Manhattan Contractor Samuel R. Rosoff takes business wherever he can find it. Last week, “Subway Sam” returned from a beaming visit with ruthless Dominican Dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo. Sam, who had his eye on a dam job in the Dominican state of Santiago, babbled chummily about the Benefactor. “He is sometimes called a dictator, but he’s not,” gushed Sam. “He’s the most democratic man. Why, he had me to dinner with him at his home.”
Sam’s rhapsody is not the only notice the Dominican Republic has had recently in the U.S. A spate of glowing publicity pictures and handouts on Trujillo-land has been cluttering editorial desks. And as his U.S. legal representative (registered with the Department of Justice’s Foreign Agents Section), Dictator Trujillo has hired onetime New Dealing Attorney General Homer S. Cummings’ Washington law firm (Cummings & Stanley).
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Donald Trump Is TIME's 2024 Person of the Year
- Why We Chose Trump as Person of the Year
- Is Intermittent Fasting Good or Bad for You?
- The 100 Must-Read Books of 2024
- The 20 Best Christmas TV Episodes
- Column: If Optimism Feels Ridiculous Now, Try Hope
- The Future of Climate Action Is Trade Policy
- Merle Bombardieri Is Helping People Make the Baby Decision
Contact us at letters@time.com