The March of Time: An American Dictator 1936

The Dictatingest Dictator who ever Dictated!

Directed by Louis De Rochemont

On July 10, 1936, the Time Corporation released the seventh episode of the second year of its newsreel series The March of Time, which included a controversial sequence titled “An American Dictator.” This segment, purportedly a journalistic exposé, centered on the rise to power and political career of then Dominican head of state Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina. The content of the short piece accused Trujillo of committing many politically motivated crimes, including murder, and caused a brief diplomatic crisis between the United States and the Dominican Republic. - Naida García-Crespo