Jean-Claude Duvalier of his father, François Duvalier (nicknamed "Papa Doc"), becoming the world's youngest president. Initially, Jean-Claude Duvalier resisted the dynastic arrangement that had made him Haiti's leader, having preferred that the presidency go to his older sister Marie-Denise Duvalier, and was content to leave substantive and administrative matters in the hands of his mother, Simone Ovide Duvalier, and a committee led by Luckner Cambronne, his father's Interior Minister, while he attended ceremonial functions and lived as a playboy. Duvalier was invested with near-absolute power by the constitution. He took some steps to reform the regime, by releasing some political prisoners and
Duvalier dynasty environment, and did not require special feed or care; the new pigs required both. In May 1980, Duvalier married Michèle Bennett, a light-skinned, mulatto divorcée. This was perceived as a betrayal of his father's legacy of supporting the black middle class, and had an unexpected, drastically negative effect on Duvalier's popularity. The wedding's extravagant cost, which was rumored to be in excess of US$3,000,000, further alienated the black masses. A schism formed in the government between older, more conservative Duvalierists and appointees of Jean-Claude. This eventually resulted in the expulsion of Duvalier's mother, Simone, reportedly at Michèle's request. Discontent and