Roger Farnham was a National City Bank vice-president whose work in Haiti blurred the line between banker, lobbyist, and unofficial diplomat in the years preceding the 1915 U.
S. occupation. Plummer treats him as one of the most important private actors in the financial encirclement of Haiti: he withheld information from Congress, shaped State Department perceptions of Haitian fiscal crisis, and helped make intervention legible as financial necessity rather than imperial ambition. His role in the management of the Banque Nationale de la République d'Haïti — which National City Bank effectively controlled — made him the on-the-ground representative of the bank-state nexus that structured Caribbean imperialism in the early twentieth century.
In the ScholarshipHow historians have read this figure.
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TimelineAcross the historical record.
- 1910
National City Bank Vice-President, Haiti Operations
Managed National City Bank's Haitian interests, lobbied the U.S. State Department for intervention, and served as the de facto link between American banking capital and U.S. foreign policy in the pre-occupation period.
- 1915
U.S. Occupation of Haiti
His lobbying and intelligence activities helped prepare the political and diplomatic ground for the 1915 occupation; Plummer documents his role in making Haitian fiscal crisis legible as a case for intervention.