When President Obama arrives in Cuba on Sunday he became the first sitting president to visit the island nation since Calvin Coolidge, nearly 90 years ago. The president’s schedule includes a wreath-laying ceremony at the Jose Marti Memorial honoring Cuba’s national hero. It is fitting to look back at a striking similarity, the history-making trip to the U.S. by Fidel Castro.
It was April 1959, only three months after Castro and his revolutionary army overthrew Cuban Dictator Fulgencio Batista. The American Society of Newspaper Editors had invited Castro to Washington, D.C., for a good-will tour. He arrived with 50 bearded and fatigue-clad comrades, 19 armed bodyguards and 100 cases of rum to be used as gifts.
Castro was a controversial figure because many officials believed he had communist ties. President Dwight Eisenhower snubbed the fellow and left town on a five-day golfing trip. After military officers of higher rank all made excuses, the task of escorting Castro fell to my cousin, Army Col. Mark F. Brennan, chief of staff of the Military District of Washington.
The plan was to take Castro to Arlington National Cemetery, where he would lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns. Both Cuban and U.S. security details had great concern that refugees who fled Cuba after the revolution might have plans to assassinate Castro. Also, government officials wanted no part of a Castro death during his official visit to the United States.
After the entourage arrived at the cemetery, it was sealed off to prevent any incident. To make it look like any other wreath-laying, soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Regiment and their families dressed in civilian clothes and posed as tourists to watch the ceremony. Castro and his followers were very happy with the whole affair.
Four days later, Vice President Richard Nixon met with Castro for three hours. They discussed responsibilities of leadership, elections and communism. Later, Nixon sent a secret memo to Eisenhower, Secretary of State Christian Herter and CIA Director Allen Dulles, saying in part: “The one fact we can be sure of, is that he has those indefinable qualities which make him a leader of men. Whatever we may think of him, he is going to be a great factor in the development of Cuba and very possibly in the development of Latin American affairs generally.”
Here is where the similarity ends. In October 1962 came the Cuban Missile Crisis, the alarming showdown between the United States and the Soviet Union. It was the moment the two superpowers came closest to nuclear conflict.
Ben Weber is a retired healthcare executive who writes about military history. Thinking of submitting an op-ed to the Washington Examiner? Be sure to read our guidelines on submissions.
