Jean-Claude Duvalier his people remained the most widespread of any country in the Western Hemisphere. Relations with the United States improved after Duvalier's ascension to the presidency, and later deteriorated under the Carter administration, only to again improve under Ronald Reagan due to the strong anti-communist stance of the Duvaliers. Rebellion against the Duvalier regime broke out in 1985 and Baby Doc fled to France in 1986 on a U.S. Air Force flight. Duvalier unexpectedly returned to Haiti on 16 January 2011, after two decades in self-imposed exile in France. The following day, he was arrested by Haitian police, facing possible charges
François Duvalier December 1956, Magloire conceded defeat. The two frontrunners in the 1957 campaign for the presidency were Duvalier and Louis Déjoie, a landowner and industrialist from the north. During their campaigning, Haiti was ruled by five temporary administrations, none lasting longer than a few months. Duvalier promised to rebuild and renew the country and rural Haiti solidly supported him as did the military. He resorted to " populism, stoking the majority irritation at being governed by the few mulatto elite, which is how he described his opponent, Déjoie. François Duvalier was elected president on 22 September 1957. Duvalier received 679,884 votes