Evening star., 1939-07-05

Await Gen. Trujino
With Glad Hand
Dominion Republics
Strong Man to
Arrive Tomorrow
BY BLAIR BOLLES.
Generalisimo Rafael Leonidas
Trujillo Molina, the Caesar of the
Caribbean" who learned from the
United States Marine Corps how to
rule the Dominican Republic with
an efficient and iron, unrepublican
hand, arrives here tomorrow for a
five-day stay. during which he will
be entertained by the United States
military leaders. Until last summer
he was President of the Dominican
Republic, and he remains its strong
man."
Gen. Trujillo's visit is oficially
unofficial. but 1t Is chapter in the
diplomacy attendant upon the de-
velopment of ouN Western Hemi-
sphere defense program.
Although the country of which
he is master is only a part of a
small West Indian island, sand
wiched between Cuba and Puerto
Rico. 1t is imposing both from the
viewpoint of our history and in the
considerations of military strategy
It is the island where Columbus
landed in 1892 when he discovered
the New World. 1t is very i'm
portant in the plans for turning the
Caribbean Sea into stronghold-a
policy whose high points are the
decision to establish a department,
of the Caribbean for the American
Army and the appointment OF
Admiral William D. Leahy as COVER
nor general of Puerto Rico.
Germany's Eyes Covetous.
Also, the island, which is known
variously as Hispaniola, Santo Do
mingo or Quisqueya, has attracted
the notice of Germany as possible
Western Atlantic plane base. But
according to public Dominican pro-
testations, Germany is getting no.
where in her overtures to the Tru-
jillo men.
Gen. Trujillo will pay friendly
calls on President Roosevelt at the
White House and on Secretary Hull
at the State Department Friday
And he will be entertained in brill
liant fashion at reception at the
Pan American Union SATURDAY.
night. But, in keeping with his
status as soldier, he will consort
chiefly with military men here
where he will stay at the Domin.
lean Legation on upper Sixteenth
street NV.
Maj Gen. Thomas Holcomb, COM
mandant of the Marine Corps, will
give a dinner for him Friday al
his home after the visitor from the
Greater Antilles inspects the Ma
rine Barracks Friday, too, he will
be escorted through the gun factory
at the Navy Yard The Union Navy
during the Civil War considered
using the harbor of what was then
Santo Domingo and now Ciudad
Trujillo (the oldest city in the
Americas) on the southern side OF
the Dominican Republic as a base
from which to bulwark its blockade
of the Confederacy. The harbor is
still strategic triumph.
Gen. Marshall to Be Dinner Host
On Saturday he will visit Fort
George G. Meade, Md, and be the
guest of honor at a luncheon at the
Army Navy Club. Gen. George C
Marshall, the chief of staff, U. S. A.
will give dinner for him Monday
On that day also he will visit the
Marine Barracks at Quantico, Va.
and be the luncheon guest of Maj
Gen. Breckenridge, the Quanticc
commandant Next week he viii
visit West Point and be guest or
the military reservation of Cover.
nors Island in New York Harbor.
The plans for making Gen. Tru-
jillo at home do not stop there
He has entertained Senators Green
Lundeen, La Toilette. King ano
Walsh, chairman of the Senate
Naval Affairs Committee, on his
island, and some Senators plan in
turn to fete him while he is here
Only this spring he greeted a group
Of members of the House Military
Affairs Committee in the Dominican
Republic and assured them that the
United States was welcome to take
advantage of his country for West
ern Hemisphere defense needs.
When Gen. Trujillo arrives al
Union Station tomorrow he will pro-
ceed at once to the Dominican Le-
CATION, where he proposes to hold 9
press conference. This is his first
visit to Washington and the United
States. He plans at least three
week stay in this country. and viii
take in both the New York and
San Francisco Fairs.
He is coming up to Washington
from Miami, Fla. Travelling with
him are Minister Pastoriza. the
Dominican envoy to the United
States; three officers from the DOM
inican Army, his private physician
and his private secretary On his
first day here he will lay wreaths on
Washington's Tomb at Mt. Vernon
and on the Tomb of the Unknown
Soldier in Arlington. He will also
visit the c. c. c. camp at Fort
Hunt, Va, paralleling the trip of
the King and Queen of England.
Striking Personality.
In this field-day year for distin-
guished visitors from other lands
Gen. Trujillo is perhaps the most
striking personality of all who have
come and who plan to come. Even
if he is denounced as tyrant and
accused of the massacre of thou
sands of Haitians two years ago,
during border struggle along the
boundary between the Dominican
Republic and Haiti, there is no