Coffee works and it works real good! 
– ABC Radio – Report From Santo Domingo – May 12, 1965 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
59 years ago today, May 13, 1965, we were embroiled in another Latin–American conflict. This time it was the Dominican Republic and a coup with leanings towards a Civil War which erupted in April.
Amid unsubstantiated rumors the rebels were “communist inspired”, President Johnson sent a contingent of U.S. troops to aid in evacuating American civilians and government workers. The small contingent of troops landed on April 29th and were immediately stuck in the middle of crossfire between rebel forces and coup elements, and the U.S. presence shifted from evacuation to restoring order and 42,000 additional U.S. Marines landed.
The conflict was taken up by the UN Security Council and calls for a multi-national force of peacekeepers were made to the OAS.
This report, from Day 16 of the conflict in Santo Domingo, covers the diplomatic attempts at restoring order, and the ongoing fighting in the streets of Santo Domingo. In the two weeks since the Marines had landed, some 18 Americans were killed by sniper fire.
All this from an ABC Radio News Special Report on the Crisis in The Dominican Republic, for May 13, 1965.
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