Squeeze Play

Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina was the little brown bandit who ruled the Dominican Republic as President from 1930 to 1938. He then refused a third term "following United States precedent" and now rules instead as generalissimo of the army. He was much put out this past year as he watched the parade of other Latin-American strongmen to Washington: Cuba's Batista, Nicaragua's Somoza, Brazil's Aranha and Monteiro (TIME, Nov. 14, et seq.). All these received official invitations, were saluted, handshaken, welcomed at the White House. But for Dictator Trujillo, no invitation came.

So he bought Julius Fleischmann's 225-ft. yacht Camargo, renamed it Ramfis for his small brown son, announced a private pleasure trip to the New York World's Fair--via Washington. This squeeze play soon brought forth almost all the invitations Dictator Trujillo had yearned for--a gala at the Pan American Union, dinner with Acting Chief of Staff Marshall of the U. S. Army, audience with Secretary Hull, tea with Franklin Roosevelt. Also included in the program was a luncheon by Haiti's Minister Elie Lescot, to prove that Haiti has forgiven Trujillo for his troops' extinction of some 18.000 Haitians in bloody border patrol work in 1937.

Last week the dapper Dictator docked at Miami, sped to Washington by private car. A guard of honor (four squads of Marines, with drum & bugle corps) met him at Union Station and celebrations began along the well-trodden trail--wreaths at Arlington and Mount Vernon, inspection of the CCC camp at Fort Hunt, cocktails with Congressmen. But the next day, Death squelched the squeeze play. In deference to his late Secretary of the Navy (see below). President Roosevelt postponed Trujillo's tea to this week. The visit with Secretary Hull became a brief formal call.* The Pan American party was canceled.

*Chief favor which Dictator Trujillo seeks from Washington is control over Dominican Customs, now collected by the U. S. to insure payment of interest on old loans.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.