March 5, 2025
Cuba: An American History
Ada Ferrer
Professor of History at Princeton University, author of Cuba: An American History
Cuba: An American History
Ada Ferrer
Professor of History at Princeton University, author of Cuba: An American History
Ada Ferrer and Len Berlik, introducer
Minutes of the 21st Meeting of the 83rd Year
George Bustin presided. Total attendance was 130. Four guests attended: Sandy Sussman (guest of Ron Schnur), Bill Crane (guest of Ernie Anastasio), Tom Scott (guest of Dan Haughton), Colette Breen (guest of Barry Breen). Nancy Beck read Nancy Greenspan's minutes from the February 26th meeting.
Len Berlik introduced the speaker, Ada Ferrer, professor of History at Princeton University, who talked about her new book, Cuba, an American History, which covers 500 years of history, roughly the period from Christopher Columbus to the presidency of Joe Biden.
The story of Cuba and the U.S. has been intertwined over centuries. In the American Revolution, Cuba was an important trading partner and financial backer of the fledgling country. Jefferson wanted to add Cuba to the U.S. landmass, and before the Civil War, southerners favored this, believing it would strengthening the slave-holding states. In 1853, when divisions in the U.S. over slavery were intensifying, Franklin Pierce was sworn in as U.S. president. His vice president, William Rufus King, was in Cuba at the time of the inauguration, taking the “sugar cure’ for his tuberculosis. King even took the oath of office in Cuba from a hill overlooking a sugar plantation, but the cure did not work, and he died shortly thereafter. Pierce and King had run on a platform of making Cuba part of the U.S. While this obviously did not happen, there were extensive commercial interactions between the island and the continent and many fortunes in this country began in the sugar fields of Cuba.
In 1898, by winning the Spanish-American War, the U.S. stepped onto the world stage. Four hundred years of Spanish rule of Cuba ended, but the U.S. military occupation of the island began. Cuba became a playland for many in the U,S. and large fortunes were made.
Professor Ferrer then jumped ahead to 1959 and the Cuban Revolution. She asked us to suspend what we know about that event and pay some attention to the lives of ordinary people in Cuba.
Fidel Castro did not begin as a communist but became increasingly anti-capitalist and anti-American over time. The Soviet Union was delighted to step in and saw an opportunity to engage very close to U.S. soil. By 1961, intense activity started in the little town of Santa Cruz de Los Pinos, which puzzled and shocked the denizens of that tiny hamlet. Huge trucks and equipment roared by on the narrow dirt roads. On October 14, 1962, U.S. reconnaissance planes overhead revealed that there were six large Soviet missile sites on the island. While Khrushchev eventually backed down and the missiles departed, it was an extremely tense global moment. Professor Ferrer pointed out that “history always looks different depending on where one stands.” The missiles were removed, but the Marsden mats they sat on were left behind and were repurposed to make excellent enclosures for the pigs.
During the Q & A period Professor Ferrer pointed out that Cuba is currently experiencing severe economic hardship. There is migration out for those who can leave and there has been a 10% population decrease in the past three years. The infrastructure is in a state of severe decay and the previously touted medical system is collapsing, with no money for drugs, devises, or even blood, all of which must be supplied by the patients themselves. Since the subsidies from the Soviet Union were dropped, the future now looks grim for those still living on the island.
Respectfully submitted,
Helena Bienstock
Len Berlik introduced the speaker, Ada Ferrer, professor of History at Princeton University, who talked about her new book, Cuba, an American History, which covers 500 years of history, roughly the period from Christopher Columbus to the presidency of Joe Biden.
The story of Cuba and the U.S. has been intertwined over centuries. In the American Revolution, Cuba was an important trading partner and financial backer of the fledgling country. Jefferson wanted to add Cuba to the U.S. landmass, and before the Civil War, southerners favored this, believing it would strengthening the slave-holding states. In 1853, when divisions in the U.S. over slavery were intensifying, Franklin Pierce was sworn in as U.S. president. His vice president, William Rufus King, was in Cuba at the time of the inauguration, taking the “sugar cure’ for his tuberculosis. King even took the oath of office in Cuba from a hill overlooking a sugar plantation, but the cure did not work, and he died shortly thereafter. Pierce and King had run on a platform of making Cuba part of the U.S. While this obviously did not happen, there were extensive commercial interactions between the island and the continent and many fortunes in this country began in the sugar fields of Cuba.
In 1898, by winning the Spanish-American War, the U.S. stepped onto the world stage. Four hundred years of Spanish rule of Cuba ended, but the U.S. military occupation of the island began. Cuba became a playland for many in the U,S. and large fortunes were made.
Professor Ferrer then jumped ahead to 1959 and the Cuban Revolution. She asked us to suspend what we know about that event and pay some attention to the lives of ordinary people in Cuba.
Fidel Castro did not begin as a communist but became increasingly anti-capitalist and anti-American over time. The Soviet Union was delighted to step in and saw an opportunity to engage very close to U.S. soil. By 1961, intense activity started in the little town of Santa Cruz de Los Pinos, which puzzled and shocked the denizens of that tiny hamlet. Huge trucks and equipment roared by on the narrow dirt roads. On October 14, 1962, U.S. reconnaissance planes overhead revealed that there were six large Soviet missile sites on the island. While Khrushchev eventually backed down and the missiles departed, it was an extremely tense global moment. Professor Ferrer pointed out that “history always looks different depending on where one stands.” The missiles were removed, but the Marsden mats they sat on were left behind and were repurposed to make excellent enclosures for the pigs.
During the Q & A period Professor Ferrer pointed out that Cuba is currently experiencing severe economic hardship. There is migration out for those who can leave and there has been a 10% population decrease in the past three years. The infrastructure is in a state of severe decay and the previously touted medical system is collapsing, with no money for drugs, devises, or even blood, all of which must be supplied by the patients themselves. Since the subsidies from the Soviet Union were dropped, the future now looks grim for those still living on the island.
Respectfully submitted,
Helena Bienstock