In the Time of the Butterflies

In control of government, the economy, education, and social life at the time was the dictator Trujillo, who prided himself on his whiteness (though his family history included some black blood) and kept an all-white corps of elite guards. Obsessed not only with skin color but also with all other aspects of his appearance, Trujillo would fly to New York to purchase whitening cremes, elevator shoes that made him taller, and rare bird feathers for his Napoleon-style bicorne hats. He had a passion for clothes, often outfitting himself in full military dress and draping a plethora of medals across his chest. In a nation that measured 260 miles from its eastern tip to its western border with Haiti, Trujillo owned 12 residences and kept a complete wardrobe in each of them. A mix of dissonant traits, he was charismatic, extremely hard-working, a deft organizer, and an administrator with a keen memory. Trujillo was also arrogant, aloof, a megalomaniac who fed on flattery, and a ruler who ultimately lost touch with reality.

Trujillo’s rise. Trujillo’s Napoleon-style hats conjure up an appropriate comparison. Certainly he ruled like an emperor, though he took pains to observe the letter if not the spirit of the democracy that his republic was supposed to be.

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