The United States and Latin America by Jeffrey Taffet Dustin Walcher & Dustin Walcher

Author:Jeffrey Taffet,Dustin Walcher & Dustin Walcher
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
Published: 2017-02-28T16:00:00+00:00

Document 7.8

John F. Kennedy, Cuba Must Not Be Abandoned to the Communists, 1961

President John F. Kennedy spoke at the Statler Hilton Hotel in Washington just days after the failed Bay of Pigs invasion. His opening words “Mr. Catledge” referred to Turner Catledge, President of the American Society of Newspaper Editors and Managing Editor of the New York Times. Later in his remarks, the President referred to Dr. Jose Miro Cardona, President of the Cuban Revolutionary Council.8

Mr. Catledge, members of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, ladies and gentlemen:

The President of a great democracy such as ours, and the editors of great newspapers such as yours, owe a common obligation to the people: an obligation to present the facts, to present them with candor, and to present them in perspective. It is with that obligation in mind that I have decided in the last 24 hours to discuss briefly at this time the recent events in Cuba.

On that unhappy island, as in so many other arenas of the contest for freedom, the news has grown worse instead of better. I have emphasized before that this was a struggle of Cuban patriots against a Cuban dictator. While we could not be expected to hide our sympathies, we made it repeatedly clear that the armed forces of this country would not intervene in any way.

Any unilateral American intervention, in the absence of an external attack upon ourselves or an ally, would have been contrary to our traditions and to our international obligations. But let the record show that our restraint is not inexhaustible. Should it ever appear that the inter-American doctrine of non-interference merely conceals or excuses a policy of nonaction—if the nations of this Hemisphere should fail to meet their commitments against outside communist penetration—then I want it clearly understood that this Government will not hesitate in meeting its primary obligations which are to the security of our Nation.

Should that time ever come, we do not intend to be lectured on “intervention” by those whose character was stamped for all time on the bloody streets of Budapest. Nor would we expect or accept the same outcome which this small band of gallant Cuban refugees must have known that they were chancing, determined as they were against heavy odds to pursue their courageous attempts to regain their Island’s freedom.

But Cuba is not an island unto itself; and our concern is not ended by mere expressions of nonintervention or regret. This is not the first time in either ancient or recent history that a small band of freedom fighters has engaged the armor of totalitarianism.

It is not the first time that communist tanks have rolled over gallant men and women fighting to redeem the independence of their homeland. Nor is it by any means the final episode in the eternal struggle of liberty against tyranny, anywhere on the face of the globe, including Cuba itself.

Mr. Castro has said that these were mercenaries. According to press reports, the final message to be relayed from the refugee forces on the beach came from the rebel commander when asked if he wished to be evacuated.

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