Leconte, Michel Cincinnatus (?–1912)

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Leconte, Michel Cincinnatus (?–1912)

Michel Cincinnatus Leconte (d. 8 August 1912), president of Haiti (1911–1912). Leconte was one of six Haitian presidents who ruled for very brief periods between 1911 and 1915, an era of chronic political instability that encouraged the U.S. military to intervene in Haitian affairs in 1915. Leconte staged a successful coup against President Antoine Simone. Lasting only from 14 August 1911 to 8 August 1912, Leconte's presidency was subject to the pressures produced by U.S. and German banking and commercial interests that were competing for control over Haitian economic life. With the support of the German merchants in Haiti, Leconte sought to appease native elite elements unhappy about the corruption that had occurred in Simone's dealings with U.S. bankers and railroad businessmen. U.S. diplomatic pressure, as epitomized by the visit of U.S. Secretary of State Philander Knox, encouraged him to impose order upon the country. Leconte reorganized the army and began developing a system of public education before he was killed in a mysterious explosion at the presidential palace in Port-au-Prince.

See alsoHaiti .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Rayford W. Logan, Haiti and the Dominican Republic (1968).

David Nicholls, From Dessalines to Duvalier (1979).

Additional Bibliography

Berloquin-Chassany, Andrés Avelino. Haïti, une démocratie compromise, 1890–1911. Paris: Harmattan, 2004.

                                    Pamela Murray