Editing Joaquín Balaguer (section)

==Early life and introduction to politics==

Balaguer was born on 1 September 1906<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dominicanaonline.org/|title=Dominicana Online – El Portal de la República Dominicana}}</ref> in Navarrete, later named [[Villa Bisonó]] in the [[Santiago Province (Dominican Republic)|Santiago Province]] in the northwestern corner of the Dominican Republic. His father was Joaquín Jesús Balaguer Lespier,<ref name=Genealog/> a [[Spaniard people|Spaniard]] native of [[Catalan people|Catalan]] and French ancestry born in Puerto Rico,<ref name=Genealog>{{cite web|title=Ancestros, descendientes y parientes colaterales de Joaquín Balaguer|url=http://hoy.com.do/capsulas-genealogicas-53/|access-date=1 May 2014|work=Cápsulas Genealógicas|date=16 September 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222070545/http://hoy.com.do/capsulas-genealogicas-53/ |archive-date=22 February 2014|publisher=Hoy}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=[[Jorge Duany]] |title=Globalización y localidad: espacios, actores, movilidades e identidades |publisher=La Casa Chata |year=2007 |isbn=978-968-496-595-9 |editor=Margarita Estrada, Pascal Labazée |location=Mexico City |page=400 |chapter=La migración dominicana hacia Puerto Rico: una perspectiva transnacional |quote=(...) Los historiadores han documentado la creciente presencia puertorriqueña en la República Dominicana durante el primer tercio del siglo XX. En 1920, el censo dominicano contó 6069 puertorriqueños residentes en la República Dominicana. Como resultado, los inmigrantes de segunda generación generalmente se identificaron como dominicanos, no como puertorriqueños. Los casos más célebres son los expresidentes Joaquín Balaguer y Juan Bosch, ambos de ascendencia dominicana y puertorriqueña. (...) |access-date=28 May 2013 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-EOPND5pEUEC&q=1920+censo+Rep%C3%BAblica+Dominicana+puertorrique%C3%B1os&pg=PA400}}</ref> and his mother was Carmen Celia Ricardo Heureaux,<ref name=Genealog/> daughter of Manuel de Jesus Ricardo and Rosa Amelia Heureaux (of French descent),<ref name=Genealog/> who was also a half-cousin of President [[Ulises Heureaux]].<ref name=Genealog/>{{efn|name= |[[Ulises Heureaux]]'s father was D'Assas Heureaux, a Haitian [[mulatto]]<ref>{{cite book|url=https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=es&u=https://books.google.com/books%3Fid%3D_Q1pBfcSPmEC%26pg%3DPA9%26lpg%3DPA9%26dq%3DD%27assas%2BHeureaux%26source%3Dbl%26ots%3DaoGh5wmtus%26sig%3DS85jk_cK0RZet4fUnr0FKqdqs-8&prev=search |title=Ulises Heureaux: biography of a dictator |author=Sang, Mu-Kien Adriana |page=9 |access-date=2 December 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P4f78sO07lAC&q=balaguer+de+haitiano+origen+Heureaux&pg=PA40 | title=Peña Gómez in Haitian society |author=Manati |page=40 |year=2001 |access-date=2 December 2014| isbn=9789993420200 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rSbIAAAAQBAJ&q=Heureaux+haitian&pg=PA129 |title=Haitian-Dominican Counterpoint: Nation, Race and State on Hispaniola |author=Matibag, Eugenio |page=129 |access-date=3 December 2014|isbn=9781403973801 |date=2003-05-16 }}</ref> son of Pierre Alejandro (Pierre-Alexandre) Heureaux, a Frenchman and Roselia Jean-Louis, an African-born slave.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cassá |first=Roberto |title=Ulises Heureaux: el tirano perfecto |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=moZtAAAAMAAJ |publisher=Tobogán |access-date=9 May 2014 |author-link=Roberto Cassá |page=15 |language=es |year=2001 |quote=Su madre, Josefa Leibert, era nativa de Saint Thomas, y su padre, D'Assas Heureaux, hijo de un francés, fue uno de los tantos haitianos que prefirió hacerse dominicano cuando se declaró la independencia en 1844. Padre y madre eran mulatos, aunque de piel oscura. |location=Santo Domingo |isbn=9789993483496 |oclc=51220478}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.carlstroem.com/heureaux/d1.htm |title=Descendants of Doyen Heureaux |access-date=2 December 2014}}</ref>}} Balaguer was the only son in a family of several daughters.<ref name=Genealog/>

From a very early age, Balaguer felt an attraction to literature, composing verses that were published in local magazines even when he was very young.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.educando.edu.do/articulos/estudiante/joaquin-balaguer-el-escritor/|title=Joaquín Balaguer: El escritor|website=www.educando.edu.do|language=en|access-date=2017-01-23}}</ref> He was taught by [[Santiago de los Caballeros|Santiago]]-born educator and feminist writer [[Rosa Smester Marrero]];<ref>{{Cite web |last=Albaine Pons |first=J. R. |date=2011-02-07 |title=Cerebro, lectura y escritura |url=https://acento.com.do/opinion/cerebro-lectura-y-escritura-200020.html |access-date=2023-02-09 |website=Acento |language=es-ES}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Dr. Joaquín Balaguer |url=https://prsc.org.do/dr-joaquin-balaguer/ |access-date=2023-02-10 |website=Partido Reformista Social Cristiano {{!}} PRSC |language=es}}</ref> in his memoirs, Balaguer recalled Smester's great influence on his intellectual formation.<ref name=":2" />

After graduating from school, Balaguer earned a law degree from the [[Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo|University of Santo Domingo (UASD)]] and studied for a brief period at the University of Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cidob.org/content/pdf/50817|title=Joaquín Balaguer}}</ref> As a youth, Balaguer wrote of the awe with which he was struck by his father's fellow countryman, the [[Harvard University|Harvard]] graduate and political leader from Puerto Rico, [[Pedro Albizu Campos|Pedro Albizu]]. Despite the profound differences regarding their ethical and world visions, [[Pedro Albizu Campos|Albizu]]'s fiery and charismatic rhetoric captured Balaguer's imagination and his recollection of this occasion was a harbinger of his passion for politics and intellectual debate.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.listindiario.com/la-republica/2012/07/14/239703/balaguer-pidio-le-sacaran-el-corazon|title=Balaguer pidió le sacaran el corazón|last=Diario|first=Listin|date=2012-07-14|newspaper=listindiario.com|language=es|access-date=2017-01-23}}</ref>

Balaguer's political career began in 1930 (before [[Rafael Trujillo]] took control of the government) when he was appointed Attorney in the Court of Properties. In later years, he served as Secretary of the Dominican Legation in Madrid (1932–1935), Undersecretary of the Presidency (1936), Undersecretary of Foreign Relations (1937), Extraordinary Ambassador to Colombia and Ecuador (1940–1943 and 1943–1947), Ambassador to Mexico (1947–1949), Secretary of Education (1949–1955), and Secretary of State of Foreign Relations (1953–1956).{{citation needed|date=December 2015}}