Coup Atlas Research Database
← Back to explorer
04112121956SuccessfulForced resignation

Haiti, 1956 — forced resignation

Haiti (HTI)Caribbean, AmericasDecember 12, 1956

Event Summary

In December 1956, President Paul Magloire of Haiti was forced from power by a general strike and mass protests after he tried to cling to office beyond the end of his term. Magloire, a former army colonel who had helped depose two earlier presidents and had won the 1950 election, claimed that a constitutional provision extended his term to May 1957. When he moved to retain power, jailing opposition leaders and dissolving the National Assembly while nominally handing authority to the Supreme Court, the country responded with widespread passive resistance that hardened into a paralyzing general strike.

By December 12 the government was completely shut down, and Magloire gave up and fled the country. Supreme Court Chief Justice Joseph Nemours Pierre-Louis became provisional president, opening a chaotic eight-month succession that ended only with the election of Francois Duvalier in September 1957.

Researched Details

Researched

Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: Paul Magloire, President of Haiti (forced out by general strike, fled the country)
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Paul Magloire (deposed president)
Joseph Nemours Pierre-Louis (Supreme Court chief justice who became provisional president)

Sources

A U.S. State Department summary reported that Magloire resigned after six years in office; his attempt to keep power while jailing opposition leaders and dissolving the National Assembly met a general strike, and by 12 December the government was paralyzed, Magloire gave up, and Chief Justice Joseph Nemours Pierre-Louis became provisional president.
SOURCE REVIEWED U.S. Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955-1957, Vol. VI, Document 347 open source ↗
On 12 December 1956 Magloire's reign ended; having resigned, he fled the country amid strikes and demonstrations, and political instability continued in Haiti for most of the next eight months.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, "Paul Magloire" open source ↗
Widespread strikes beginning in November 1956 paralyzed Port-au-Prince and other cities and forced Magloire's resignation, after which provisional authority passed to Judge Joseph Nemours Pierre-Louis.
SOURCE REVIEWED Grokipedia, "1957 Haitian general election" open source ↗
A presidential succession list records Magloire in office until 12 December 1956, followed by provisional president Joseph Nemours Pierre-Louis from 12 December 1956 to 4 February 1957.
SOURCE REVIEWED Geni, "Presidents of Haiti" project (succession list) open source ↗

Editorial Note

Sources agree Magloire was forced out by a general strike and fled around 12 December 1956 (the Cline dataset date), matching the leader fate of fleeing the country. A primary FRUS summary, Wikipedia, Grokipedia, and a succession list were read directly. This event opens the 1956-1957 Haitian succession crisis and links back to the earlier Haiti records (1946 and 1950), in which Magloire himself helped depose presidents.

Cross-Reference

Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.

Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:

Cline Center id
04112121956

How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Paul Magloire, President of Haiti (forced out by general strike, fled the country).

Baseline coding: Incumbent executive removed from power. Recorded leader fate: deposed; fled the country. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.

Baseline Dataset Citation
Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
Open dataset DOI ↗
⚑ This citation establishes the coded baseline record; use the claim-level sources above for the researched narrative.

Baseline Source-Document Entries

Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Magloire

New York Times

“Haiti Inaugural Tuesday,” October 12, 1957

Chicago Daily Tribune

“Army forces President of Haiti to Quit,” December 13, 1956

Milan

http://workmall.com/wfb 2001/haiti/haiti_history_politics_and_the_military_1934_57.html

This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →

Know something about this event?
Tips are reviewed against sources before anything is added.

Related Records

Haiti — Forced resignation, 19571957-02-07SuccessfulCaribbeanHaiti — Military coup, 19571957-04-02SuccessfulCaribbeanHaiti — Military coup, 19571957-05-21SuccessfulCaribbean