Chester Bowles on Expertise

Bowles expresses moral outrage at recent Cabinet discussions about the correct response to threats to the rule of Rafael Trujillo, a U.S.-supported strongman in the Dominican Republic. Although Trujillo was anti-Communist, continued United States support for his repressive regime endangered the image of the United States throughout Latin America. With the rise of Castro, Trujillo’s replacement with a more moderate ruler seemed necessary to forestall a Communist revolution. News that dissident groups sought to assassinate him prompted several of Kennedy’s advisers, including Robert McNamara, Richard Goodwin, and Robert Kennedy, to advocate a fake embassy bombing and CIA support of the dissidents who sought to assassinate Trujillo. Bowles stands appalled. From a moral perspective, the cavalier willingness of his colleagues to contemplate such measures is unconscionable; from a pragmatic perspective, ignorance of the dictator’s likely replacement risks the introduction of dramatic instability in the region. On May 30, 1961, Trujillo was machine-gunned to death on a quiet road.