The Best and Brightest explain the Cuban Revolution
Santa Clara Cuba in Dec. 1958?.......or Dresden Germany, Feb. of 1945?...The Best and Brightest couldn't tell the difference.
"In a manner certain to antagonize the Cuban people, we used the influence of our Government to advance the interests of and increase the profits of the private American companies, which dominated Cuba's economy....most disastrous of our failures, was the decision to give stature and support to one of the most bloody and repressive dictatorships in the long history of Latin American repression. Fulgencio Batista murdered 20,000 Cubans in seven years - a greater proportion of the Cuban population than the proportion of Americans who died in both World Wars, and he turned Democratic Cuba into a complete police state - destroying every individual liberty. In Santa Clara, Cuba today there is an exhibit commemorating the devastation of that city by Batista's planes in December of 1958."
No, that's not from Saul Landau, Noam Chomsky, Oliver Stone, Alice Walker, Mike Farrell or Danny Glover. It's not from Granma or Cubadebate. That's candidate John F. Kennedy (the man tasked with toppling Castro) in Oct. 1960.
The speech was probably written by Richard Goodwin and Ted Sorensen.
Absolutely Un-'Freakin-Real.
The Christmas before last, my mother --knowing my personal interest in history -- presented me with a gift: Notable Kennedy speeches written by (I'm ashamed to say) fellow Omaha native Ted Sorensen.
Nothing too serious was intended. She knows I go TILT TILT TILT at the merest mention of the Kennedys, so I think she just wanted to see my reaction.
So JFK was a forerunner of Francis Ford Coppola. Great.