On this day in 1962, President Kennedy issued an executive order broadening the United States’ restrictions on trade with Cuba.
The expanded embargo was the result of a rapid decline in U.S.-Cuban relations. It happened 9 months after the Bay of Pigs and when it became clear that elections were the last thing that were going to happen in Cuba. Two months earlier, Castro had pronounced himself a “Marxist-Leninist” and unmasked his intentions. Sadly, the Cubans in prison for calling Castro a communist, such as my father’s cousin, were not released after the bearded dictator admitted that he was one.
My guess is that President Kennedy did not know 61 years ago today that he’d be dealing with Castro again or the dangerous Cuban Missiles Crisis of October 1962. In retrospect, he had two chances to remove Castro and failed at both.
JFK was such a fake, and I think he was conscious of how well his act went over and proud of it. Still, it was a much “classier” con than Fidel’s, and that went over at least as well for far longer. Lord have mercy.