson|2019|p=66}}

BNRH's Allen telegrammed the State Department on April 8, 1914, requesting that the U.S. Navy sail to Port-au-Prince to deter possible rebellions.<ref name="Hudson-2013" /> In the summer of 1914, the BNRH began to threaten the Haitian government that it would no longer provide payments.<ref name="Hudson-2013" /> Simultaneously, Secretary Bryan telegrammed the United States consul in [[Cap-Haïtien]], writing that the State Department agreed with invading Haiti, telling the consul that the United States "earnestly desires successfully carrying out of Farnham's plan".<ref name="Hudson-2013" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Bryan |first=William Jennings |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/foreign-policy/state-dept/rg-59-central-files/1910-1963 |title=William Jennings Bryan to American Consul, Cap Haitien, July 19, 1914 |publisher=[[United States Department of State]] |year=1914}}</ref>

[[File:Machias.jpg|thumb|right|Gold from Haiti was placed onto the [[USS Machias (PG-5)|USS ''Machias'']] by U.S. Marines and transported to [[55 Wall Street]] in 1914]]
American bankers raised fears that Haiti would [[Default (finance)|default]] on debt payments despite consistent compliance by Haiti with loan conditions, calling for the seizure of Haiti's national bank.<ref name="Bauduy-2015" /> National City Bank officials – acting on behalf of Farnham – demanded the State Department to provide military support to acquire Haiti's national reserves, with the bank arguing that Haiti had become too unstable to safeguard the assets.<ref name="Gebrekidan-2022"/><ref name="Hudson-2013" /> Urged by the National City Bank and the BNRH, with the latter of the two already under direction of American business interests, eight United States marines walked into the national bank and took custody of Haiti's gold reserve of about US$500,000 – about the {{inflation|US|500000|1914|2021|fmt=eq}} – on December 17, 1914.<ref name="Gebrekidan-2022"/><ref name="United States Department of State-2007" /><ref name="Hudson-2013" /><ref name="central banks haiti gold">{{Cite book|last1=Bytheway|first1=Simon James|title=Central Banks and Gold: How Tokyo, London, and New York Shaped the Modern World|last2=Metzler|first2=Mark|publisher=Cornell University Press|year=2016|isbn=9781501706509|pages=43}}</ref> The Marines packed the gold into wooden boxes, loaded them into a wagon, and transported the gold under the protection of [[Covert operation|plainclothes]] clandestine soldiers lining the route to the [[USS Machias (PG-5)|USS ''Machias'']], which transferred its load to the National City Bank's New York City vault on [[55 Wall Street]].<ref name="Gebrekidan-2022"/><ref name="Hudson-2013" /> The robbery of the gold provided the United States with a large amount of control over the Haitian government, though American businesses demanded further intervention.<ref name="Bauduy-2015" /> National City Bank would go on to acquire some of its largest gains in the 1920s due to debt payments from Haiti, according to later filings to the [[Senate Finance Committee]], with debt payments to the bank comprising 25% of Haiti's revenue.<ref name="Gebrekidan-2022"/>

==American invasion==
In February 1915, [[Vilbrun Guillaume Sam]], son of a former Haitian president, took power as President of Haiti. The culmination of his repressive measures came on July 27, 1915, when he ordered the execution of 167 political prisoners, including former president Zamor, who was being held in a Port-au-Prince jail. This infuriated the population, which rose up against Sam's government as soon as news of the executions reached them. Sam, who had taken refuge in the French embassy, was lynched by an enraged mob in Port-au-Prince as soon as they learned of the executions.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Millett|first=Allan Reed|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sgkbAbwcLfAC|title=Semper Fidelis: The History of the United States Marine Corps|date=1991|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=9780029215968|location=New York|page=185|access-date=February 2, 2016|archive-date=April 27, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200427191449/https://books.google.com/books?id=sgkbAbwcLfAC|url-status=live}}</ref> The United States regarded the anti-American revolt against Sam as a threat to American business interests in the country, especially the [[Haitian American Sugar Company]] (HASCO). When the ''caco''-supported anti-American [[Rosalvo Bobo]] emerged as the next president of Haiti, the United States government decided to act quickly to preserve its economic dominance.<ref>[[#refWeinsteinSegal1984|Weinstein, Segal 1984]], p.28</ref>{{verify source|date=May 2022}}

In April 1915, Secretary Bryan expressed support for invading Haiti to President Wilson, writing "The American interests are willing to remain there, with a view of purchasing a controlling interest and making the bank a branch of the American bank – they are willing to do this provided this government takes the steps necessary to protect them and their idea seems to be that no protection will be sufficient that does not include control of the Customs House."<ref name="Gebrekidan-2022"/><ref name="Schmidt-1995" />

On July 28, 1915, United States President [[Woodrow Wilson]] ordered 340 United States marines to occupy Port-au-Prince and the invasion took place the same day.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Panton |first1=Kenneth J. |title=Historical Dictionary of the United States |date=23 August 2022 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-5381-2420-8 |page=243 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oXR-EAAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Security Assistance, U.S. and International Historical Perspectives: Proceedings of the Combat Studies Institute 2006 Military History Symposium |publisher=Government Printing Office |isbn=978-0-16-087349-2 |page=402 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NRUH7MLttEAC |language=en}}</ref> The [[Josephus Daniels|Secretary of the Navy]] instructed the invasion commander, Rear Admiral [[William Banks Caperton]], to "protect American and foreign" interests. Wilson also wanted to rewrite the Haitian constitution, which banned foreign ownership of land, to replace it with one that guaranteed American financial control.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/books/review/haiti-the-aftershocks-of-history-by-laurent-dubois-book-review.html?pagewanted=2 "Haiti's Tragic History": Review of Laurent Dubois, ''Haiti: The Aftershocks of History''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020083806/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/books/review/haiti-the-aftershocks-of-history-by-laurent-dubois-book-review.html?pagewanted=2 |date=October 20, 2017 }}, ''New York Times,'' January 1, 2012</ref> To avoid public criticism, Wilson claimed the occupation was a mission to "re-establish peace and order ... [and] has nothing to do with any diplomatic negotiations of the past or the future," as disclosed by Rear Admiral Caperton.<ref>[[#refWeston1972|Weston 1972]], p. 217.</ref> Only one Haitian soldier, Pierre Sully, tried to resist the invasion, and he was shot dead by the Marines.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Pamphile|first1=Léon Dénius|title=Clash of Cultures :America's Educational Strategies in Occupied Haiti, 1915–1934|date=2008|publisher=University Press of America|location=Lanham|isbn=9780761839927|page=22}}</ref>

==American occupation==

===Dartiguenave presidency===

====U.S. installs Dartiguenave as president====
Haitian presidents were not elected by universal suffrage but rather chosen by the Senate. The American occupying authorities therefore looked to find a presidential candidate ready to cooperate with them.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Renda|first=Mary|url=https://archive.org/details/takinghaiti00mary/page/30|title=Taking Haiti: Military Occupation and the Culture of U.S. Imperialism 1915–1940|publisher=The University of North Carolina Press|year=2001|isbn=978-0-8078-2628-7|location=Chapel Hill and London|pages=[https://archive.org/details/takinghaiti00mary/page/30 30–31]}}</ref> [[Philippe Sudré Dartiguenave]], president of the Senate and among the mulatto Haitian elite who supported the United States, agreed to accept the presidency of Haiti in August 1915 after several other candidates had refused. The United States would later go on to install more wealthy mulatto Haitians in positions of power.<ref name="Encylopedia Britannica - Haiti" />

====U.S. takeover of Haitian institutions====
[[File:Marines' base in Cap-Haïtien.jpg|thumb|Marine base at Cap-Haïtien]]

For several decades, the Haitian government had been receiving large loans from both American and French banks, and with the political chaos was growing increasingly incapable of repaying their debts. If the anti-American government of [[Rosalvo Bobo]] prevailed, there was no guarantee of debt repayment, and American businesses refused to continue investing there. Within six weeks of the occupation, U.S. government representatives seized control of Haiti's [[customs]] houses and administrative institutions, including the banks and the national treasury. Under U.S. government control, 40% of Haiti's national income was designated to repay debts to American and French banks.<ref>[[#WeinsteinSegal1984|Weinstein, Segal 1984]], p. 29.</ref>
In September 1915, the United States Senate ratified the [[Haitian-American Convention]], a treaty granting the United States security and economic oversight of Haiti for a 10-year period.<ref>{{Google books|id=ex-McfiTKWgC|title=Plunging Into Haiti: Clinton, Aristide, and the Defeat of Diplomacy|page=78}}</ref> Haiti's legislature initially refused to ratify the treaty, though Admiral Caperton threatened hold payments from Haiti until the treaty was signed.<ref name="Bunce-2003">{{Cite book |last=Bunce |first=Peter L. |title=Foundations on Sand: An Analysis of the First US Occupation of Haiti, 1915–1934 |publisher=[[University of Kansas]] |year=2003 |language=en}}</ref> The treaty gave the President of the United States the power to appoint a customs receiver general, economic advisors, public works engineers; and to assign American military officers to oversee a Haitian [[gendarmerie]].<ref name="Munro-1969">{{cite journal|last=Munro|first=Dana G.|year=1969|title=The American Withdrawal from Haiti, 1929–1934|journal=The Hispanic American Historical Review|volume=49|issue=1|pages=1–26|doi=10.2307/2511314|jstor=2511314}}</ref> Haiti's economic functions were overseen by the [[United States Department of State]], while the [[United States Navy]] was tasked with infrastructure and healthcare works, though the Navy ultimately held more authority.<ref name="Munro-1969" /> Officials from the United States then wielded [[veto power]] over all governmental decisions in Haiti, and Marine Corps commanders served as administrators in the [[departments of Haiti|departments]].<ref name="United States Department of State-2007" /> The original treaty was to be in effect for ten years, though an additional agreement in 1917 expanded the United States' power for twenty years.<ref name="Munro-1969" /> For the next nineteen years, U.S. State Department advisers ruled Haiti, their authority enforced by the United States Marine Corps.<ref name="United States Department of State-2007" />

The [[Gendarmerie of Haiti]], now known as the ''[[Garde d'Haïti]]'', was also created and controlled by U.S. Marines throughout the occupation, initially led by Major [[Smedley D. Butler]].<ref name="United States Department of State-2007" /><ref name="Bunce-2003" /> Rear Admiral Caperton ordered his 2,500 Marines to occupy all of Haiti's districts, equipping them with airplanes, cars, and trucks.<ref name="Pezzullo-2006">{{Cite book|last=Pezzullo|first=Ralph|title=Plunging Into Haiti: Clinton, Aristide, and the Defeat of Diplomacy|publisher=[[University Press of Mississippi]]|year=2006|isbn=9781604735345|pages=77–100}}</ref> Five airfields were constructed and at least three airplanes were present in Haiti.<ref name="Belleau-2016">{{Cite web|last=Belleau|first=Jean-Philippe|date=January 25, 2016|title=Massacres perpetrated in the 20th Century in Haiti|url=https://www.sciencespo.fr/mass-violence-war-massacre-resistance/en/document/massacres-perpetrated-20th-century-haiti.html|url-status=live|access-date=May 28, 2021|website=[[Sciences Po]]|language=en|archive-date=June 2, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602213715/https://www.sciencespo.fr/mass-violence-war-massacre-resistance/en/document/massacres-perpetrated-20th-century-haiti.html}}</ref> Marines were tasked with multiple duties for their districts; law enforcement, tax collection, medicine distribution, and overseeing [[arbitration]].<ref name="Pezzullo-2006" />

Economically and politically, the Haitian government relied on American approval for most projects.<ref name="Munro-1969" /> The 1915 treaty with the United States proved expensive; the Haitian government had such a limited income that it was difficult to hire public workers and officials.<ref name="Munro-1969" /> Before utilizing any money, the Haitian government had to obtain approval from an American financial advisor and by 1918, would rely on American officials for approval of any laws due to fears of violating the treaty.<ref name="Munro-1969" />

====First Caco War====
The installation of a president without the consent of Haitians and the [[forced labor]] of the [[corvée]] system enforced upon Haitians by American forces led to opposition of the U.S. occupation began immediately after the marines entered Haiti, creating rebel groups of Haitians who felt they were returning to slavery.<ref name="Gebrekidan-2022"/><ref name="United States Department of State-2007" /><ref name="Bunce-2003" /> The rebels (called "Cacos", after a local bird sharing their ambush tactics)<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sannon|first=Horace Pauleus|url=https://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00008866/00003/144|title=Histoire de Toussaint-Louverture|publisher=Impr. A.A. Héraux|year=1933|location=Port-Au-Prince|pages=142|orig-year=1920|access-date=February 19, 2020|archive-date=February 19, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200219195104/https://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00008866/00003/144|url-status=live}}</ref> strongly resisted American control of Haiti. The U.S. and Haitian governments began a vigorous campaign to destroy the rebel armies. Perhaps the best-known account of this skirmishing came from Marine Major Smedley Butler, awarded a [[Medal of Honor]] for his exploits. He was appointed to serve as commanding officer of the Haitian gendarmerie. He later expressed his disapproval of the U.S. intervention in his 1935 book ''[[War Is a Racket]]''.

On November 17, 1915, the Marines captured [[Fort Rivière]], a stronghold of the Caco rebels, which marked the end of the '''First Caco War'''.<ref name="Musicant">Musicant, I, ''The Banana Wars,'' 1990, New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., {{ISBN|0025882104}}</ref>{{rp|201}} The United States military issued two [[Haitian Campaign Medal]]s to U.S. Marine and naval personnel for service in the country during the periods 1915 and 1919–1920.

====U.S. forces new Haitian constitution====
Shortly after installing Dartiguenave as president of Haiti, President Wilson pursued the rewriting of the [[Constitution of Haiti]].<ref name="United States Department of State-2007" /> One of the main concerns for the United States was the ban of foreigners from owning Haitian land.<ref name="United States Department of State-2007" /> Early leader [[Jean-Jacques Dessalines]] had forbidden land ownership by foreigners when Haiti became independent to deter foreign influence, and since 1804, some Haitians had viewed foreign ownership as [[anathema]].<ref name="United States Department of State-2007" /><ref name="onwar">[http://www.onwar.com/aced/data/uniform/ushaiti1918.htm U.S. Haiti Rebellion 1918] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130601094716/http://onwar.com/aced/data/uniform/ushaiti1918.htm |date=June 1, 2013 }}, On War</ref> Fearing impeachment and due to opposition of the legislature, Dartiguenave ordered the dissolution of the senate on April 6, 1916, with Major Butler and Colonel Waller enforcing new legislative elections.<ref name="Bunce-2003" /> Colonel Eli K. Cole would later assume Waller's position as commander of the Marines.<ref name="Bunce-2003" />

The newly elected legislature of Haiti immediately rejected the constitution proposed by the United States.<ref name="United States Department of State-2007" /> Instead, the legislative body began drafting a new constitution of its own that was in contrast to the interests of the United States.<ref name="United States Department of State-2007" /><ref name="Bunce-2003" /> Under orders from the United States, President Dartiguenave dissolved the legislature in 1917 after its members refused to approve the proposed constitution, with Major Butler forcing the closing of the senate at gunpoint.<ref name="Gebrekidan-2022"/><ref name="United States Department of State-2007" /><ref name="Bunce-2003" />

Haiti's new constitution was drafted under the supervision of [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], then [[Assistant Secretary of the Navy]].<ref name="Gebrekidan-2022"/><ref>Roosevelt asserted his authorship of the Haitian Constitution in several speeches during his [[1920 United States presidential election|1920 campaign]] for Vice President – which was at best a politically awkward overstatement and caused some controversy in the campaign. ([[Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.]], ''The Crisis of the Old Order'', 364, citing 1920 Roosevelt Papers for speeches in Spokane, San Francisco, and Centralia.)</ref><ref>{{cite news|date=August 19, 1920|title=SAYS AMERICA HAS 12 LEAGUE VOTES; Roosevelt Declares He Himself Had Two Until Last Week, Referring to Minor Republics.|work=The New York Times|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1920/08/19/96894136.pdf|access-date=June 14, 2018|archive-date=July 7, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210707212315/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1920/08/19/96894136.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> A [[1918 Haitian constitutional referendum|referendum]] in Haiti subsequently approved the new constitution in 1918 (by a vote of 98,225 to 768). In Roosevelt's new constitution, Haiti explicitly allowed foreigners to control Haitian land for the first time since Haiti's creation.<ref name="Hubert-1947" /><ref>[[James W. Loewen]], "[[Lies My Teacher Told Me]]" (New York: The New Press, 2018), p. 18</ref> As a result of opposing the United States' effort of rewriting its constitution, Haiti would remain without a legislative branch until 1929.<ref name="United States Department of State-2007" />

====Second Caco War====
[[File:King Armored Cars in Haiti.jpg|thumb|right|[[King armored car]]s of the [[1st Armored Car Squadron (United States Marines)|1st Armored Car Squadron]]]]

The end of the First World War in 1918 deprived the Haitians of their main ally in the liberation struggle. Germany's defeat meant its end as a menace to the U.S. in the Caribbean, as it lost control of [[Tortuga (Haiti)|Tortuga]]. Nevertheless, the U.S. continued its occupation of Haiti after the war, despite President Woodrow Wilson's claims at the [[Paris Peace Conference of 1919]] that he supported self-determination among other peoples.{{Citation needed|date=February 2021}}

At one time, at least twenty percent of Haitians had been involved in the [[rebellion]] against occupation according to [[Africanologist]] [[Patrick Bellegarde-Smith]].<ref name="Alcenat" /> The strongest period of unrest culminated in a 1918 rebellion by up to 40,000 former cacos and other members of the opposition led by [[Charlemagne Péralte]], a former officer of the dissolved Haitian army.<ref name="Pezzullo-2006" /><ref name="Musicant" /> The scale of the uprising overwhelmed the Gendarmerie, but U.S. Marine reinforcements helped put down the revolt. For their part, the Haitians resorted to non-conventional tactics, being severely outmatched by their occupiers.<ref name="Musicant" /> Prior to his death, Péralte launched an [[Battle of Port-au-Prince (1919)|attack on Port-au-Prince]]. The assassination of Péralte in 1919 solidified US Marine power over the Cacos.<ref name="Musicant" />{{rp|211–218}}<ref>{{Cite book|last=A.|first=Renda, Mary|url=https://archive.org/details/takinghaiti00mary|title=Taking Haiti : military occupation and the culture of U.S. imperialism, 1915–1940|date=2001|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|isbn=9780807826287|location=Chapel Hill|oclc=56356679}}</ref>{{page needed|date=July 2020}} The Second Caco War ended with the death of [[Benoît Batraville]] in 1920,<ref name="Musicant" />{{rp|223}} who had commanded an [[Battle of Port-au-Prince (1920)|assault on the Haitian capital]] that year. An estimated 2,004 Cacos were killed in the fighting, as well as several dozens of US Marines and Haitian gendarmes.<ref name="onwar" />

====Congressional investigation====
[[File:Merced Sun-Star - Killing of Haitians is Admitted.jpg|left|thumb|An October 1921 article from the ''[[Merced Sun-Star]]'' discussing killings of Haitians by U.S. Marines]]

The educated elite in Haiti was ''[[L'Union Patriotique]],'' which established ties with opponents of the occupation in the U.S. They found allies in the [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People|NAACP]] and among both white and African-American leaders.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Haiti, Haitians, and Black America|date=September 2004|url=http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=9760|publisher=H Net|journal=|access-date=January 27, 2010|archive-date=June 4, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604044718/http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=9760|url-status=live}}.</ref> The NAACP sent civil rights activist [[James Weldon Johnson]], its field secretary, to investigate conditions in Haiti. He published his account in 1920, decrying "the economic corruption, forced labor, press censorship, racial segregation, and wanton violence introduced to Haiti by the U.S. occupation encouraged numerous African Americans to flood the State Department and the offices of Republican Party officials with letters" calling for an end to the abuses and to remove troops.<ref name="byrd">[https://www.academia.edu/20065193/_To_Start_Something_to_Help_These_People_African_American_Women_and_the_Occupation_of_Haiti_1915-1934?auto=download&campaign=weekly_digest Brandon Byrd, ""To Start Something to Help These People:" African American Women and the Occupation of Haiti, 1915–1934"]{{Dead link|date=March 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, ''The Journal of Haitian Studies,'' Volume 21 No. 2 (2015), accessed February 2, 2016</ref> Academic [[W. E. B. Du Bois]], who had Haitian ancestry, demanded a response for the Wilson administration's actions and wrote that U.S. troops "have no designs on the political independence of the island and no desire to exploit it ruthlessly for the take of selfish business interests".<ref name="Alcenat" />

Based on Johnson's investigation, NAACP executive secretary [[Herbert J. Seligman]] wrote in the July 10, 1920, ''[[The Nation]]'':<ref>{{Cite book|last=Pietrusza|first=David|title=1920: The Year of the Six Presidents|date=2008|publisher=Basic Books|page=133}}</ref>

<blockquote>"Military camps have been built throughout the island. The property of natives has been taken for military use. Haitians carrying a gun were for a time shot on sight. Machine guns have been turned on crowds of unarmed natives, and United States Marines have, by accounts which several of them gave me in casual conversation, not troubled to investigate how many were killed or wounded."</blockquote>According to Johnson, there was only one reason why the United States occupied Haiti:<ref name="Hudson-2013" />
{{Pullquote
| quote = "[T]o understand why the United States landed and has for five years maintained military forces in that country, why some three thousand Haitian men, women, and children have been shot down by American rifles and machine guns, it is necessary, among other things, to know that the National City Bank of New York is very much interested in Haiti. It is necessary to know that the National City Bank controls the National Bank of Haiti and is the depository for all of the Haitian national funds that are being collected by American officials, and that Mr. R. L. Farnham, vice-president of the National City Bank, is virtually the representative of the State Department in matters relating to the island republic."
}}

Two years after Johnson published his findings, a congressional investigation began in the United States in 1922.<ref name="Hudson-2013" /> The report from Congress did not include testimony from Haitians and ignored allegations involving National City Bank of New York and U.S. Marines.<ref name="Hudson-2013" /> Congress concluded the report by defending a continued occupation of Haiti, arguing that "chronic revolution, anarchy, barbarism, and ruin" would befall upon Haiti if the United States withdrew.<ref name="Hudson-2013" /> Johnson described the congressional investigation as "on the whole, a whitewash".<ref name="Hudson-2013" />

===Borno presidency===
[[File:President of Haiti arrives in Washington. The Secretary of State, Frank B. Kellogg, and other high officiai of the government greeted the President of Haiti, Louis Borno, upon his arrival in LCCN2016888075.tif|thumb|President Borno on an official visit to the U.S. in 1926]]

In 1922, Dartiguenave was replaced by [[Louis Borno]], with the US-appointed General [[John H. Russell, Jr.]] serving as High Commissioner. General Russell worked on the behalf of the United States Department of State and was authorized as the representative to carry out treaty works.<ref name="Munro-1969" />

====National City Bank acquires BNRH====
On August 17, 1922, BNRH was completely acquired by National City Bank, its headquarters was moved to New York City and Haiti's debt to France was moved to be paid to American investors.<ref name="Hubert-1947" /><ref name="Hudson-2017" /><ref name="Munro-1969" /> Following the acquisition of BNRH, the November 1922 issue of National City Bank's employee journal ''No. 8'' exclaimed "Bank of Haiti is Ours!"<ref name="Hudson-2017" /> According to professor Peter James Hudson, "such control represented the end of independence and, as the BNRH and the republic's gold reserve became mere entries on the ledgers of the City Bank, a sign of a return to colonial servitude".<ref name="Hudson-2017" />

====Forced labor====
The Borno-Russell government oversaw the use of [[forced labor]] to expand the economy and to complete infrastructure projects.<ref name="Alcenat" /> [[Sisal]] was introduced to Haiti as a commodity crop, and sugar and cotton became significant exports.{{sfn|Heinl|1996|pp=454–455}} However, efforts to develop commercial agriculture met with limited success, in part because much of Haiti's labor force was employed as seasonal workers in the more-established sugar industries of [[Cuba]] and the [[Dominican Republic]]. An estimated 30,000–40,000 Haitian laborers, known in Cuba as ''braceros,'' went annually to the [[Oriente Province]] between 1913 and 1931.<ref name="Woodling-2004">{{Cite journal | first1 = Bridget | last1 = Woodling | first2 = Richard | last2 = Moseley-Williams | title = Needed but Unwanted: Haitian Immigrants and Their Descendants in the Dominican Republic | publisher = Catholic Institute for International Relations | place = London | year = 2004 | page = 24}}</ref> The [[Great Depression]] disastrously affected the prices of Haiti's exports and destroyed the tenuous gains of the previous decade. Under press laws, Borno frequently imprisoned newspaper press that criticized his government.<ref name="Munro-1969" />

====Les Cayes massacre====
{{Main|Les Cayes massacre}}

President [[Herbert Hoover]] had become increasingly pressured about the effects of occupying Haiti at the time and began inquiring about a withdrawal strategy.<ref name="Munro-1969" /> By 1929, Haitians had grown angered with the Borno-Russell government and American occupation, with demands for [[direct elections]] increasing.<ref name="Munro-1969" /> In early December 1929, protests against the American occupation began at the Service Technique de l’Agriculture et de l’Enseignement Professionnel's main school.<ref name="Munro-1969" /> On December 6, 1929, about 1,500 Haitians peacefully protesting local economic conditions in [[Les Cayes]] were fired upon by U.S. Marines, with the massacre resulting in 12 to 22 Haitians dead and 51 injured.<ref name="Belleau-2016" /><ref name="Munro-1969" /><ref name="Pezzullo-2006" /><ref name="onwar" /><ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Danticat|first=Edwidge|title=The Long Legacy of Occupation in Haiti|url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/haiti-us-occupation-hundred-year-anniversary|url-status=live|access-date=June 2, 2021|magazine=[[The New Yorker]]|date=July 28, 2015|language=en-US|archive-date=May 20, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210520152055/https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/haiti-us-occupation-hundred-year-anniversary}}</ref> The massacre resulted in international outrage, with President Hoover calling on Congress to investigate conditions in Haiti the following day.<ref name="Munro-1969" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|title=1929: Cayes Massacre|url=https://tucson.com/news/1929-cayes-massacre/image_c89bc0f7-d61b-54be-ac38-c6c2af0cfcdc.html|url-status=live|access-date=June 2, 2021|website=[[Arizona Daily Star]]|date=April 22, 2021|language=en|archive-date=June 2, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602214859/https://tucson.com/news/1929-cayes-massacre/image_c89bc0f7-d61b-54be-ac38-c6c2af0cfcdc.html}}</ref>

====Forbes Commission, Borno's resignation====
President Hoover would later appoint two commissions, including one headed by a former U.S. governor of the [[Insular Government of the Philippine Islands|Philippines]] [[William Cameron Forbes]]''.''<ref name="Musicant" />{{rp|232–233}}<ref name="Belleau-2016" /> The commission arrived in Haiti on February 28, 1930, with President Hoover demanding the commission to determine "when and how we are to withdraw from Haiti" and "what we shall do in the meantime".<ref name="Munro-1969" /> The Forbes Commission praised the material improvements that the U.S. administration had achieved, but it criticized the continued exclusion of Haitian nationals from positions of real authority in the government and the gendarmerie. In more general terms, the commission asserted that "the social forces that created [instability] still remain – poverty, ignorance, and the lack of a tradition or desire for orderly free government."<ref>[http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/haiti19.htm "Occupation of Haiti 1915–34"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100209011844/http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/haiti19.htm |date=February 9, 2010 }}, Globalsecurity.org.</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Forbes|first=William Cameron|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vo1OQoEaCawC&q=%22poverty%2C+ignorance%2C+and+the+lack+of+a+tradition+or+desire+for+orderly+free+government%22&pg=PA19|title=Report of the President's Commission for the Study and Review of Conditions in the Republic of Haiti: March 26, 1930|collaboration=Forbes Commission|date=1930|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|pages=19|language=en|author-link=William Cameron Forbes|access-date=October 3, 2020|archive-date=December 15, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211215005730/https://books.google.com/books?id=vo1OQoEaCawC&q=%22poverty%2C+ignorance%2C+and+the+lack+of+a+tradition+or+desire+for+orderly+free+government%22&pg=PA19|url-status=live}}</ref> The commission concluded that occupation of Haiti was a failure and that the United States did not "understand the social problems of Haiti".<ref name="Pezzullo-2006" />

With increased calls for direct elections, American officials feared violence if demands were not met.<ref name="Munro-1969" /> An agreement was made that resulted with President Borno's resignation and the establishment of Haitian banker [[Louis Eugène Roy]] as an [[interim president]].<ref name="Munro-1969" /> In the agreement proposed by the Forbes Commission, Roy would be elected by Congress to serve as president until a direct election for Congress was held, which is when Roy would resign.<ref name="Munro-1969" /> American officials said that if Congress were to refuse, Roy would be installed as president forcibly.<ref name="Munro-1969" />

===Vincent presidency===
Under orders to not interfere with elections, the United States observed [[1930 Haitian parliamentary election|elections on October 14, 1930]], that resulted with Haitian [[nationalist]] candidates being elected.<ref name="Munro-1969" /> [[Sténio Vincent]] was elected President of Haiti by the Congress of Haiti in November 1930.<ref name="Munro-1969" /> The new nationalist government had a tense relationship with American officials.<ref name="Munro-1969" /> By the end of 1930, Haitians were being trained by Americans for administration roles of their own nation.<ref name="Munro-1969" /> When additional American commissions began to arrive in Haiti, popular unrest broke out and President Vincent reached a secret agreement to ease tensions with the United States in exchange to grant more power to American officials to enact their "Haitianization" policies.<ref name="Munro-1969" />

Franklin D. Roosevelt, who as Assistant Secretary of the Navy said he was responsible for drafting the 1918 constitution,<ref name="Munro-1969" /> was a proponent of the "[[Good Neighbor policy]]" for the US role in the Caribbean and Latin America.<ref name="United States Department of State-2007" /> The United States and Haiti agreed on August 7, 1933, to end the occupation.<ref name="Munro-1969" /> On a visit to Cap-Haïtien in July 1934, Roosevelt reaffirmed the August 1933 disengagement agreement. The last contingent of US Marines departed on August 15, 1934, after a formal transfer of authority to the Garde.<ref name="Haite1934">p 223 – {{cite book| last = Benjamin Beede| title = The War of 1898 and U.S. Interventions, 1898–1934: An Encyclopedia| year = 1994| edition = May 1, 1994| pages = [https://archive.org/details/americanrevoluti0000unse_o8w2/page/784 784]| publisher = Routledge; 1 edition| isbn = 0-8240-5624-8| url = https://archive.org/details/americanrevoluti0000unse_o8w2/page/784}}<BR>''The Haitian and U.S. governments reached a mutually satisfactory agreement in the Executive Accord of August 7, 1933, and on August 15, the last marines departed.''</ref> The U.S. retained influence on Haiti's external finances until 1947, as per the 1919 treaty that required an American financial advisor through the life of Haiti's acquired loan.<ref name="Munro-1969" /><ref name="Schmidt-2">Schmidt, Hans. ''The United States Occupation of Haiti, 1915–1934,'' New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1995. (232)</ref>

==Effects==

===Economy===
The occupation was costly for the Haitian government; American advisors collected about 5% of Haiti's revenue while the 1915 treaty with the United States limited Haiti's income, resulting with fewer jobs for the government to assign.<ref name="Gebrekidan-2022"/><ref name="Munro-1969" /> Numerous agricultural changes included the introduction of [[sisal]]. Sugarcane and [[cotton]] became significant exports, boosting prosperity.<ref name="Henl, pp. 454–455">Henl, pp. 454–455.</ref> However, efforts to develop commercial agriculture produced limited results while American agricultural businesses removed the property from thousands of Haitian peasants to produce bananas, sisal and rubber for export, resulting with lower domestic food production.<ref name="Hubert-1947" /><ref name="Woodling-2004" />

Haitian traditionalists, based in rural areas, were highly resistant to [[United States|U.S.]]-backed changes, while the urban elites, typically mixed-race, welcomed the growing economy, but wanted more political control.<ref name="Encylopedia Britannica - Haiti">[https://www.britannica.com/place/Haiti "Haiti"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150503131020/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/251961/Haiti |date=May 3, 2015 }}, ''Encyclopædia Britannica''.</ref><ref name="Munro-1969" /> Following the end of the occupation in 1934, under the Presidency of [[Sténio Vincent]] (1930–1941),<ref name="Encylopedia Britannica - Haiti" /><ref>{{cite journal |url=http://historicalstudiesineducation.ca/index.php/edu_hse-rhe/article/view/2357 |title=Education During the American Occupation of Haiti, 1915–1934 |journal=Historical Studies in Education |volume=22 |issue=2 |pages=1–17 |author=Angulo, A. J. |year=2010 |access-date=July 24, 2013 |archive-date=March 4, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210304044548/https://historicalstudiesineducation.ca/index.php/edu_hse-rhe/article/view/2357 |url-status=live }}</ref> debts were still outstanding and the U.S. financial advisor-general receiver handled the budget until 1941 when three American and three Haitian directors headed by an American manager assumed the role.<ref name="Encylopedia Britannica - Haiti" /><ref name="Munro-1969" /> Haiti's loan debt to the United States was about twenty percent of the nation's annual revenue.<ref name="Munro-1969" />

Formal American influence on Haiti's economy would conclude in 1947.<ref name="Schmidt-2" /> The [[United Nations]] and the United States Department of State would report at the time that Haitian rural peasants, who comprised 90% of the nation's population, lived "close to starvation level".<ref name="Gebrekidan-2022"/><ref name="United States Department of State-1949" />

===Infrastructure===
The occupation improved some of Haiti's [[infrastructure]] and centralized power in Port-au-Prince, though much of the funds collected by the United States was not used to modernize Haiti.<ref name="United States Department of State-2007" /><ref name="Bunce-2003" /><ref name="Encylopedia Britannica - Haiti" /> Corvée forced labor of Haitians, that was enforced by the US-operated gendarmerie, was used for infrastructure projects, particularly for road building. Forced labor would ultimately result in the deaths of hundreds to thousands of Haitians.<ref name="Belleau-2016" /> Infrastructure improvements included {{Convert|1700|km|mi}} of roads being made usable, 189 bridges built, the rehabilitation of irrigation canals, the construction of hospitals, schools, and public buildings, and drinking water was brought to the main cities. Port-au-Prince became the first Caribbean city to have a phone service with automatic dialing. Agricultural education was organized, with a central school of agriculture and 69 farms in the country.{{sfn|Heinl|1996|pp=454–455}}<ref name=state/>

The majority of Haitians believed that the public works projects enforced by the US Marines were unsatisfactory.<ref name="Encylopedia Britannica - Haiti" /> American officers who controlled Haiti at the time spent more on their own salaries than on the public health budget for two million Haitians.<ref name="Gebrekidan-2022"/> A 1949 report by the United States Department of State wrote that irrigation systems that were recently constructed were "not in good condition".<ref name="United States Department of State-1949" />

===Education===
The United States redesigned the education system. It dismantled the [[liberal arts]] education which the Haitians had inherited (and adapted) from the French system.<ref name="Schmidt-3" /> With the Service Technique de l’Agriculture et de l’Enseignement Professionnel, Americans emphasized agricultural and [[vocational training]], similar to its industrial education for minorities and immigrants in the United States.<ref name="Munro-1969" /><ref name="Schmidt-3" /> Dr. [[Robert Russa Moton]] was tasked with assessing the Service Technique, concluding that though the objectives were admirable, performance was not satisfactory and criticized the large amount of funding it received compared to average Haitian public schools, which were in poor condition.<ref name="Munro-1969" />

Elite Haitians despised the system, believing it was discriminatory against their people.<ref name="Munro-1969" /><ref name="Schmidt-3">Schmidt, p. 183.</ref> The mulatto elite also feared the creation of an educated middle class that would potentially lead to the loss of their influence.<ref name="Munro-1969" />

===Human rights abuses===
[[File:Haitian Gendarmerie.jpg|thumb|[[Gendarmerie of Haiti]] personnel, who were commanded by United States Marines]]

The United States Marines ruled Haiti as a [[military regime]] using a constant state of [[martial law]], operating the newly created Haitian gendarmerie to suppress Haitians who opposed occupation.<ref name="Alcenat" /><ref name="Hudson-2013" /> Between 1915 and 1930, Haitians represented only about 35–40% of officers in the gendarmes.<ref name="Munro-1969" /> During the occupation of Haiti by the United States, human rights abuses were committed against the native Haitian population.<ref name="Alcenat" /><ref name="United States Department of State-2007" /> Such actions involved [[censorship]], [[concentration camps]], [[forced labor]], [[racial segregation]], [[religious persecution]] of [[Haitian Vodou]] practitioners and [[torture]].<ref name="Alcenat" /><ref name="United States Department of State-2007" /><ref name="Belleau-2016" />

Overall, American troops and the Haitian gendarmerie killed several thousand  Haitian civilians during the rebellions between 1915 and 1920, though the exact death toll is unknown.<ref name="Gebrekidan-2022"/><ref name="Belleau-2016" /> During Senate hearings in 1921, the commandant of the Marine Corps reported that, in the 20 months of active unrest, 2,250 Haitian rebels had been killed. However, in a report to the Secretary of the Navy, he reported the death toll as being 3,250.<ref>{{cite book|author=Hans Schmidt|title=The United States Occupation of Haiti, 1915–1934|publisher=[[Rutgers University Press]]|year=1971|isbn=9780813522036|page=102}}</ref> According to [[Haitian Americans|Haitian American]] academic [[Michel-Rolph Trouillot]], about 5,500 Haitians died in [[labor camps]] alone.<ref name="Belleau-2016" /> Haitian historian [[Roger Gaillard (historian)|Roger Gaillard]], estimated that in total, including rebel combatants and civilians, at least 15,000 Haitians were killed throughout the occupation.<ref name="Belleau-2016" /> According to [[Paul Farmer]], the higher estimates are not supported by most historians outside Haiti.<ref name="Farmer-2003" />

American troops also performed [[union busting|union-busting]] actions, often for American businesses like the [[Haitian American Sugar Company]], the [[Haitian American Development Corporation]] and [[National City Bank of New York]].<ref name="Alcenat" /><ref name="Hudson-2013" />

====Executions and killings====
[[File:Corps_de_Charlemagne_Péralte.jpg|thumb|The photograph of [[Charlemagne Péralte]]'s body distributed by U.S. troops to Haitians]]

Under American occupation, [[extrajudicial executions]] were committed against Haitians.<ref name="Gebrekidan-2022"/> During the second Caco war of 1918–1919, many Caco prisoners were [[summary executions|summarily executed]] by Marines and the gendarmerie on orders from their superiors.<ref name="Belleau-2016" /> On June 4, 1916, Marines executed Caco General Mizrael Codio and ten others captured in [[Fonds-Verrettes]].<ref name="Belleau-2016" /> In [[Hinche]] in January 1919, Captain Ernest Lavoie of the gendarmerie, a former United States Marine, allegedly ordered the killing of nineteen Caco rebels according to American officers, though no charges were placed due to no physical evidence being presented.<ref name="Belleau-2016" /> During the investigation of two marines accused of illegally executing Haitians, the attorney of the soldiers minimized their actions, saying that such killings were common, prompting larger investigations into the matter.<ref name="Bunce-2003" />

One controversial event occurred when in an attempt to [[Psychological warfare|discourage rebel support]] from the Haitian population, the US troops took a photograph of [[Charlemagne Péralte]]'s body tied to a door following his assassination in 1919, and distributed it in the country.<ref name="Alcenat" /><ref name="Musicant2">Musicant, I, The Banana Wars, 1990, New York: MacMillan Publishing Co., {{ISBN|0025882104}}</ref>{{rp|218}} However, it had the opposite effect, with the image's resemblance to a crucifixion making it an icon of the resistance and establishing Péralte as a martyr.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=An Iconic Image of Haitian Liberty|url=http://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/haiti-u-s-occupation-charlemagne-peralte|access-date=January 6, 2017|magazine=The New Yorker|date=July 28, 2015|archive-date=February 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210213214318/https://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/haiti-u-s-occupation-charlemagne-peralte|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:American poses with dead Haitian revolutionaries after being killed by US Marine machine gun fire - 10-11-1915.jpg|thumb|alt=Black and white photo of a man standing among bodies lying on the ground|American poses with dead Haitians killed by U.S. Marine machine gun fire on October 11, 1915]]
[[Mass killing]]s of civilians were allegedly committed by United States Marines and their Haitian gendarmerie subordinates.<ref name="Belleau-2016" /> According to Haitian historian [[Roger Gaillard (historian)|Roger Gaillard]], such killings involved [[rape]], [[lynchings]], summary executions, burning villages and [[Death by burning|deaths by burning]]. Internal documents of the [[United States Army]] justified the killing of women and children, describing them as "auxiliaries" of rebels. A private memorandum of the Secretary of the Navy criticized "indiscriminate killings against natives". American officers responsible for acts of violence were given names in Creole such as "Linx" for Commandant Freeman Lang and "Ouiliyanm" for Sergeant Dorcas Lee Williams. According to American journalist H. J. Seligman, Marines would practice "bumping off Gooks", describing the shooting of civilians in a similar manner as [[killing for sport]].<ref name="Belleau-2016" />

Beginning in 1919, American troops began attacking rural villages.<ref name="Belleau-2016" /> In November 1919, villagers in [[Thomazeau]] hiding in a nearby forest sent a letter – the only surviving testament of the event – to a French priest asking for protection.<ref name="Belleau-2016" /> In the letter, survivors wrote that at least two American planes bombed and shot at two villages, killing half of the population, including men, women, children and the elderly.<ref name="Belleau-2016" /> On December 5, 1919, American planes bombed [[Les Cayes]] in a possible act of intimidation.<ref name="Belleau-2016" /> American pilots were investigated for their actions, though none were condemned.<ref name="Belleau-2016" /> These actions were described by anthropologist Jean-Philippe Belleau as possibly "the first ever carried out by air on civilian populations".<ref name="Belleau-2016" />

====Forced labor====
A [[corvée]] policy of forced labor was enacted upon Haitians, enforced by the U.S.-operated Haitian gendarmerie in the interest of improving economic conditions to fulfill foreign debts – including payments to the United States – and to improve the nation's infrastructure.<ref name="Alcenat" /><ref name="United States Department of State-2007" /><ref name="UOH" /> The corvée system was found in Haiti's rural code by Major [[Smedley D. Butler]], who testified that forced labor cut the cost of {{Convert|1|mi|km}} of road construction from $51,000 per mile to $205 per mile.<ref name="Bunce-2003" />

The corvée resulted in the deaths of hundreds to thousands of Haitians. Haitians were tied together in rope and those fleeing labor projects were often shot.<ref name="Gebrekidan-2022"/> According to [[Haitian Americans|Haitian American]] academic [[Michel-Rolph Trouillot]], about 5,500 Haitians died in [[labor camps]].<ref name="Belleau-2016" /> In addition, Roger Gaillard writes that some Haitians were killed fleeing the camps or if they did not work satisfactorily.<ref name="Belleau-2016" /> Many of the deaths and killings attributed to forced labor occurred during the extensive construction of roads in Haiti.<ref name="Belleau-2016" /> In some instances, Haitians were forced to work on projects without pay and while shackled to chains.<ref name="Alcenat" /> The corvée system's treatment of Haitians has been compared to the system of bondage labor enforced upon black Americans during the [[Reconstruction era]] following the [[American Civil War]].<ref name="Alcenat" />

====Racism====
Many of those tasked with the occupation of Haiti espoused [[racist]] beliefs.<ref name="Gebrekidan-2022"/> The first Marine commander ashore assigned was Colonel [[Littleton Waller]], who had a history of racism against [[mulattos]], describing them as "real nigger ... real nigs beneath the surface".<ref name="Bunce-2003" /><ref name="Chomsky-2015">{{Cite book |last=Chomsky |first=Noam |title=Turning the Tide: U.S. Intervention in Central America and the Struggle for Peace |publisher=[[Haymarket Books]] |year=2015 |pages=119}}</ref> Wilson's Secretary of State [[Robert Lansing]] also held racist beliefs, writing at the time that "the African race are devoid of any capacity for political organization".<ref name="Gebrekidan-2022"/><ref name="Chomsky-2015" /> The United States introduced [[Jim Crow laws]] to Haiti with racist attitudes towards the Haitian people by the American occupation forces that were blatant and widespread.<ref name="Gebrekidan-2022"/><ref name="Pezzullo-2006" /><ref name="Pamphile-2008" /> Many of the Marines chosen to occupy Haiti were from the Southern United States, specifically [[Alabama]] and [[Louisiana]], resulting in increased racial tensions.<ref name="Belleau-2016" /><ref name="Pezzullo-2006" /> Racism has been recognized as a factor leading to increased violence by American troops against Haitians. One general described Haitians as "niggers who pretend to speak French".<ref name="Belleau-2016" />

Initially, officers and the elites intermingled at social gatherings and clubs. Such gatherings were minimized when families of American forces began arriving.<ref name="Pamphile-2008" /> Relations degraded rapidly upon departure of officers for World War I.<ref name="Pamphile-2008" /> The Haitian elite found the American junior and non-commissioned officers to be ignorant and uneducated.<ref name="Pamphile-2008" /> There were numerous reports of remaining Marines drinking to excess, fighting, and sexually assaulting women.<ref name="Pamphile-2008" /> The situation was so bad that Marine general [[John A. Lejeune]], based in Washington, D.C., banned the sale of alcohol to any military personnel.<ref name="Pamphile-2008">{{cite book|last1=Pamphile|first1=Léon Dénius|title=Clash of Cultures: America's Educational Strategies in Occupied Haiti, 1915–1934|date=2008|publisher=University Press of America|location=Lanham, Maryland|pages=177}}</ref>

The Americans inhabited neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince in high-quality housing. This neighborhood was called the "millionaires' row".<ref>[[#refSchmidt1995|Schmidt 1995]], p.152.</ref> Hans Schmidt recounted a navy officer's opinion on the matter of segregation: "I can't see why they wouldn't have a better time with their crowd, just as I do with mine."<ref>[[#refSchmidt1995|Schmidt 1995]], p.137-38.</ref> American racial intolerance provoked indignation and resentment – and eventually a racial pride that was reflected in the work of a new generation of Haitian historians, [[ethnologist]]s, writers, artists, and others. Many of these later became active in politics and government. The elite Haitians, mostly mixed-race with higher levels of education and capital, continued to dominate the country's [[bureaucracy]] and to strengthen its role in national affairs.{{cn|date=September 2024}}

[[Colorism]], which had existed since French colonization, had also become prevalent once more under American occupation and racial segregation became common.<ref name="Alcenat" /> All three rulers during the occupation came from the country's mixed-race elite.<ref name="Schmidt" /> At the same time, many in the growing black professional classes departed from the traditional veneration of Haiti's French cultural heritage and emphasized the nation's African roots.<ref name="Schmidt">Schmidt, p. 23.</ref> Among these were ethnologist [[Jean Price-Mars]] and [[François Duvalier]], editor of the journal ''Les Griots'' (the title referred to traditional African oral historians, the storytellers) and future [[Totalitarianism|totalitarian]] president of Haiti. The racism and violence that occurred during the United States occupation of Haiti, inspired black nationalism among Haitians and left a powerful impression on the young Duvalier.<ref name="Pezzullo-2006" />

====Torture====
The torture of Haitian rebels or those suspected of rebelling against the United States was common among occupying Marines. Some methods of torture included the use of [[Water cure (torture)|water cure]], hanging prisoners by their genitals and ''ceps'', which involved pushing both sides of the [[tibia]] with the butts of two guns.<ref name="Belleau-2016" />

==Analysis==

===20th century===
Haitian writers and public figures also responded to the occupation. For example, a minister of public education, [[Dantès Bellegarde]] raised issues with the events in his book, ''La Résistance Haïtienne (l'Occupation Américaine d'Haïti)''. Bellegarde outlines the contradictions of the occupation with the realities. He accused President Wilson of writing the new Haitian Constitution to benefit the Americans, and wrote that Wilson's main purpose was to remove the previous Haitian clause that stated foreigners could not own land in the country. The original clause was designed to protect Haiti's independence from foreign powers.<ref>{{Cite web|date=December 13, 2003|title=Dantès Bellegarde|url=http://ile-en-ile.org/bellegarde/|access-date=February 9, 2021|archive-date=February 15, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210215015651/http://ile-en-ile.org/bellegarde/|url-status=live}}</ref> With the clause removed, Americans (including whites and other foreigners) could now own land. Furthermore, Bellegarde discusses the powerlessness of Haitian officials in the eyes of the Occupation because nothing could be done without the consent of the Americans. However, the main issue that Bellegarde articulates is that the Americans tried to change the education system of Haiti from one that was French based to that of the Americans. Even though Bellegarde was resistant he had a plan to build a university in Haiti that was based on the American system. He wanted a university with various schools of science, business, art, medicine, law, agriculture, and languages all connected by a common area and library. However, that dream was never realized because of the new direction the Haitian government was forced to take.

[[Jean Price-Mars]]<ref>[http://www.lehman.cuny.edu/ile.en.ile/paroles/price-mars.html "Jean Price-Mars"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120411185718/http://www.lehman.cuny.edu/ile.en.ile/paroles/price-mars.html |date=April 11, 2012 }}, Lehman Center, City University of New York</ref> associated the reasons behind the occupation to the division between the Haitian elite and the poorer people of the country. He noted that the groups were divided over the practice of [[Haitian Vodou]], with the implication that the elites did not recognize Vodou because they connected it to an evil practice.<ref>{{cite book|last=Price-Mars|first=Jean|title=So Spoke The Uncle|publisher=Three Continents Press|year=1983|isbn=0894103903|location=Washington, D.C.|pages=1–221}}</ref>

===21st century===
Pezullo writes in his 2006 book ''Plunging Into Haiti: Clinton, Aristide, and the Defeat of Diplomacy'' that the racism similar to Jim Crow laws in the United States inspired [[black nationalism]] within Haiti and ignited future support for Haitian dictator [[François Duvalier]].<ref name="Pezzullo-2006" />

In a 2013 article by Peter James Hudson published in ''[[Radical History Review]]'', Hudson wrote:<ref name="Hudson-2013" />
{{Blockquote|text=Ostensibly initiated on humane grounds, the occupation had not fulfilled any of its stated goals of building infrastructure, expanding education, or providing internal or regional stability. Repressive violence emerged as its only purpose and logic.}}
Hudson further stated that the motives of American businessmen to become involved in Haiti were due to [[racial capitalism]] motivated by [[white supremacy]].<ref name="Hudson-2013" />

According to a 2020 study which contrasts the American occupations of both Haiti and the Dominican Republic, the United States had a longer and more domineering occupation of Haiti because of perceived racial differences between the two populations. Dominican elites articulated a European–Spanish identity – in contrast to Haitian blackness – which led U.S. policymakers to accept leaving the territory in the population's hands.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Pampinella|first=Stephen|date=2020|title="The Way of Progress and Civilization": Racial Hierarchy and US State Building in Haiti and the Dominican Republic (1915–1922)|url=https://academic.oup.com/jogss/advance-article/doi/10.1093/jogss/ogaa050/6030111|journal=Journal of Global Security Studies|volume=6|issue=3|language=en|doi=10.1093/jogss/ogaa050|access-date=December 18, 2020|archive-date=December 15, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211215005650/https://academic.oup.com/jogss/article-abstract/6/3/ogaa050/6030111?redirectedFrom=fulltext|url-status=live}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[History of the Dominican Republic]]
* [[History of Haiti]]
* [[Banana Wars]]
* [[Battle of Fort Dipitie]]
* [[Battle of Fort Rivière]]
* [[Dominican Republic–United States relations]]
* [[United States occupation of the Dominican Republic (1916–1924)]]
* [[Haiti during World War I]]
* [[Haiti–United States relations]]
* [[Foreign interventions by the United States]]
* [[Foreign policy of the United States]]
* [[Foreign relations of the United States]]
* [[Latin America–United States relations]]
* [[United States involvement in regime change]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book |last=Heinl |first=Robert |title=Written in Blood: The History of the Haitian People |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780761802303 |url-access=registration |publisher=University Press of America |location=Lantham, Md. |year=1996 }}
*{{cite book|last=Johnson|first=Wray R. | title = Biplanes at War: US Marine Corps Aviation in the Small Wars Era, 1915–1934|year=2019| publisher = University Press of Kentucky| isbn=9780813177069}} <small>- Total pages: 440 </small>
* {{cite book |last=Schmidt |first=Hans |title=The United States Occupation of Haiti, 1915–1934 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |location=New Jersey |year=1995|ref=refSchmidt1995}}
* {{cite book |last1=Weinstein |first1=Brian |last2=Segal |first2=Aaron |title=Haiti: Political Failures, Cultural Successes |year=1984 |edition=February 15, 1984 |pages=175 |publisher=Praeger Publishers| isbn= 0-275-91291-4|ref=refWeinsteinSegal1984}}
* {{cite book|last=Weston |first=Rubin Francis |title=Racism in U.S. Imperialism: The Influence of Racial Assumptions on American Foreign Policy, 1893–1946 |publisher=University of South Carolina Press |location=Columbia, S.C. |year=1972 |ref=refWeston1972}}

==Further reading==
{{Refbegin}}
* [[Max Boot|Boot, Max]]. ''The Savage Wars of Peace: Small Wars and the Rise of American Power. '' New York, Basic Books: 2002. {{ISBN|0-465-00721-X}}
* {{cite book | author=Dalleo, Raphael | title=American Imperialism's Undead: The Occupation of Haiti and the Rise of Caribbean Anticolonialism| publisher=University of Virginia Press | year=2016 | isbn=978-0-8139-3894-3}}
* {{Cite news |last1=Gebrekidan |first1=Selam |last2=Apuzzo |first2=Matt |last3=Porter |first3=Catherine |last4=Méheut |first4=Constant |date=May 20, 2022 |title=Invade Haiti, Wall Street Urged. The U.S. Obliged. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/20/world/haiti-wall-street-us-banks.html |access-date=May 23, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}
* Harper's Magazine advertisement: [http://www.boondocksnet.com/ai/ailtexts/haiti_sd_ad.html Why Should You Worry About Haiti?] by the [[Haiti-Santo Domingo Independence Society]]
* {{cite book | author=Hudson, Peter| title=Bankers and Empire: How Wall Street Colonized the Caribbean | publisher=University of Chicago Press | year=2017 | isbn=978-0-2264-5911-0}}
* {{cite journal |last=Marvin |first=George |date=February 1916 |title=Assassination And Intervention in Haiti: Why The United States Government Landed Marines On The Island And Why It Keeps Them There |journal=[[World's Work|The World's Work: A History of Our Time]] |volume=XXXI |pages=404–410 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=09_Sr9emceQC&pg=PA404 |access-date=August 4, 2009 |archive-date=June 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602043132/https://books.google.com/books?id=09_Sr9emceQC&pg=PA404 |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book | author=Renda, Mary A. | title=Taking Haiti: Military Occupation and the Culture of U.S. Imperialism, 1915–1940 | url=https://archive.org/details/takinghaiti00mary | url-access=registration | publisher=University of North Carolina Press | year=2001 | isbn=0-8078-4938-3 }}
* {{cite book | author=Schmidt, Hans | title=United States occupation of Haiti (1915-1934)| publisher=Rutgers University Press | year=1995 | isbn=0-8135-2203-X}}
* Spector, Robert M. "W. Cameron Forbes in Haiti: Additional Light on the Genesis of the 'Good Neighbor' Policy" ''Caribbean Studies'' (1966) 6#2 pp 28–45. 
* {{cite book | author=Weston, Rubin Francis | title=Racism in U.S. Imperialism: The Influence of Racial Assumptions on American Foreign Policy, 1893–1946 | publisher=University of South Carolina Press | year=1972 | isbn=0-87249-219-2}}
{{Refend}}

===Primary sources===
* Forbes, William Cameron. ''Report of the President's Commission for the Study and Review of Conditions in the Republic of Haiti: March 26, 1930'' (US Government Printing Office, 1930) [https://books.google.com/books?id=w1FnAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22W.+Cameron+Forbes&pg=PA1 online]

{{American conflicts}}
{{Haiti topics}}
{{Years in Haiti}}
{{United States intervention in Latin America}}
{{Woodrow Wilson}}
{{Calvin Coolidge}}
{{Herbert Hoover}}
{{Franklin D. Roosevelt}}
{{Territories of the United States}}
{{Authority control}}
{{coord missing|Haiti}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:United States occupation of Haiti}}
[[Category:United States occupation of Haiti|*]]
[[Category:American imperialism]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1915]]
[[Category:Republic of Haiti (1859–1957)]]
[[Category:Invasions of Haiti]]
[[Category:Wars involving Haiti]]
[[Category:Wars involving the United States|Haiti]]
[[Category:Military history of Haiti]]
[[Category:20th-century military history of the United States|Haiti 1915-1934]]
[[Category:Banana Wars]]
[[Category:1915 in Haiti]]
[[Category:1915 in the United States]]
[[Category:American military occupations]]
[[Category:United States Marine Corps in the 20th century]]
[[Category:1915 in international relations]]
[[Category:Haiti–United States military relations]]
[[Category:United States involvement in regime change]]
[[Category:Presidency of Woodrow Wilson]]
[[Category:Presidency of Warren G. Harding]]
[[Category:Presidency of Calvin Coolidge]]
[[Category:Presidency of Herbert Hoover]]
[[Category:Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt]]
[[Category:Invasions by the United States]]
[[Category:Citigroup]]