On this day in 1965, the U.S. invaded the Dominican Republic with more than 22,000 troops in order to prevent a "communist dictatorship" from forming there. The military action was supported by the Organization of American States (OAS).

The Dominican Republic had been fraught with political instability since the assassination of dictator Rafael Trujillo in 1961. Although Trujillo brutally suppressed the population, his anti-communism made him a natural ally of the U.S. government. After his death, liberal reformer Juan Bosch became president, but he was deposed in a coup after less than a year in power.

In the ensuing power struggle, the U.S. was committed to preventing "another Cuba" (i.e., a communist revolution) from taking place. On April 28th, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared that he had taken action to forestall the establishment of a "communist dictatorship" in the country, providing reporters with lists of suspected communists there as evidence. These lists, however, contained people who were not communists or were in fact deceased.

The military action was supported by the Organization of American States (OAS). Over the next few weeks, they established a conservative, non-military government, which held fraudulent elections in June 1966. 69% of American people approved of the decision to send in troops at the time.

According to Rory Fanning of Jacobin: "Upon taking power, U.S.-backed leader Joaquín Balaguer began funneling nearly all of Dominican Republic's minerals and sugar into the warehouses of U.S. businesses. His three-decade rule was marked by corruption and fraud. Wages plummeted, unions were dismantled, inflation soared, and unemployment hovered around 30 percent."