Haiti and the American Military Occupation (1915–1934) by Raoul B. Altidor, and: American Imperialism's Undead: The Occupation of Haiti and the Rise of Caribbean Anticolonialism by Raphael Dalleo

Abstract

Reviewed by: Haiti and the American Military Occupation (1915–1934) by Raoul B. Altidor, and: American Imperialism's Undead: The Occupation of Haiti and the Rise of Caribbean Anticolonialism by Raphael Dalleo Celucien L. Joseph Haiti and the American Military Occupation (1915–1934). By Raoul B. Altidor. Montreal: CIDIHCA, 2019. ISBN 1643820710. 182 pp. $45.50 paper. American Imperialism's Undead: The Occupation of Haiti and the Rise of Caribbean Anticolonialism. By Raphael Dalleo. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2016. ISBN 0813938945. 256 pp. $75 hardcover, $35 paper. On July 28, 1915, the United States invaded Haiti, beginning nineteen years of occupation through military forces and imperial actions. By the time the military presence and operations of the Occupation ended on August 1, 1934, US imperialism had radically transformed Haiti's civil and political society and reshaped contemporary Haitian-US foreign policies as well as political discourses between Haiti and other countries in the Western Hemisphere. The causes of the historic invasion are numerous and varied, including Haiti's failed governments and political instability prior to the invasion, and US economic interests and imperial expansion. While studies and investigations on the Occupation in Haiti are substantial, other pivotal aspects of US imperialism in the Caribbean as accounted for in the US State Department and Haitian archives have yet to be explored. Although the Occupation reverberated in Caribbean and African diaspora writings, especially in the mid-twentieth century, many stories remain untold. Important new texts by Raoul B. Altidor and Raphael Dalleo intend to shed light on the workings and effects of the Occupation and US imperialism, covering the first half of the twentieth century. While Altidor offers a journalistic perspective, Dalleo's analysis is academic and literary. Altidor's book, Haiti and the American Military Occupation, recounts the history and tragedy of the US military intervention on Haitian soil. The book is divided into ten short chapters (four to ten pages each) and eight [End Page 201] helpful appendices that include important archival documents. Overall, Altidor offers an engaging analysis of existing literature on the US Occupation, and the value of his book lies in its engaging journalistic point of view. For those interested in a rich bibliography of the classic and major texts and documents covering the US Occupation in Haiti, Altidor's book is recommended. Altidor carefully assesses an enormous body of work, drawing out the Occupation's historical causes and impacts on Haitian society and establishing connections among themes of class, race, and white supremacy as they shaped US policies in Haiti. As Altidor describes, the book aims to explain "the environment and consequences of the occupation of Haiti from 1915–1934" (15). In keeping with its journalistic character, the book is built on previous research about the Occupation, and as such it reports what transpired during the period. While the author painstakingly reports key figures and events, he does not cover any new material. Chapter 1 briefly examines the well-known causes of the July 1915 intervention. While the author subscribes to the idea that the reasons for the Occupation included political instability and short-lived administrations in Haiti, he also argues that the United States was interested in expanding its hegemony in this region in the Caribbean (21). Chapter 2 offers a succinct commentary on the historic treaty of 1915 between Haiti and the United States. The document itself is found in appendix E: "The Haitian American Treaty of 1915" (137–144). According to the author's reading of Articles X and XI, this important document clearly establishes the United States' "lasting economic hegemony in Haiti … as the dominant motivating factor for the occupation" (33–34). While the thesis of the chapter is not well developed, the author proposes that the economic and military dimensions of the Occupation eventually led to popular resistance against the occupying forces, including the emergence of the Cacos—guerilla warriors led by Charlemagne Masséna Péralte until he was shot by the US marines, who then circulated a photo of his body in Port-au-Prince. Chapter 3 summarizes the lasting impact of the military presence and operations in Haiti. Such intervention generated radical violence and racist paternalism within...