Estimé's Occupation Of Haiti

Following the ousting of Élie Lescot and the January Revolution of 1946, Haiti was once more in the state of political turmoil, this time divisions growing between the Leftist and the Noirist camps. With an election largely overseen by the army, Dumarsais Estimé assumed the presidential office on August 16, 1946. Although Noirist politicians saw Estimé’s election as a victory of the Noirist movement (given that the new head of state was the first black president since the U.S. Occupation of Haiti), their enthusiasm cooled down as Estimé turned out to be a moderate who aimed at political compromise between black in mulatto élites.

Estimé’s election occurred at the height of color politics in pre-Duvalier