In December, 1962, the Dominicans elected liberal intellectual Juan Bosch as President. Seven months later the military staged a coup, and President Kennedy cut off all aid. Lyndon Johnson, however, resumed some aid when he became President. On April 25th, some army officers attempted a coup that failed, and the Dominican Republic was plunged into civil war.
On April 28th, President Johnson, at the urging of the American Ambassador who claimed that Communist- oriented rebels might win, ordered 23,000 American troops to the Dominican Republic. The American forces succeeded in bringing order, but met with objections both domestic and from the Organization of American States. The United States convinced the OAS to send an international peace-force to replace the American forces, and within a year, free elections were held in the Dominican Republic, and all American troops were withdrawn.
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