Fourth Inaugural

For the fourth time in 17 years, Dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo took the oath of office as President of the Dominican Republic. (He had copped last May's rigged election, with 93% of the votes.) Delegates of 40 nations, on hand for the show at the Senate Palace, heard the Dictator blandly promise to "maintain the same system of democratic order followed heretofore." For the long-hatching plot of Dominican exiles to overthrow him (TIME, Aug. 11, 18) Trujillo had a characteristic answer. Halfway through his oration he paused, barked: "Whoever tries to disturb the peace will find that we are willing to defend it." Right on cue, sirens went off all over the city, and armored cars rumbled toward the Senate Palace in a roaring hint of what might be in store for rebels.

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