DOMINICAN REPUBLIC COUNTRY READER TABLE OF CONTENTS William Belton 1940-1942 3rd Secretary and Vice Consul, Ciudad Trujillo William Tapley Bennett 1941-1944 Ci il Attach#, Ciudad Trujillo $ames McCargar 1943-1944 Economic/Consular Officer, Ciudad Trujillo G. -ar ey Summ 194.-1949 Administrati e/Political Officer, Ciudad Trujillo William Belton 1949-1902 1eputy Chief of Mission, Ciudad Trujillo Wendell W. Wood2ury 1902-1904 Economic Officer, Ciudad Trujillo $oseph S. 3arland 1907-1950 Am2assador, 1ominican Repu2lic -enry 1ear2orn 1909-1951 1eputy Chief of Mission, Ciudad Trujillo Gerald $. Monroe 1951-1952 Visa Officer, Santo 1omingo -arry W. Shlaudeman 1952-1953 En oy, 1ominican Repu2lic 7e8is M. White 1952-1954 Economic Officer, Santo 1omingo Ser2an Vallimarescu 1952-1954 Pu2lic Affairs Officer, Santo 1omingo Ale9ander 3. Watson 1952-1950 Consular/Political Officer, Santo 1omingo $ohn -ugh Crimmins 1953-1955 1irector, 1ominican Repu2lic Affairs, Washington, 1C 1orothy $ester 1954-1950 Economic Officer, Santo 1omingo William Tapley Bennett 1954-1955 Am2assador, 1ominican Repu2lic $ohn A. Bushnell 1954-1957 Economic : AI1 Officer, Santo 1omingo Cyrus R. Vance 1950 En oy, 1ominican Repu2lic Edmund Murphy 1950 3oreign Information Officer, USIS, Washington, 1C Richard -. Melton 1950-1957 Consular Officer, Santo 1omingo Richard C. Barkley 1950-1957 Vice Consul, Santiago de los Ca2alleros Ro2ert E. White 1950-195. Chief Political Section, Santo 1omingo 7a8rence E. -arrison 1950-195. 1eputy 1irector, USAI1, San Santo 1omingo 1a id E. Simco9 1955-1957 Political Officer, Santo 1omingo $ohn -ugh Crimmins 1955-1959 Am2assador, 1ominican Repu2lic $ohn A. 3erch 1957-1959 Principal Officer, Santiago de los Ca2alleros 7o8ell 3leischer 195.-1971 Political Officer, Santo 1omingo 7a8rence P. Taylor 1959-1971 Consular/Political Officer, Santo 1omingo $ohn T. Bennett 1959-1972 1eputy 1irector, USAI1, Santo 1omingo $ohn 7. 1eOrnellas 1970-1972 7a2or Attach#, Santo 1omingo $ohn $. Cro8ley, $r. 1970-1974 1eputy Chief of Mission, Santo 1omingo Ruth E. -ansen 1974-1970 Political Officer, Santo 1omingo Theodore A. Boyd 1974-1970 $unior Officer Trainee, USIS, Santo 1omingo 7eonardo Neher 1974-1977 Political Counselor, Santo 1omingo Paul Good 1970 Cultural Affairs Officer, USIS, Santo 1omingo Willard B. 1e lin 1975-197. Consul General, Santo 1omingo Patrick 3. Morris 1977-1979 1irector, USAI1, Santo 1omingo 7ouis 3. 7icht III 197.-19.0 Political Officer, Santo 1omingo $ames 7. Tull 197.-19.1 1eputy Chief of Mission, Santo 1omingo Michael M. Mahoney 1979-19.2 Consular Officer, Santo 1omingo Ronald 3. Venezia 1979-19.4 1eputy 1irector, USAI1, Santo 1omingo Aaron Benjamin 1979-19.4 Program Officer, USAI1, Santo 1omingo 7ouis 3. 7icht III 19.0-19.2 Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Middle America-Cari22ean 1i ision, Washington, 1C Ro2ert Anderson 19.2-19.0 Am2assador, 1ominican Repu2lic $ohn Allen Cushing 19..-1990 Consular Officer, Santo 1omingo Ro2ert S. Pastorino 1992-1994 Am2assador, 1ominican Repu2lic WILLIAM BELTON Third Secretary and Vice Con ul Ciudad Trujillo (1940-1942) Mr. Belton was born in Portland, Oregon on May 22, 1914. He received his BA fro Stanford University and entered the Foreign Service in 1938. His career has included positions in Cuba, the Do inican Republic, Canada, Chile, Australia, and Brazil. Mr. Belton was interviewed by Charles Stuart Kennedy on Nove ber 19, 1992. ./ It could have been either. BE7TON: It 8as Iceland. I thought that 8ould be a lot of fun, but I donAt think I e er su2mitted any formal document or letter or anything of that kind, but I let it be kno8n someho8 or other that I 8ould like to go to Iceland. But 8hen the assignments 8ere announced, and I guess my 7atin American e9perience and interest had something to do 8ith it, I 8as assigned to the 1ominican Repu2lic. ./ Ciudad 1ru2illo. BE7TON: Bes, Ciudad Trujillo, as it 8as then called. Some2ody 8alked into the classroom 8here 8e all sat and read off our names and the assignment 8here 8e 8ere going-- it 8as a ery dramatic moment. 3or me he called out CSanto 1omingoC. Well I kne8 8here Santo 1omingo 8as and 8ent to the telephone immediately and called $udy and said, CWeAre going to Santo 1omingo.C She 8asnAt sure 8here Santo 1omingo 8as so got hold of an atlas and looked it up. The only one she found 8as in Costa Rica so she told someone 8e 8ere going to Costa Rica. That 8as soon straightened out, and in 3e2ruary 8e 8ere on our 8ay to the 1ominican Repu2lic. ./ I have you serving in Ciudad 1ru2illo fro 1940 to 1942. BE7TON: ThatAs right. ./ 4hat was the situation there5 I assu e that 1ru2illo was well in power at that ti e. BE7TON: -e 8as ery solidly in po8er. Trujillo had no moral principles of any kind. -e 8as moti ated only by his o8n personal 8elfare. -e considered the 1ominican Repu2lic to be his o8n ranch, so anything that happened to the 1ominican Repu2lic 8as related to him and his o8n 8elfare. -e played footsie a little bit 8ith the Germans and the $apanese and 8as perfectly 8illing to do so. But 8hen Pearl -ar2or occurred, he Duickly kne8 8here his bread 8as 2uttered. -e sent us 8ord that he 8anted to kno8 the ery minute the United States officially declared 8ar because he 8anted the 1ominican Repu2lic to be the first country after the United States to declare 8ar on Germany, Italy and $apan. That in effect is 8hat happened, because the 1ominican legislature 8as totally at his commandE he had them sitting there 8aiting for the telephone to ring so that they could declare 8ar. ./ 4hat were you doing there and what was the situation as far as you saw it in the country5 BE7TON: Well the 1ominican Repu2lic 8as kind of a back8ater in many respects. It didnAt loom ery large in the o erall picture, but ne ertheless 8e 8ere interested in 8hate er 8ent on there because the Germans 8ere presuma2ly looking for su2marine bases in that part of the 8orld. The Cari22ean 8as important to our o erall national security, so our acti ities 8ere essentially just seeing to it that things did not get out of hand and communicating our approach on things to Trujillo and his go ernment so 8e could keep it on an e en keel. There 8as al8ays that dichotomy of ho8 do you handle a guy like Trujillo...Fnoise on tape). Bou had the pro2lem of ho8 you beha e 8ith a guy you ha e no respect for but 8ho controls a certain amount of geography that is important to you and that could affect your interests ad ersely if things donAt go right. ./ At later points he had several Congress en in his hip poc6et. He was very 6ind to the . He had political clout in the United States. Did you feel that at that ti e77that I have to watch this guy because if worse co es to worse he8ll go to his ta e Congress an5 I don8t 6now if he had one at that ti e, but he did later on. BE7TON: I think he pro2a2ly didE I donAt recall in detail but I do remem2er that there 8ere people that 8ere fa ora2le to8ard him. Among four hundred and thirty-fi e Congressmen there 8ill al8ays be some 8hoAll ignore or be ignorant of the realities of an indi idual like Trujillo. But I donAt ha e any recollection of his ha ing a cult of the kind that ga e us significant pro2lems. O2 iously from the point of ie8, may2e, of the 1epartment of State and the 1emocratic Party that 8as in po8er at that time they had to gi e a little attention to this but it 8asnAt a significant factor. ./ 4ho was your a bassador, or was it inister5 BE7TON: -e 8as Minister at that timeE Ro2ert Scotten 8as Minister during the time I 8as there. ./ 4hat was his bac6ground5 BE7TON: -e 8as a career 3oreign Ser ice Officer. ./ 4hat were you doing there5 BE7TON: I 8as sent there as Third secretary and Vice-Consul. Both those titles reflected 8hat I did. I 8as the lo8 ranking man in the political section, but 8hen they needed help in the consular section I 8ent o er and 8orked there. Again, though nothing like -a ana, 8e had a fairly su2stantial isa load. Trujillo, not out of any particular sympathy for the $e8ish pro2lem or people but because he thought it 8ould reflect 8ell upon himself, 8as admitting a num2er of German $e8s into the 1ominican Repu2lic. They had formed a settlement up on the north coast at a place called Sosua. There 8as a good deal of interest on the part of 8ell placed American $e8s to see that this place prospered and that these people got a fair shake. So that 8as one of our interestsE 8e didnAt ha e any specific responsi2ilities but 8e had a general brief to 8atch o er that situation. There 8as a lot of circulation there, people 8ould come there as a temporary place to stayE not ery many of them really had any sincere intention of making that their life home, for they 8ere 8aiting for isas to go to the US or else8here. There 8ere a lot of other $e8ish people in the country. Prior to the declaration of 8ar there 8as an acti e Nazi German mo ement in the 1ominican Repu2lic 8hich 8e kept our eye on too, 8hich 8as part of the jo2. ./ I would say that that would be ore of your job than the political situation which was what 1ru2illo wants, 1ru2illo gets. BE7TON: That 8as an important aspect of it.