U.S. troops occupy to prevent Rosalvo Bobo, known for his anti-U.S. positions, from becoming president. This occupation lasts until August 1934, using brutal measures to defeat the armed resistance of the Haitian people. The resistance is organized by the Cacos and led by Charlemagne Peralte, until his murder by a U.S. Marine officer. After his murder, the U.S. Military circulates pictures of his corpse tied to a door to intimidate sympathizers, but it has the opposite effect, making Peralte, killed at 33, into a martyr.
Charlemagne Peralte, center, with Cacos
Marine Commander Thorpe told new Marine arrivals that the war would last long enough "to give every man a chance against the Hun in Europe as against the Hun in Santo Domingo." The hand of the Huns was particularly evident in Haiti, he explained: "Whoever is running this revolution is a wise man; he certainly is getting a lot out of the n——-s . . . It shows the handwork of the German."
Col. L. W. T. Waller
In actual fact, the real ruler of Haiti was Col. L. W. T. Waller of the US Marines, fresh from atrocities in the conquest of the Philippines; he was acquitted in court-martial proceedings on grounds that he had merely been following higher orders to take no prisoners and to kill every male Filipino over age 10. Waller particularly despised mulattos: "They are real n——r and no mistake . . . real nigs beneath the surface"; negotiations, in his eyes, meant "bowing and scraping to these coons." This murderous lout was particularly contemptuous of highly educated Haitians such as Philippe Dartiguenave, selected to be president by the Marines and then elected in a "free election" under Marine rule. Wilson's Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan, on the other hand, found the n——s amusing: after a briefing on Haiti, he remarked: "Dear me, think of it. N———s speaking French." His successor, Robert Lansing, also stressed the fear of the Huns in justifying the invasion, while commenting that "the African race are devoid of any capacity for political organization and [have no] genius for government." After the nineteen-year occupation by those who had a "capacity for political organization" that followed, Haiti was left a nightmare of misery and repression."