Background
Sténio Joseph Vincent was born on 22 February 1874 in Port-au-prince, Ouest, Haiti.
Sténio Joseph Vincent was born on 22 February 1874 in Port-au-prince, Ouest, Haiti.
A member of the mulatto elite, he had an extensive career as a lawyer and diplomat, serving in Paris, Berlin, and the Hague. During the U. S. occupation, he headed the anti-interventionist Nationalist Party and the Patriotic Union, which demanded withdrawal of U. S. troops.
In November 1930 Vincent was elected president by the National Assembly, and in 1934 he visited the United States and convinced President Franklin D. Roosevelt to withdraw the U. S. Marines occupation force. In 1935 his tenure in office was extended for five years by a referendum.
When, in 1941, Vincent again sought to have his period in office extended, Washington suggested that another extension would be unwise. He then finally retired, pleading “ill health,” giving way to President Élie Lescot, another member of the mulatto elite. He remained in Haiti and died in Port-au-Prince.