When we these dictators learn to stop flashing money in these desperately poor countries? This dark skinned First Family fronted for the Creole elite of Haiti. So perhaps living and fronting just like a Creole is not going to get the job done. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
It is the old conundrum. The first couple did not lack for style. Madame Magliore was glamorous, her children were photogenic and the President was at the ready with an over the top Napoleon style uniform to remind of his military service. This all plays well on stamps but can’t survive the basic question of who pays for this when we are all so poor.
Todays stamp is issue C77 a 1 Gourde airmail stamp issued by Haiti on January 1st, 1954. There were airmail and regular postage versions of this stamp. The tiny airplane in the top right corner and higher denomination denote airmail. The check mark is not an official overstamp but probably applied by the postmaster as part of the cancelation. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 60 cents used.
Yolette Leconte was born to a rich family in Haiti in 1919. At age 17 she married Paul Magloire, a fast rising Army officer 12 years her senior. They had four children. Paul Magloire’s rise was fast because he was corrupt. By 1944 he was head of the military police in Port-au-Prince. In 1946 he participated in a successful coup against President Elie Lescot. Lescot was a member of the small minority of Creoles that are the economic elite. He was close with the USA and Trujillo’s Dominican Republic. This coup was considered hopeful by many in Haiti as it brought a Haitian with dark skin to power. Magloire began to enjoy spoils from both sides of the Haitian racial divide. In 1950 the Creole elite was ready to come back to power but this time they were clever and dashing black officer Paul Magloire was the face of their coup.
The elite being in power stably can lead to some progress. Haiti’s first dam and a new Catholic Cathedral were constructed. Both of course were with outside money but a Haiti that was stable never lacked for outside help. Haiti even began to attract Western tourists including Truman Capote, Irving Berlin, and Noel Cowart. One can image what they were doing in Haiti. Yolette busied herself with shopping trips and the occasional charity photo op. President Paul Magloire had two nicknames either Bon Papa or Old Iron Pants.
The wheels came off the regime due to a woman. No not Yolette but Hazel, Hurricane Hazel. The deadly hurricane was followed by an outpouring of aid from the USA and elsewhere. When that aid did not arrive to those in need, questions were asked. The Magloires did not have good answers to these questions as they stole the money. As the questions turned into riots, the Magloires flew off into exile in New York. After a few years of chaos the Duvalier dictatorship took over and stripped the Magloires of their Haitian citizenship. The exile would be permanent but a comfortable one with their riches intact. Yolette died at age 62 in New York in 1981.
In 1986 the Duvalier line fell in Haiti. Two years later now old man Paul Magloire returned to Haiti. He tried to market his era in Haiti as a golden age. That of course greatly devalues the term golden age but it is Haiti we are talking about. With Haiti’s young population and short life expectancy there were few people who were buying his talk of long ago. Paul Magloire died in Port-au-Prince in 2001 at age 93 in obscurity. The next golden age of Haiti will not be recognized with postage stamps. Their last official issue was in 2003 though there have since been fakes. Haiti can no longer prove a postal service.
Well my drink is empty and I may have a few more while I contemplate the plight of the Haitians. Part of me wants to say you get the leaders you deserve but that just condemns so many to misery. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.