Rafael Filiberto Bonnelly Fondeur (August 22, 1904 – December 28, 1979) was a lawyer, scholar, diplomat, and, from 1962 until 1963, the President of the Dominican Republic. Before he became president, he was vice president of the country from 1960 to 1962. Early life Rafael Filiberto Bonnelly Fondeur was born to Carlos Sully Bonnelly Arnaud and Luisa Fondeur in Santiago de los Caballeros, the Dominican Republic. Bonnelly was born into a family of Corsican and French descent, descendants of white colonists that settled briefly in Saint-Domingue prior the Haitian Revolution, two generations of the Bonnelly family lived in Charlotte Amalie, Saint Thomas, and then they moved to the Cibao region in the Dominican Republic. While the origins of his Fondeur family was said to be born in Bordeaux and Paris (between 1812 and 1818, proposed Penzo), they may have arrived at the years of España Boba (Foolish Spain) or during the Haitian occupation (for the author cited between 1819 and 1822). Bonnelly obtained his baccalaureate in Law on March 27, 1926, from the university of Santo Domingo. He became a teacher at the Normal School in Santo Domingo from 1926 to 1930. Bonnelly married his former student, Aida Mercedes Batlle, in 1930. The couple had four children during their marriage: Luisa Amelia, Rafael Francisco, Juan Sully and Aida María. Bonnelly was also the uncle of fashion designer Sully Bonnelly. Bonnelly's first foray into public life was his participation in the revolt against President Horacio Vásquez in 1930, led by Dr. Rafael Estrella Ureña, and supported by then head of the Army, General Rafael Trujillo. Bonnelly later became a Deputy at the National Congress, but rapidly had a falling out with Trujillo, who had deported Dr. Estrella Ureña and assumed the Presidency of the Country, after publicly voting against an Education bill sent by the dictator to Congress. His fall out with Trujillo in 1931 led to a 12-year professional hiatus, in which Bonnelly was prevented from working as a lawyer. The return of Dr. Estrella Ureña to the Dominican Republic in 1942, under an amnesty granted by Trujillo, led to Bonnelly's reappearance into Dominican public life as a Senator, between 1942 and 1944. After Dr. Ureña's death in 1945, Bonnelly started an ascending career as a public servant, which culminated with his naming as President of the Dominican Republic in January 1962. Ancestors Public service During these years, Bonnelly held