François Duvalier

François Duvalier, also known as Papa Doc, was a Haitian politician who served as the president of Haiti from 1957 until his death in 1971. He was elected president in the 1957 general election on a populist and black nationalist platform. After thwarting a military coup d'état in 1958, his regime rapidly became more autocratic and despotic. An undercover government death squad, the Tonton Macoute, indiscriminately tortured or killed Duvalier's opponents; the Tonton Macoute was thought to be so pervasive that Haitians became highly fearful of expressing any form of dissent, even in private. Duvalier further sought to solidify his rule by incorporating elements of Haitian mythology into a personality cult.

14 April 1907

Born on the same birth day (14 April): Anna DeForge • Dave Gibbons • Dean Potter • Ernst Robert Curtius • Frank Daniel • John Shea • Julian Lloyd Webber • Luke Priddis • Simona La Mantia

Born in the same month (April 1907): Augoustinos Kantiotes • August Eigruber • Felix de Weldon • Fred Zinnemann • Fritz Wotruba • Gabriel Figueroa • Harald Andersson • Harold Stassen • Ilias Tsirimokos • Joseph-Armand Bombardier • Lee Miller • Luke Appling • Miklós Rózsa • Miran Bakhsh • Nikolaas Tinbergen • Robert Askin • Shivakumara Swami