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Rafael Leonides Trujillo Molina (69), Dominican Republic dictator (1930-61), was murdered. In his final years he had installed Joaquin Balaguer as vice president and then as president. Balaguer fled to exile in NYC following the assassination.
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In its first free election in 38 years, the Dominican Republic chose leftist Juan Bosch Gavino, the leftist leader of the Dominican Revolutionary Party, as president. Juan Bosch (1909-2001) was toppled in the Dominican Republic by the army shortly after being elected. His plans for land reform would have split up sugar plantations owned by generals.
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U.S. Army and Marines under US Pres. Lyndon Johnson invaded the Dominican Republic to stop a civil war. Johnson sent 22,800 troops at the urging of Thomas Mann (d.1999 at 87), a high state department official. The troops stayed until stay until Oct 1966.
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Porfirio Rubirosa (b.1909), Dominican Republic playboy, died in a car crash in Paris. His 5 wives included Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton. In 2005 Shawn Levy authored “The Last Playboy: The High Life of Porfirio Rubirosa.”
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Sammy Sosa, baseball outfielder (Chicago Cubs), was born in the Dominican Republic.
