Most books about the Cuban-American relationship focus either on the historical record, emphasizing the critical role Cuba has played in the formulation of American foreign policy, or assess the deeper meanings of the dramatic years from 1959 to 1962. Professor Bender devotes one brief chapter to the historical record to 1959, and another, more analytical, chapter to the deterioration in United States-Cuban affairs under Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson. The author assigns the remainder of his work to an analysis of the Cuban-American antagonism from the viewpoint of the United States, Cuba, and the Soviet Union.
The author’s thesis is that the danger of Castroite subversion in the hemisphere has lessened considerably but that official American policy still regards Castro as a menace, a stepchild of Moscow, and a violator of inter-American principles. In fact, as Professor Bender points out, the United States obdurately refuses to repudiate its hardline policy toward Castro, though it has apparently relinquished plans to overthrow him, and clings to the policy of economic and political isolation despite evidence of Castro’s inability to foment revolution or the Soviet Union’s disinclination to exploit Cuba as a base for com-munizing the hemisphere.
In the final chapters the author applies his experience as a foreign service officer and political scientist in assessing the possibilities and costs of a Cuban-American rapprochement. To no one’s surprise he concludes that ideological rigidity and previous policies will make it difficult for either side to make the first move. (In the most recent session of the Organization of American States, however, the United States privately indicated it would accept a Latin American move to remove the ban on Castro’s government.) Major obstacles in any reconciliation are sugar, claims against the Castro government for seizure of property, the status of Guantánamo, and, of course, the proud, defiant, and vocal exiles in the United States who dream of returning to a Cuba sans Castro.
