f4 r Prasldent I lmow that you saw the original report and therefore lOU are aware of th burden of my message But I wanted to see you pereonallYI to impress upon you how strongly I feel that Fidel's alliance mth the Oommunists 1s a precarious one and that despite bis trip to Rwss1s his and Chairman I hrushehev's joint deolaration of mutual loyalt y the Order or Lenin and all the reat ooo I donlt think Castro trusts Khrushchev or teels relaxed w1thin the alliance And furtbermore I do thInk as James Reston pointed out in his Sumlay column that we might fish in those troubled waters p of1tably I genulnelu believe that Dr Castro is new ready to discuss everything the withdrawal of tbe troopsJ an end to the exPort1ng ot hIe revolution to other nations throughollt the hemisphere eve17th1ng positively And not just ready Sir but eage As you know I talked to Fidel for eight bours and incidentally it I call him Fidel it 1s not because of any special familiarity but simply because that 1s what everyone calls bim ministers The lowe11eet peasants in the fields hi own eve one talked for eight glo ies calls him Fidel bou s Now as I was saying we What did we talk about or Marxism I ean assure you ot that Not the We talked about 2 th Bill of' Rights fI about the t1ri t1fll 0' Thomas Paine alld icbomas about demQcracy and t4bout the Jeffe son il tbe revolution 'Ie ta l ked a 8 ieat Camus part1eulaj 'iilY about Oamu il t sensitivity towaI d al tal1ure j of about the wr1 t1ngf3 extrao 1na ry peroeption buman sufferinga N ve # never have I or llld tOtn d a Communist interested 1n the sentlmentaof Alber't Camus As you know the Communit t brolce tJ1th Otnnultl around 1955 ovel Algeria And I certainlY have not found dedicated Oommunists anxious to discuss the m rlts of our Oongtltut1on and our Bill or Rights But Fidel enjoyed tbe conversation ilnmensely I believe that he is the revolution uite unhappy with the 'course ot I explained that I was a progreSsive and that I had supported his revolution and that I had been verr much against Batista He believed me and so I guess he trusted me and was willIng to listen wben I explained that the progressive community ot the Western world feels and believes that he bas betrayed the revolut1on degree Th1s U sturbed h1m to a great He wanted to know why Why Why did I say this Why' dld they teel the revolution bad been betrayed The question was somewhat disingenuous and the reasons are obvious but I stated them to bim politely_ I told him that I thouSbt tbe best system of gQvermnent was the slstem Wherein there was the lea s t terror it I thought there was terror on the island to answer yes there was He aaked 111e I 8aid that I had And I deplored the civilian malitia a th@ po11 e wti te app rertuf Hi3 Gatti tbat h@ toc d1 111tEld thoiiSf aspeot of the l volution b lt ti'M-it since the revolution til l1f htlld be n nothing unde 3u st1r1 d condi t1on Qf liar-Iff the more abui 1ve t u'ld the malitia polc1ng and pr v1ng into I 1d f'ul he opp is1ve everyon ' Again he came back to the question Qf terror te J or he asked tbat aspects of pr1vate affairs Where 1$ the I spoke of the mltidl olass and I told h1m 1ncidents or conversations I had with a number or middle class tal'dlles and bOttl delperately unbapPJ they were and yea te ror- 1zed by wbat the malitia and secret police m18ht do to them and he sald tlTbis saddens me ve17 Mucb I guess it is t t'Ue that sOl'netimes we have been $0 conceme4about one aspect of the revolution that 80 WG have not looked at the entire picture and we have faade many m18takes U Ht explained at length that he would not want terror on the leland and would 11ke to tind a way to stop it it it were true that lome ot hie people felt terrorized IlBut you eee 1f be said i1my concern has always been tor the POOl' the rich could take care of themselves but 'iftI beart has been fUll of the paine of the poor n Fidel I'm y-ounger than 10U81'e And I said but I suspect Iim more mature I grew up 3U8t as ftlled with so01al protest as you and finally I came to realize that the rich bleed and feel pain and despair Just as the poor dQ and lOU Thelare a180 members ot the human tamily can I t ipore one wbole group u nperhaps you are rlgbt n be aald I don t know I honestly dontt know tf But my worda about the terrot' en the island It tUb-ed bim ve't'1 deepl 4 pl tH3ed uith the bw aaid I r Y ' I t10 had playoo- tb1ng$j thlnl 1 t l' e -f llgn1ticant as CommunisM is concerned the lestel'ft ltlorlcl ba loo ted do m J nU'rTIlJer of things I iJa1d to bim But as tar prQgre 1ve oorumunlty of the that road and turned back ir howor n that te 'Jere against Communism not because Qf its sQoiallet1c aspects but because of the police state apparatus the the restraints on desoent oo and all the rest He looked at me and said 111 won I t try to convert 1'ou to Marx1tuil Ii That wouldn't be pos81ble tl me of the superlo 1ty ter orJ I answel d NotQ110e did he try to convince of Marxism - not once a fervent advocate h1nlSelf I surely h If be were such would teel compelled to defend bie creed Perhaps one of the most extraordinary things he said to me was I1What do you think or Ia1 l'uahchev Imag1ne Sir I tlKhrushchev is a sly old fox And it he did not need you be asked me in all sincerity wbat I thought of l hrushchev said for whatevel pUliPose$ he needs you be would cut you ott like l a tWig n and I snapped IIJ1 fingers ItJust He did not try to argue this e1tbet' like that I ss1d He Juat looked at me sp1n rather sadly I and I sensed a wounded note and he looked tra1ght into my eye3 and nodded hi8 head lP and down he made a eurious 8omewhat enigmatic statement said we did pretty well in October II Then tlWell tr e He was moat interested 1n you Mr President He kept saylng to me UWbat 1$ President Kennedy like what does he want what does he say about me privately want ot us What does be I lald I1All lour attacks asa1nst the United State thi8 harangulng ot the PreSident are not doing lOU anY good and only aerve to teed tbe enemiee ot KennedY' who are 70ur worst enemtee lI plete11 He seemed to understand thls com I laid that Kennedy's enem1ea are still brooding over the tact that all' coverage wal' not provided tor the invasion and that oertain elements would 11ke to invade Cuba tOday and I added lIWby do you want to push Kenned1 1nto an sbyel he is not lour worst happened ene n Then the moet extraordinary thing That nIght at Havana University Fidel made a speeeh and he quoted almost verbatim what I had sald to him that afternoon about you He sald KennedY e enemies want to pUlh h1m lnto an abyaa And then be went on to praiee the eteps 88 he termed it that 70U have takien toward peace ooo t171ng to put an end to the piratlcal attacks and all the reate Another note of' significance that I think bears out theor that the alliance between Fidel and the old l1ne o hard l1ne Oommunisis inside Cuba 18 a precarious one I learned trom the technicians that just before the interview Fidel 881d uNow th1s g1rl hal been working ve1 Y hard pushing very bard tor tbl 1nterview 80 let's try to belp her now and let's do the very best job we can tor bel' Atter the interview Fldel turned to the technicians and sa1d UDon't epoll that f1lm 6 no do a good job t11th J t and tbe nlinute 1 t t l I t ever to hel''' tt td th the ir1teMlew one o'olocl in the Qtd t obv1o' lU J Fidel Yetg wben the film was rllo lnEh '$ f'1111sbOO you t3aS pleased oi lPleted at on the nintb floor of C M Q the technioians did not obey instructions and would not give me the film Ietayed v1itb the film 1n the lab until it was finished and the moment it was finished t sald ncave me the film you know that is an order from F1del lI They knew it was an Qrder becauee iT'tOst of them bad been in tbe room when Fidel issued it But two gentlemen were tbere whom I bad not seen before and obviously $ the were members at the party apparatus They said that the film would be turned over to me but someone wanted to look at it to rtq hour They told me to go back hotel and tbe f11m woUld be delivered to me within an From 1 30 until 1 in the max-ning I sat by 'fII3 door wait- lng tor the f11m ot cour$e it never arrived nor did tbey have any intentione ot delivering it to me within an hour It 1s a long llano tng stol'1 and I won4t go into all the details but it took me tbree days to get mr f11m baak and I bad to move heaven and earth to achieve that aead a cablegram to Pidel 1n Moaoow film W88 I even bad to I learned later that the 1n the bands ot the Communists who were not particularly annotla to let the tlltr1 out of' the oountry e film ' as fOU know discussed rapprochement and a desire tor better relations with the United Stateoo 1 Just Gu petJted betol that b@ had 11e 11l etil the X lett tIavan I aw 1 1'1 thlf1 t13Ji' SO I tnterv1et1 1f I@ll 1 I ahe luevar l simply 8SK@d hird how he sa1d$ ttl thought fOUl ' questions were ver1 hostile but I thought Fidel handled himself' ve7fl wellil lt He then said I 't-1ouldn't give you an 1ntel1Vlew Your questIons are too hal c1 fI 1 man you could anew n t any questions I CQuld possibly pose n And he ea1t1 You thinlt you rlldn't 11ke me at all much better COm11ll U1 i st I said UWhy I you are a brilliant re vel clever j 1301'1 tt you n He Tben I sa1d to him III tbink youtre a tban Pidal and he said nOh no Fidel is the best CQ_unlst beoause be 1s the beat mann and I aaid III think KhruGhcbe v 10uld dIsagree lie looked at me knowingly and we under toed eaeb other completely MJ point b re is that Fidel 1s one kind ot man and the men around him are another breed Another interesting point# I was told that Dr Real the Foreign Ministet' le an old soc1a11st but not a CommunilS' and something nappened that bore out that assessment I bad a ohat with Dr Rca at a party before 1 lett He too had Been the interview and like 1t very' mucb We bad a conversation about the revolution I had told F1del that I I told him a8 telt the course of the revolution bad been a tragic one and how wonderful it woUld be if' a way could be round tor Cuba to have notmU l l 'elatlona once again with the United Statea ooo and then I described in some detail nw reasons tor being GJ'1tlcal of the revolution ooo and I said I hoped Fidel would cease s l e vbatln t GBPlS1o S i o t td said to me 1 NOt1 llQP He thons rt ll tl i Qver tor a mow nt 'Otl told mq be we can all ttd $'il to IVit el tJ t1es t t tl l w1th a blocktlule and pelt'laps it 1s not neicenea17 to negQt' ate With him on any level That or oourso 1$ $Qmeth1ns tbat u ImQtf and I don't I do know that eountl-1ef bave 11ve'd along But wi thou tOf deoac1 s kleenex and tooth paste and shampoo and lipstiok and pe ape Ouba can too il1t it it 1t a questlcn of getting a l ong w1th a ehastened Fidel ooo I 'tblnk there is nothing be wants more Above all as IaaldeaX'll r t I'tb1nk he does not trust Khru8hchev I think he 1s not cel'ta1n of bis pceltl0l wItb KhrushcbEJv suppose Khr l8 nchev does not trust him either t and Khl'uabcbev 18 rtgbt because a man wbo is eo desperately eoncerned about htl pla oe in hlstor3' ooo about what the progressive co_un1ty o f the Wet tern wo ld thinks of him 1s elesl'ly not a trustwortbt Ma 18tal11 I suppose fOU have read Fidelia Itatement at hiS trial in 1952 fJRlstory Will abSolve lQe It Well be wor r1es as to whether oX' not hlato17 w111 ablolve bim The men al'Ound him Ohe Raoul SlaG Boca Armat140 Hart Carlos Rodriguez these are toUShI hard-noled l down the 11ne Communi ts They don't have doubta about tbe valldtw of Marxiat tl1eo17 But F1del 1s full ot dOUbts and unce tttaln t1e and sensitive and t oubled He 1s vulnerable X thlnk be knows that bistorJ tdll I- ' I tltnB l V bim olll it ll c n ohan th Jt t ' T $ t1ntj 110 kr iOlJitl tllat be csnnot d thout ou ' cl'lan e tbEURl of the c n ije of t 101tl'tion th v ltlt1on a si tanc1# I know it f ve7 1 dlf t1c1 l1t 1t n Jt tor obvious polttioal reasons tOl' lmposs1ble S1r you to sit down end negotiate with Fidel but it 70U could I think NQU c uld get about everything you 'trsnt t om him The 81017 and recogn1 t10n that he would rece1vE by f$ltt1ns down w1th eu 'HOu ld mean more than anything to him He b 8 Qommi tted tenlble orimes and he lUte unquestionably antene is lilQl G let a ved the revolut1on but I do not think conscious of all that than be ls It lOU cannot 'balk to h1m jUt4t bear in mind that be desperately wants to talk to some responsible official ot our governtttent And I believe $ lch oon rel atlonB would reveal that rlael Castro is now willing to concede almost anything to reallee an end to th blookade and a resumption of diplQmatic relatione with the Untted States A couple ot polntlS tbat mi$bt amU$ 1 uI$ Kennedy ' 1 11'1 wrong w1 til 111m n 1bU H said He eems tobave aged a lot Obv10usl' to m e Is anytblng be tollon rOll vel-ry close11 iI I said jokingly Well you didn 1t help muoh He laughed and eald uNo Jackie I guess I d1dn t t i1 He even wanted to talk about I asked him what be thouabt ot Jaokie and his answer 41d not appea to be tn line w1 ttl the al'Xlet dialectic He aid Well I think $l'lt 18 ve'S ale snt This document is from the holdings of The National Security Archive Suite 701 Gelman Library The George Washington University 2130 H Street NW Washington D C 20037 Phone 202 994-7000 Fax 202 994-7005 nsarchiv@gwu edu