Turbulent Haiti

An interesting look at how US media covered Haiti in 1962, a year of one of the political crises of the Duvalier dictatorship. Unfortunately, it seems to only be an excerpt, but it's fun to watch nonetheless. Lots of stereotypes of Haiti and vast generalizations are reported as fact (not to mention a lack of depth), but clearly the political crisis in Haiti (I assume the political crisis referred to here is the moment where Duvalier sought to extend his presidency (which he did successfully) and the near-war with Juan Bosch's government in the DR) was important in the minds of US politicians due to the Cuban Revolution and the fall of Trujillo's dictatorship the previous year. The alluded to violation of the security of the Dominican embassy was one of the factors that nearly brought the Dominican Republic to war with Haiti, as well as JFK's own disdain for Papa Doc. While watching this, go ahead and check out these news reels about Duvalier in 1971 and 1972.