Leconte, a lawyer by trade, had served as minister of the interior under President
Pierre Nord Alexis. He was forced into exile in
Jamaica after a 1908 revolt deposed Alexis and gave
François C. Antoine Simon the presidency. After leading the revolution that ousted President Simon and brought Leconte back to
Port-au-Prince in triumph on August 7, 1911, Leconte was unanimously elected president of Haiti by Congress on August 14 with a seven-year term. His salary was set at $24,000 a year. Upon attaining the presidency he instituted a number of reforms: paving streets, increasing teacher pay, installing telephone lines, and decreasing the size of the army. ''
Collier's Weekly'' argued in August 1912 that it was "generally admitted" that Leconte's administration was "the ablest and the cleanest government Haiti has had in forty years."
Zora Neale Hurston, writing in the 1930s after extensive research in Haiti, pointed out that Leconte was "credited with beginning numerous reforms and generally taking positive steps." Leconte pursued a discriminatory policy toward the
local Syrian population (
Christian migrants from
Ottoman Syria), an already persecuted minority group which one historian described as constituting the "opening wedge of the American economic conquest of Haiti in the early 1900s." Prior to ascending to the presidency, he had promised to rid Haiti of its Syrian population. In 1912 Leconte's foreign minister released a statement stating that it was "necessary to protect nationals against the disloyal competition of the Easterner whose nationality is uncertain." A 1903 law (aimed specifically at Syrians) limiting the immigration levels and commercial activities of foreigners was revived, and the harassment of Syrians that had been prevalent in the first few years of the 1900s was resumed. The Leconte administration did, however, continue to process claims made by Syrians who had been persecuted by the government of Nord Alexis. When Leconte died suddenly in 1912, a number of Syrians celebrated his passing and were imprisoned as a result, while others were deported. His Syrian policy would be continued by his successor
Tancrède Auguste. ==Death==