This is a study of a unique aspect of the history of immigration to the Americas—the curious case of movements of peoples to the Dominican Republic during the vicious dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo. Gardiner asserts that no other American government ever formulated immigration policies in terms of dictatorial vanity, as did Trujillo, whose overriding motive in establishing highly publicized programs was to create a favorable foreign image for himself, especially in the United States.
An introduction and eleven chapters chronicle the history of immigration to the Dominican Republic from the late 1930s until Trujillo’s assassination in 1961. Gardiner describes in detail the immigrants’ successes and failures and Trujillo’s uses and abuses of the refugee programs. Trujillo’s policies, according to Gardiner, initially grew out of the infamous massacre of Haitian peasants by Dominican troops in 1937. At the time, the dictator was in the process of consolidating his power at home and becoming acceptable to the United States government. Deeply concerned that the foreign press was painting a highly unflattering picture of his regime, Trujillo seized on European catastrophes and adopted courses of action aimed at replacing his image as an inhumane monster with that of a generous humanitarian. He first invited Spanish Republicans to the Dominican Republic and then provided opportunities for Central European Jews fleeing the Holocaust.
After World War II, new challenges to the dictator’s reputation and rule arose from several quarters. Principal among the groups that Trujillo accepted were Spanish farmers, Hungarian freedom fighters, and Japanese fishermen and farmers.
The conclusion about Trujillo’s vanity and desire to create a favorable foreign image, long accepted by students of the Dominican Republic, offers nothing new. The value of this work is that Gardiner has brought together a great deal of scattered information in a well-researched and readable book. He helps illuminate two decades of successive movements of refugees to the Dominican Republic, properly emphasizing a persistent theme of Trujillo’s rule that has received insufficient scholarly attention.
