Sam who had helped to bring Leconte to power, took the oath of office in. He was the son of Tirésias Simon Sam, president of the country from 1896 to 1902.
Sam was a leader of the revolt that brought assassinated President Cincinnatus Leconte to power and of the later revolt that toppled President Oreste Zamor. He was selected as president when his predecessor, Joseph Davilmar Théodore, was forced to resign because he was unable to pay the militiamen (called "Caco") that helped him in the overthrow of Zamor.
Like the other president of the period, he faced active rebellion to his rule. His leading opponent, Rosalvo Bobo, reputedly hostile toward the United States, represented to Washington a barrier to expanded commercial and strategic ties. A pretext for intervention came on July 27, 1915, when Vilbrun Guillaume Sam executed 167 political prisoners. Popular outrage provoked mob violence in the streets of Port-au-Prince. A throng of incensed citizens sought out Vilbrun Guillaume Sam at his sanctuary in the French embassy and literally tore him to pieces.
The spectacle of an exultant rabble parading through the streets of the capital bearing the dismembered corpse of their former president shocked decision makers in the United States and spurred them to swift action.
In an attempt to prevent Germany or France from taking it over, US President Woodrow Wilson sends US forces to Haiti. Haiti controls the Windward Passage to the Panama Canal and is seen as strategically critical. The Haitian government is near insolvency at this time and is significantly in debt to foreign corporations. German companies control almost 80 percent of Haitian trade.
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