The Dominican Party (, PD) was the ''de facto'' only permitted political party in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

during the dictatorship of

Rafael Trujillo Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina ( ; ; 24 October 1891 – 30 May 1961), nicknamed ''El Jefe'' (; "the boss"), was a Dominican military officer and dictator who ruled the Dominican Republic from August 1930 until Rafael Trujillo#Assassination, ...

, who ruled the country from 1930 to 1961. Its symbol was a

palm tree The Arecaceae () is a family of perennial, flowering plants in the monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly known as palms. Those having a tree-like form are colloquially c ...

History

The Dominican Party was founded on 2 August 1931, a year after Trujillo came to power. It was an outgrowth of the "Patriotic Coalition of Citizens" that supported Trujillo's run for president. Soon afterward, it was proclaimed to be the only legal party. On 16 August 1935, the HIN radio station, known as "The Voice of the Dominican Party", was opened. It was dedicated to serving as the media propagator of the activities of the Dominican Party. The insignia of the Party had a motto that coincided with Trujillo's initials: *Rectitud (Righteousness) = Rafael *Libertad (Freedom; Liberty) = Leónidas *Trabajo (Work; Labour) = Trujillo. Later, he added: Moralidad (Morality) = Molina. Officially, Trujillo was only president from 1930 until 1938 and from 1942 until 1952, and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1953 until 1961. However, for 30 years he held the real power as leader of the Dominican Party and

Generalissimo ''Generalissimo'' ( ), also generalissimus, is a military rank of the highest degree, superior to field marshal and other five-star ranks in the states where they are used. Usage The word (), an Italian term, is the absolute superlative ...

of the

Dominican Army The Dominican Army (), is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Dominican Republic, together with the Dominican Navy, Navy and the Dominican Air Force, Air Force. The Dominican army with 28,750 active duty personnel consists of s ...

. In these roles, he was able to ensure that when he was not actually president, the position was held by family members or politicians allied to him:

Jacinto Peynado Jacinto Bienvenido Peynado Peynado (15 February 1878 – 7 March 1940) was a Dominican politician who served as the 37th president of the Dominican Republic from 1938 until his resignation in 1940. He previously served as the 22nd vice president ...

(President from 1938 until 1940), Manuel de Jesús Troncoso de la Concha (President from 1940 until 1942), his brother Héctor (President from 1952 until 1960), and

Joaquín Balaguer Joaquín Antonio Balaguer Ricardo (1 September 1906 – 14 July 2002) was a Dominican politician, scholar, writer, and lawyer who was the 41st, 45th and 49th president of the Dominican Republic serving three non-consecutive terms from 1960 t ...

(took office as president in 1960; was president at the time of Trujillo's death). In this way, for the 31 years of his rule, he was able to maintain all governing power in the nation while appearing to be honorable and only hold power for 18 years. All adult citizens of the Dominican Republic were required to be members of the party. They needed to carry " hethree strikes" (): *Personal identity card *Compulsory military service card *Dominican Party membership card, popularly known as "La Palmita" The party had no real ideology other than support for Trujillo. It lingered for a brief time after Trujillo's assassination in 1961. However, it was apparent there was no place for the party in the more open society, and it was finally wound up a little under two weeks after voting to dissolve itself on December 28, 1961. At various times, Trujillo allowed other political parties to coexist. However, this was done only to impress foreign observers that democratization was progressing, and to allow Trujillo to monitor opponents.

Electoral history

Presidential elections

Congressional elections

References

Defunct political parties in the Dominican Republic Parties of one-party systems Political parties established in 1931 Political parties disestablished in 1961 Dominican Republic nationalism Far-right politics in North America {{DominicanRepublic-hist-stub

History

Electoral history

Presidential elections

Congressional elections

See also

References