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Article: W.T. Bennett, Ambassador For LBJ, Dies
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- December 1, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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W. Tapley Bennett Jr., 77, a retired State Department Foreign
Service officer who was ambassador to the Dominican Republic during
the U.S. intervention there in 1965, died of heart and liver
ailments Nov. 29 at the Hospice of Washington.
On one occasion, Mr. Bennett was talking on the telephone to
President Lyndon B. Johnson during an outbreak of fighting in Santo
Domingo, and Johnson could hear the gunshots. The ambassador
recommended that U.S. troops be sent, ostensibly to protect U.S.
lives and property but also to forestall a feared leftist takeover.
The trouble began when Juan Bosch, a duly elected president
with leftist sympathies, was ousted by a military coup. The military ...