Copyright by Gregory Krauss 2007 - The University of Texas at Austin
Copyright by Gregory Krauss 2007 - The University of Texas at Austin
Copyright by Gregory Krauss 2007 - The University of Texas at Austin
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As the election proceeded on May 16, early returns showed Guzmán ahead. 41<br />
<strong>The</strong> following day, however, military units received orders to seize the ballot boxes. 42<br />
Lister urged Congressman Fraser to call President Carter, which Fraser apparently<br />
did. 43 Strong pressure <strong>by</strong> Carter administr<strong>at</strong>ion <strong>of</strong>ficials and Carter himself convinced<br />
Balaguer to resume the vote count, and Guzmán was elected. 44 Lister, invited <strong>by</strong> Peña<br />
Gómez, <strong>at</strong>tended Guzman’s inaugur<strong>at</strong>ion on August 16, 1978. 45 <strong>The</strong> inaugur<strong>at</strong>ion was<br />
the first peaceful transfer <strong>of</strong> power from one political party to another in the history <strong>of</strong><br />
the Dominican Republic. Since 1978, most elections in the Dominican Republic have<br />
been viewed as honest. 46 Lister received an <strong>of</strong>ficial commend<strong>at</strong>ion from the PRD for<br />
his assistance with the elections. He returned to the Dominican Republic as a guest <strong>of</strong><br />
the PRD for the 1982 presidential inaugur<strong>at</strong>ion. 47<br />
South Korea<br />
One <strong>of</strong> Lister’s gre<strong>at</strong>est accomplishments in the human rights bureau was to<br />
establish a rel<strong>at</strong>ionship in the early 1980s between the St<strong>at</strong>e Department and Kim Dae<br />
Jung, the South Korean dissident. Since the end <strong>of</strong> the Korean War in 1953, South<br />
Korea had mostly been ruled <strong>by</strong> autocr<strong>at</strong>s, who justified restricting democr<strong>at</strong>ic<br />
freedoms due to the need to maintain stability in the face <strong>of</strong> the North Korean thre<strong>at</strong>.<br />
<strong>The</strong> U.S. was willing to accommod<strong>at</strong>e friendly dict<strong>at</strong>orships in South Korea as long<br />
as they worked with the U.S. to maintain the armistice. U.S. policy towards South<br />
Korea eventually changed, helping democracy there to take a leap forward <strong>by</strong> the end<br />
107