Bosch, Juan

Bosch, Juan (Juan Bosch Gavino) (hwän bōsh), 1909–2001, president of the Dominican Republic (Feb.–Sept., 1963). A teacher and writer, he spent 24 years in exile during the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo and helped found (1939) the Dominican Revolutionary party. He returned (1961) to the Dominican Republic after the assassination of Trujillo and was elected president in the first free elections (Dec., 1962) held in 38 years. He introduced sweeping social and economic reforms but was ousted after seven months by military leaders who viewed him as too leftist. An attempt by his supporters to restore him to power in Apr., 1965, brought civil war and provoked armed intervention by U.S. troops. In 1966, Bosch was overwhelmingly defeated for the presidency by Joaquín Balaguer. After a voluntary exile in Europe, Bosch returned (1970) and joined the opposition to President Balaguer. In 1973 he founded the Dominican Liberation party, which he led until 1994. In 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, and 1994 he again ran unsuccessfully for the presidency.

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Bosch (Gaviño), Juan

(born June 30, 1909, La Vega, Dom. Rep.—died Nov. 1, 2001, Santo Domingo) Scholar, poet, and president of the Dominican Republic (1963). Bosch was raised in a lower-middle-class family. Dismayed by the brutality of the dictator Rafael Trujillo, he spent 24 years in exile but returned after Trujillo's death to build a leftist anticommunist movement. After winning the first free presidential election in 38 years, he instituted liberal constitutional changes, many of which benefited the country's poor. His reforms, however, alienated landholders and industrialists, and after only seven months in office Bosch was ousted in a military coup. When his supporters revolted against the ruling junta in 1965, U.S. Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson, claiming that Bosch's followers were communists, sent troops to suppress the rebellion. Over the subsequent three decades, Bosch ran repeatedly but unsuccessfully for president.