The Dominican Republic and the United States: From Imperialism to Transnationalism (review)

The Dominican Republic and the United States: From Imperialism to Transnationalism. By G. POPE ATKINS and LARMAN WILSON. The United States and the Americas. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1998. Notes. Bibliography. Index. xv, 293 pp. Cloth $50.00. Paper, $20.00.

Scholarship on the Dominican Republic has grown considerably in the last decade. This book by G. Pope Atkins and Larman Wilson is a welcome addition. Both authors have an extensive record of research and publications on the Dominican Republic and joined efforts in this project to produce an excellent historical study of U.S.-Dominican relations. Their task was to chronicle the evolution of these relations and analyze the major characteristics that defined them.

A starting argument is that while U.S.-Dominican relations can be viewed as patron-client dependent, this does not entirely account for their historical complexities. They claim that the Dominican Republic has been able to pursue its own objectives and enjoyed some freedom of action with respect to the United States, and that while the United States has had much influence on the Dominican Republic on issues related to immigration, economic affairs and drug trafficking, Dominicans have had an impact on the U.S. in these areas as well.

The book is organized around eight chapters that cover a range of topics in U.S.-Dominican relations over a long period of time, beginning with the colonial and nineteenth-century foundations, and ending with a discussion of issues and challenges in the mid-1990s. The book concludes with a very useful bibliographical essay that evaluates the main works used in the preparation of the volume.

United States's interest in the Dominican Republic began after the U.S. civil war ended in 1865. This coincided with the end of Spanish colonial rule in the Dominican Republic, which allowed for stronger ties with the U.S., particularly at a time when the United States began its imperialist project and the Dominican Republic, still doubtful of its ability to secure independence from Haiti, sought the support of a powerful nation. The book provides a detailed account of the internal, regional conflicts in the Dominican Republic and the negotiations that went on to annex the Dominican Republic to the United States. However, in 1870, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted against annexation on the grounds that this would provoke conflicts with European powers, generate violence in the Dominican Republic, and could also lead to the annexation of Haiti.

United States imperialism was strongly felt in the Dominican Republic in the early twentieth century. The political chaos and instability that dominated the Dominican Republic, and the financial weakness of the country produced by excessive loans and government corruption, facilitated the increasing economic control of the United States. The main U.S. objectives in the Caribbean were to prevent further European control in the region and generate political and economic stability. In the Dominican Republic, this led to the U.S. intervention in customs collection to secure the payment of foreign loans, and later, to a full military occupation during which the economic infrastructure of the country was developed, the population was disarmed, local and regional caudillos were under control, and a national militia institution was established.

After Trujillo came to power in 1930, the most contentious issue was the U.S.-administered customs receivership--the collection of taxes and the spending of revenues. Negotiations began in 1936 to revise, replace or abrogate the 1924 convention. The Dominican government claimed that receivership did not conform with the new political situation in the Dominican Republic or the Good Neighbor Policy. An agreement was reached in 1940 whereby the authority to collect customs revenues was returned to the Dominican Republic. The treaty was approved by the U.S. Senate in 1941 and the customs receivership was officially terminated on 2 April 1941. As this event illustrates, Trujillo sought independence from...