Michel Oreste, the first Haitian president who never wore a uniform, is born

Michel Oreste was born at Jacmel on 8 April 1859. He was a lawyer and a professor, and when the National Assembly elected him president on 4 May 1913 he became the first head of state in Haiti who had never been a soldier. He took office after two presidencies ended in death: Cincinnatus Leconte blown up in 1912, Tancrede Auguste dead in office months later. Oreste backed the German merchants and pushed against Washington on the edge of the First World War. Caco pressure forced him out on 27 January 1914, after eight months. He died in New York on 29 October 1918.