After he refused to step down after his term ended, a general strike shut down Port-au-Prince's economy, and Magloire fled, leaving the government in a state of chaos.

He also established the Volontaires de la Sécurité Nationale (National Security Volunteers), commonly referred to as the Tonton Macoute, named after a bogeyman in Haitian mythology.

Owing to his extremely repressive rule, U.S. President John F. Kennedy revoked American aid to Duvalier and recalled U.S. Marine Corps missions in 1962.

During his rule, an estimated 30,000 citizens were killed by the government, and hundreds of thousands of Haitians emigrated to the United States, Cuba, and Canada.

Still a teenager when he ascended to public office, Jean-Claude Duvalier was said to be reckless and dissolute, raised in elite isolation and uninterested in politics.

The USDA feared the disease's spread to North America, and it pressured Duvalier to slaughter Haiti's population of native creole pigs and replace it with animals that would be provided by international aid agencies.

This was perceived as a betrayal of his father's legacy of supporting the black middle class, and it had an unexpected, drastically negative effect on Duvalier's popularity.

Declaring that "something must change here," in a speech in Port-au-Prince, the Pope called for equitable distribution of income and a more egalitarian social and political structure.

Revolts broke out, revitalized by the Catholic Church, and riots also began to break out in the city of Gonaïves, with crowds attacking food distribution centers.

However, these moves failed to pacify demonstrators, and in January 1986, the administration of U.S. President Ronald Reagan began to pressure Duvalier to renounce power and leave Haiti.