Dominican Republic
By Pa Ying Moua, Sharnissa
Henderson, and Pa Yang
Background of Dominican Republic
• Rafael Trujillo was the first dictator of the Dominican
Republic. before Trujillo became dictator, the island was
under U.S control
• People in the Dominican Republic have suffered from
Trujillo for 31 years
• During 20th Century, the Dominican Republic couldn't
establish a stable democratic government because of the
US and Rafael Leonidas Trujillo
• First island that Columbus has landed on when he thinks
that he has reached East Indies
• three-fourth of the island is mixed with European
and African people
Background Continue....
• During the 19th Century, Haiti won it's independence from
France and controlled the Dominican Republic until 1844
when they eventually gained their independence
• 20th Century, US was a big trade partner of the Dominican
Republic: sugar, coffee, cocoa, and bananas
• 1906, Dominican Republic signed a fifty year treaty with
the US giving it political control
• 1916, US occupied the island
• 1920, US left Dominican Republic and left in place the US
trained Dominican National Guard
• 1924, US pulled out their military and
left Rafael Trujillo in charge of the Dominican National
Guard
Background of Rafael Trujillo
• At the age of 16, worked as a telegraph operator
• 1918, accepted into Dominican National Guard
• Was promoted when the Dominican National Guard
was fighting against the
Dominican guerrilla movement
• 1930, ran against Horacio Vasquez for president
and received 95% of the votes
• power, used the National Guard to banish all civilian
opponents
• established his own secret police
SIM(Military Intelligence Service )
• for gathering information
"He may be a son of a
b****, but he's OUR son
of a b****."
-- Cordell Hull
Conflict of the Cold War in Dominican
Republic
• The U.S. didn't care if Rafael Leonidas Trujillo was a bad
dictator, as long as he was an anti- communist
• The U.S. supported him
• SIM- controlled the press, bribed businessmen, and created
fear among the people
How was this a movement or conflict of it's own
accord within the country?
• Trujillo used his political control over the
nation to gain great wealth.
• He took over plantations and businesses.
Family and political supporters received the
best jobs. While the citizens of the country
struggled day by day.
• Most of the income of the dictator was used
to throw big extravagant parties. The rest of
the money was stored in foreign bank
accounts.
Continue....
• Trujillo welcomed U.S business and
maintained a pro U.S foreign policy.
• Many Americans did not like Trujillo,
but after WWII, many Cold War
politicians in the U.S supported Trujillo
as a leading Latin American Anti
communist. Although this is true, the
Dominican Republic refused to aide the
U.S when they asked for troops while
in Korean
How was this conflict a part of the larger,
bi-polar world of the Cold War Era?
• Rafael Trujillo was tolerated because he was anti
communist.
• The U.s was so obsessed with communists that they
were willing to overlook terriable circumstances in
the dominican republic.
" He may be a son of a bitch, but he is our son of a
bitch"
This is a quote from the secratary of state Cordell
Hull