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1971-04-21

1971-04-21: (François Duvalier Dies and Is Succeeded by His Nineteen-Year-Old Son Jean-Claude, the Transition From Papa Doc to Baby Doc Marking the Only Dyna…

Haitian

1971-04-21: (François Duvalier Dies and Is Succeeded by His Nineteen-Year-Old Son Jean-Claude, the Transition From Papa Doc to Baby Doc Marking the Only Dynastic Succession in Haitian History Since Christophe’s Failed Attempt): On April 21, 1971, François Duvalier died in Port-au-Prince and was succeeded by his nineteen-year-old son Jean-Claude Duvalier, whom a new constitution had designated as his successor. The transition from Papa Doc to Baby Doc was the only successful dynastic succession in Haitian history: Dessalines had tried and been assassinated, Christophe had tried and his heir was killed within days of his suicide, and no other president had managed to pass power to a family member. Jean-Claude, born on July 3, 1951, was a poor student who demonstrated no interest in politics and grudgingly assumed a presidency he had not sought. He left the administration of the government in the hands of his mother Simone and his older sister Marie-Denise. Whereas his father was called Papa Doc out of fear and respect, the son was called Baby Doc out of derision. The Duvalier dictatorship would continue for another fifteen years, the terror maintained by the institutional machinery Papa Doc had built, the governance hollowed out by a young man who preferred parties to policy.