Abstract:
You have to go back exactly 29 years to under-- stand the Dominican Republic, 1959 and the background of the title, “Benefactor”. (1). The country was the hemisphere poorhouse in
1930; govemment revenues were almost nil due to corruption and inefficiency. There was a worldwide depression; the bottom had dropped out of the coffee, cacao and sugar markets. The economy —what there was of it— was in a State of collapse and a new, untried man had just taken office; his govemment was Saddled with a huge inherited debt; customs, chief source of revenue, was in American receivership. Then nature gave what must have seemed the coup de grace: a hurricane smashed the capital 18 days after the new president took office.