THE DOCS
AND THE HATIANS
INFO ABOUT HE DOCS
Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, the son of the infamously corrupt and authoritarian Haitian president François "Papa Doc" Duvalier, was president of Haiti from 1971 to 1986. Born on July 3, 1951 in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, he grew up largely in isolation, spending his time inside the presidential palace. He rarely left the capital and never traveled outside the country. When Jean-Claude was twenty years old, his father, the self-appointed president-for-life, died. On April 22, 1971, before his father's funeral had even taken place, Jean-Claude Duvalier was installed as president. Obese, clumsy, and clearly affected by the sudden attention from the international press, "Baby Doc," as dubbed by the press, proved to be a weak and impressionable figurehead. For the first years of his presidency, his mother, Simon, and his sister, Marie-Denise, ruled by proxy. Though Jean-Claude released political prisoners from his father's regime, increased cooperation