The Army In Support Of Political Objectives The 1965 Dominican Republic Intervention

Taken from a Center of Military History manuscript entitled United States Army Unilateral and Coalition Operations in the 1965 Dominican Republic Intervention (CMH Pub 93-5, 1987), this paper was presented by the author at the 1987 Missouri Valley History Conference. The paper deals with the American intervention into the Dominican Republic Civil War of 1965. Specifically, it addresses the role played by the 82d Airborne Division in stopping the Dominican Civil War, restoring peace in Santo Domingo, and supporting diplomatic efforts by the US State Department and the Organization of American States. This was the first and only time that the OAS formed a coalition military force (the LAPE) to act within a neighbor nation and, American military forces composed the vast majority of this force. The paper addresses the importance of military flexibility and restraint in dealing with revolution or insurgency in another sovereign nation.