Assassination of Vilbrun Guillaume Sam

On July 27–28, 1915, Haitian President Vilbrun Guillaume Sam was torn apart by a mob in Port-au-Prince, two days after ordering the execution of approximately 167 political prisoners in the National Penitentiary. The prisoners were killed to prevent them from supporting a rebel uprising. Word of the massacre spread; enraged citizens dragged Sam from the French legation where he had taken refuge and dismembered him in the street. The United States used the assassination and the resulting disorder as the immediate pretext for landing Marines on July 28, 1915, beginning the nineteen-year occupation. The Haitian political crisis was real, but American intervention had been planned for years to protect financial interests and prevent European creditors from gaining influence.