#2906: First "democratic" election: Bellegarde-Smith replies

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From: P D Bellegarde-Smith <pbs@csd.uwm.edu>

Jean-Bertrand Aristide may have been the first President "democratically"
elected. The first President elected by popular suffrage (of men and
women), was Francois Duvalier in 1957. That election was fraudulent. The
U.S. Department of State, many years after the event, recognized that
Louis Dejoie had been elected but denied victory. Women had acquired the
right to vote in the Constitution of 1950. Haiti is one of three states in
Latin America to have had an emperor (twice), with Jean-Jacques I and
Faustin I. (The other states, Mexico and Brazil). Haiti is the only state
to have had a king (Henry I), if one excepts Canada, Jamaica, Barbados,
St. Lucia, Dominica, St. Kitts-Nevis, Grenada, St. Vincent and the
Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda whose head of state is Queen Elizabeth II.
	Yes, the U.S. does not have popular suffrage in electing its
presidents. The electoral college has that function. (It backfired once
and may yet again).