François Duvalier was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti  in 1907. Duvalier was the President of Haiti from 1957 to 1971. He was unanimously "re-elected" in a 1961 referendum in which he was the only candidate and remained in power until he died in 1971. In April 1964 he declared himself president for life. Doc was able to stay in power longer than any of his predecessors and his regime caused nearly 30,000 deaths, but at the same time achieved for Haiti an unusual degree of political stabilization. His story is one that had to be told, in the Island Archives.