William Tapley Bennett Jr.

William Tapley Bennett Jr. (April 1, 1917 – November 29, 1994) was an American diplomat who served as Ambassador to the Dominican Republic during the 1965 civil war and who recommended that President Johnson intervene with United States troops.

Early life Bennett was born in Griffin, Georgia on April 1, 1917. He was the only child of William Tapley Bennett Sr. (1891–1982) and Annie Mem (née Little) Bennett (1894–1965).

His maternal grandparents were Peyton Brantley "Mem" Little and Julia Elizabeth (née Neal) Little.

President Lyndon Johnson appointed him Ambassador to the Dominican Republic after the previous Ambassador, John Bartlow Martin, resigned after the Kennedy assassination on the very day in which Juan Bosch, then President of the Dominican Republic, was toppled in a coup d'etat. While Ambassador, Bennett "advised President Johnson and members of Congress that the revolt was led by Communists" and recommended President Johnson intervene with United States troops during the Dominican Civil War.

Reportedly "seeking relief from the tropical heat of the Dominican Republic," He served in that role until Richard Nixon became president in 1969 and he was succeeded by Ridgway B. Knight, who up until that point was the Ambassador to Belgium.

Later career After retiring in 1985 he served as adjunct professor of international law at the University of Georgia. Margaret, a Foxcroft School graduate who attended Barnard College and the Institute of Musical Art of the Juilliard School of Music, was the daughter of John Campbell White (the U.S. Ambassador to Peru and Haiti), a granddaughter of Henry White (the U.S. Ambassador to France and Italy), and a niece of Jay Pierrepont Moffat, the U.S. Ambassador to Canada. Together, they were the parents of five children: Victoria R. Bennett of Seattle, Washington.

He died after a long illness in Washington D.C., on November 29, 1994. His remains were interred in Washington National Cathedral.