76-06-A6
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Cuba[edit]
Transcript[edit]I think most of us hold to a belief that Russia under the Czars was a land left behind by the Industrial Revolution; an almost medieval society made up of masses of illiterate peasantry held in bondage by a thin crust of rich, luxury-loving aristocrats. Coincident with this then is the assumption that bad as conditions are under Soviet rule the people are infinitely better off than they were. That may be true but are they better off than they might have been if the Czars had continued to rule for these last 59 years? A little known fact is that the greatest trend of growth in Russia, expansion of industry, production of steel, etc., took place between 1900 and 1915. Communism came in 1917 and it took decades for Russia to get back up to some of the production levels of 1915. William Buckley in his magazine National Review has recently replied to some present day propagandists who would have us believe Castro's Cuba is a modern version of that Russian fairy tale. We've had some of our more liberal Senators visit Cuba in the interest of normalizing relations between our two countries. A former campaign aide to McGovern is now a kind of agent through whom American business firms can make contact with Castro. And, Frank Mankiewicz has written a book extolling the great advance of Cuba under Castro. Now Bill Buckley recounts a story that exposes all this make believe. He tells of a young Panamanian banker who had business of some kind to transact in Cuba. He had arranged through contacts to meet with Fidel Castro, which was essential to the success of his trip. The young business man spent two weeks studying the "pre-Castro" Cuba. In addition to this homework he visited with Cuban refugees, getting all the details he could; figures, places, descriptions of various locales, etc. He had learned also that Castro played games with regard to appointments keeping his visitor guessing as to when the meeting would take place. So he spent his time touring Havana and the countryside visiting medical clinics, schools, and stores. As Bill Buckley tells it, he tucked all manner of information, facts, and figures away in his memory bank. Castro, it seems, has a taste for calling a meeting, at say, 2 o'clock in the morning with no more warning than a knock on the door. Our young banker was ready for that. He retired at 8 o'clock and sure enough at 2 AM was rousted out of bed to meet Castro and his entire cabinet. But having retired early he was ready. Castro began the same routine that so impressed some of our Senators. It didn't impress the young Panamanian. Politely but firmly, he refuted every claim the dictator made. He had the pre-revolution statistics, he had his own observations from his tour around the city, and he challenged everything from the teacher-pupil ratio to the availability of food stuffs. Castro was squirming, his cabinet was helpless. Finally he drew out a copy of Frank Mankiewicz book and presented it to his visitor who promptly gave it right back. He'd already read it and he could refute that too. I don't know what business the banker was on, but I wonder if he'd like to be Secretary of State? This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. |
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