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In analyzing U.S. relations with Cuba during the Kennedy administration, scholars have focused on the Bay of Pigs invasion, Operation Mongoose, and the Cuban missile crisis. Less attention has been given to the state ofU. S.-Cuban relations in the aftermath of the missile crisis and during the lastyear ofPresident john F Kennedy's hf. Scholars have assumed, however, that Kennedy was in the process of reevaluating his hostile policies toward Cuba. This article challenges those assumptions by closely examining what Kennedy and his administration intended for Cuba. The article is based on new documentary evidence. It suggests that the Kennedy administration never renounced its policy of overthrowing Fidel Castro.
In analyzing U.S. relations with Cuba during the Kennedy administration, scholars have understandably focused on dramatic events and policies-the Bay of Pigs invasion, the U.S. campaign of terrorism and sabotage known as Operation Mongoose, the assassination plots against Fidel Castro, and, of course, the Cuban missile crisis. Less attention has been given to the state ofU.S.-Cuban relations in the aftermath of the missile crisis and during the last year of President John F. Kennedy's life. Scholars have assumed, however, that Kennedy was in the process of reevaluating his hostile policies toward Cuba and indeed his entire cold war stance. In his seminal essay, "The Education of John F Kennedy," Divine (1974) suggested that the eventful nature of the missile crisis had a transforming effect on the young president. Kennedy had once wholeheartedly embraced the cold war verities of Dean Acheson and John Foster Dulles. The Soviet Union directly threatened the security of the United States, and "only a tough determined American response, grounded in military superiority, could ensure the nation's survival" (p. 317). But the frightening missile crisis had been a turning point. After October 1962, Kennedy demonstrated a "far more mature concern for the ultimate questions ofwar and peace in the nuclear age" (p. 338). As proof, Divine pointed to Kennedy's eloquent speech given at American University in June 1963, his negotiation of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty with the Soviet Union, and his questioning of the U.S. commitment in South Vietnam. Although Divine did not specifically address Cuban issues, evidence exists to sustain his interpretation of the "new Kennedy." Kennedy had pledged to the...