Parallel spheres: Anglo-American cooperation over Cuba, 1959–61

Abstract

Two years after the British government's ignominious reverse at Suez, the Cuban revolution triumphed in a sphere of prime importance to the United States. Fidel Castro's regime embarked on a radically nationalist path, and, like Britain's earlier experience in Egypt, Washington faced a serious challenge to its traditional ascendency as Cuba set about reducing US economic and political influence. As this article demonstrates, the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations attempted to enlist the wholehearted cooperation of their main Cold War ally. While Macmillan's British government did accede in most cases, it was both mindful of recent events at Suez and averse to Washington's economic blockade of Cuba.

Acknowledgements

The author acknowledges with thanks the insightful comments of anonymous peer reviewers which helped improve this article.

Notes

Dr. Christopher Hull is a member of the Centre for Research on Cuba at the University of Nottingham. His PhD thesis investigated Anglo-Cuban relations from 1898 to 1964.

 [1] The National Archives of the United Kingdom, Kew, London (henceforward TNA), Foreign Office papers (henceforward FO)371/132165 AK1015/47, enclosure ‘BBC Monitoring’ transcriptions from Radio Rebelde broadcasts (19 and 20 October 1958). One broadcast affirmed: ‘England is not strong enough to scorn the sentiments of a heroic people destined to be massacred by the planes it is selling to Batista. England is betraying the memory of the bombings of Coventry and is forgetting the lessons of its own people that no power is strong enough to conquer patriotism and human dignity’.

 [2] The National Archives of the United Kingdom, Kew, London (henceforward TNA), Foreign Office papers (henceforward FO)371/132165 AK1015/47, enclosure ‘BBC Monitoring’ transcriptions from Radio Rebelde broadcasts (19 and 20 October 1958). One broadcast affirmed: ‘England is not strong enough to scorn the sentiments of a heroic people destined to be massacred by the planes it is selling to Batista. England is betraying the memory of the bombings of Coventry and is forgetting the lessons of its own people that no power is strong enough to conquer patriotism and human dignity.’

 [3] TNA FO371/132176 AK1192/64, Benest (Washington) to Hildyard, enclosure ‘Coopera al boycot revolucionario: no compres productos ingleses’, 23 December 1958. Other products listed were: all brands of ‘English’ whisky; English cars; Glaxo pharmaceuticals; English cloth; Irish linen (manufactured in Northern Ireland and therefore a UK export); English insurance company policies.

 [4] TNA FO371/139456 AK1153/8, Board of Trade memorandum ‘Meeting with Cuban Ministers’, n.d. [c. 31 July 1959].

 [5] TNA CAB158/38, Report by Cabinet Joint Intelligence Committee ‘The Outlook for Cuba’, JIC (59) 95 (Final), 27 January 1960.

 [6] TNA FO371/139432 AK1051/42, minute by Brain, 25 February 1959.

 [7] TNA FO371/139399 AK1051/30, Havana Chancery to American Dept. (FO), 14 January 1959; minute by Hildyard, 21 January 1959.

 [8] TNA FO371/139430 AK1051/16, Fordham to FO, T. No. 31, 13 January 1959.

 [9] TNA FO371/139431 AK1051/37, Havana Chancery to American Dept. (FO), 11 February 1959, enclosure ‘Extracts from Dr. Fidel Castro's speech at the Shell refinery on Friday, February 6, 1959’.

[10] Marsh, Anglo-American Relations; Hahn, The United States, Great Britain, and Egypt; Ashton, Eisenhower, Macmillan and the Problem of Nasser; Fain, ‘John F. Kennedy and Harold Macmillan’.

[11] The sole published book covers Cuba's trade relations with Britain, France and Spain: Hennessy and Lambie, The Fractured Blockade. A compilation of published material is found in Wilkinson, ‘Just How Special is “Special”’.

[12] Hershberg, ‘Their Men in Havana’.

[13] Ashton, Kennedy, Macmillan and the Cold War; Scott, Macmillan, Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis; Boyle, ‘The British Government's View’; Rawnsley, ‘How Special is Special?’

[14] TNA FO371/131844 A1042/1, American Dept. memorandum ‘Relations between the United States and the countries of Latin America’, 15 July 1958; minute by Hankey, 17 July 1958.

[15] TNA FO371/139400 AK1015/77, minute by Hildyard, 2 April 1959.

[16] TNA FO371/139473 AK1223/75, draft memorandum by Hildyard ‘The Cuban Case’, n.d. [c. 27–29 October 1959].

[17] Cecil, A Divided Life, 116.

[18] TNA FO371/139403 AK1015/164, Fordham to Lloyd (Foreign Secretary), 13 November 1959.

[19] TNA FO371/139421 AK10345/23, minute by Parsons, 11 December 1959.

[20] Economist, 2 July 1960.

[21] Harold Macmillan Personal Diary, Bodleian Library Special Collections, University of Oxford, 17 June 1960, dep.d.39, p. 69.

[22] Hull, ‘Our Arms in Havana’; Phythian and Jardine, ‘Hunters in the Backyard?’

[23] TNA FO371/139472 AK1223/46, memorandum by Lord Lansdowne (Joint Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, FO) ‘The Sale of Hawker Aircraft to Cuba’, 28 August 1959; TNA FO371/139473 AK1223/74, Maudling (President of the Board of Trade) to Lloyd, 23 October 1959; TNA CAB 195/18 C.C. 60 (59), Cabinet Secretary's Notebooks, 26 November 1959. The 1959 upturn in British exports to Cuba was short-lived, halving in 1960 and declining further in 1961.

[24] TNA FO371/148213 AK10345/6, Havana Chancery to American Dept., 14 January 1960.

[25] TNA FO371/148277 AK1223/15, Lloyd to Herter, T. No. 646, 15 February 1960; TNA FO371/148277 AK1223/22, FO memorandum ‘Helicopters for Cuba’ by Hankey, 15 February 1960; Herter to Lloyd, 21 February 1960, Foreign Relations of the United States (henceforward FRUS) 1958–60: Volume VI Cuba, 805–7.

[26] TNA FO371/148278 AK1223/26, FO to Washington, T. No. 1093, 12 March 1960.

Secretary of State Selwyn Lloyd expressed his desire not to ‘give way to the Americans’: TNA FO371/148277 AK1223/15, minute by Acland, 15 February 1960.

[27] ‘Memorandum from the Assistant Secretary of State for Inter–American Affairs (Rubottom) to the Secretary of State’, 2 June 1960, FRUS 1958–60: Volume VI Cuba, 934–5; Morley, Imperial State and Revolution, 104; Philip, Oil and Politics in Latin America, 103–4.

[28] TNA PREM11/3688, FO American Dept. memorandum ‘Cuba’, 10 June 1960.

[29] TNA FO371/148293 AK1531/15, FO to Washington, T. No. 2456, 13 June 1960; TNA FO371/148293 AK1531/11, minute by Edmonds, 8 June 1960.

[30] TNA FO371/148297 AK1531/63, minute by Brain, 7 June 1960.

[31] TNA FO371/148181 AK1015/38, American Dept. minute for Prime Minister ‘Cuba’, 10 June 1960.

[32] TNA FO371/148298 AK1531/85, Fordham to FO, T. No. 277, 6 July 1960.

[33] From original transcription, i.e. London could not decipher this section of Fordham's telegram.

[34] TNA FO371/148229 AK1051/3, enclosure with translation from Revolución, Fordham to FO, T. No. 276, 6 July 1960.

[35] Among the interventions of a Viscount and another Lord, and the responses of the Marquess of Lansdowne, Lord Morrison of Lambeth asked: ‘Are we to take it that the policy urged by the Conservative Opposition in another place in the case of the seizure of the oil installations at Abadan – namely, that force, even war, should be engaged in – is going to be carried out by the Government?’ Hansard, Vol. 224, Parliamentary Debates – House of Lords, 5 July 1960, 1009–10.

[36] TNA FO371/148303 AK1531/146, Paul Williams MP to Selwyn Lloyd, 7 July 1960; TNA FO371/148303 AK1531/149, Francis W. Julian (Penzance, Cornwall) to Greville Howard MP, n.d. [c. 20 July 1960].

[37] Temperley, Britain and America since Independence, 25–32. Britain and France were embroiled in a war that threatened the sovereignty of both European nations.

[38] Schlesinger and Kinzer, Bitter Fruit, 162–3.

[39] TNA FO371/148298 AK1531/77, Fearnly (FO) to G. Brown (Washington), 8 July 1960.

[40] TNA FO371/148293 AK1531/15/G, Caccia to FO, T. No. 1152, 8 June 1960; minute by Hankey, 9 June 1960; FO to Washington, T. No. 2456, 13 June 1960.

[41] TNA CAB158/43, Report by Cabinet Joint Intelligence Committee ‘Cuban Developments and their Impact on the Caribbean’, J.I.C. (61) 17 (Final), 2 June 1961.

[42] TNA FO371/152126, SC(60)7(2nd Revise) Brief for Interdepartmental Committee ‘United Kingdom Policy in Latin America’, 20 May 1960.

[43] TNA FO371/152126, ‘Foreign Office Steering Committee Paper: British Interests in Latin America’, 19 May 1960.

[44] Ashton, Kennedy, Macmillan and the Cold War, 67–71; Rabe, The Most Dangerous Area in the World, 83–95; Rabe, U.S. Intervention in British Guiana, 75–103.

Colonial Secretary Reginald Maudling later told Arthur Schlesinger (president's special assistant): ‘If you Americans care so much about British Guiana, why don't you take it over? Nothing would please us more’. Schlesinger to Bruce (US ambassador, London), 27 February 1962, FRUS 1961–63: Vol. XII American Republics, 549.

[45] TNA FO371/148293 AK1531/15/G, FO to Washington, T. No. 2456, 13 June 1960.

[46] Eisenhower to Macmillan, 11 July 1960, FRUS 1958–60: Volume VI Cuba, 1000–5.

[47] TNA PREM11/3688, Brook to Macmillan, 13 July 1960. The prime minister annotated his agreement.

[48] TNA FO371/148217 AK10345/114, minute by Hankey, 15 July 1960. Norman Brain added (15 July): ‘I think it is true that the Americans do not apprehend the depth of the hostility to them in Latin America’.

[49] TNA FO371/148217 AK10345/114, minute by Hankey ‘Letter of July 11 from President Eisenhower to the Prime Minister’, 15 July 1960.

[50] Macmillan to Eisenhower, 22 July 1960, FRUS 1958–60: Volume VI Cuba, 1005 (n.6); Macmillan to Eisenhower, 25 July 1960, FRUS 1958–60: Volume VI Cuba, 1033. A discussion at the US National Security Council also noted that it was ‘almost impossible to keep the Soviets from obtaining tankers’. ‘Memorandum of Discussion…’, 15 July 1960, FRUS 1958–60: Volume VI Cuba, 1015.

[51] Macmillan to Eisenhower, 25 July 1960, FRUS 1958–60: Volume VI Cuba, 1032–4. In his previous letter on 22 July 1960 (1005 n.6), Macmillan had told Eisenhower: ‘Castro is really the very Devil. He is your Nasser’.

[52] TNA FO371/148183 AK1015/71, FO American Dept. brief ‘The Situation in Cuba (including the oil supply problem)’, September 1960.

[53] TNA FO371/148183 AK1015/74, ‘Record of a meeting in Mr. [Livingstone] Merchant's suite at the Waldorf Hotel at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, September 20, 1960’.

[54] TNA FO371/148218 AK10345/126, Hankey to Petrie (UK Delegation, OTAN/NATO, Paris), 18 July 1960.

[55] TNA FO371/148183 AK1015/71, FO American Dept. brief ‘The Situation in Cuba (including the oil supply problem)’, September 1960.

[56] Lewis, The Fifties, 32–3.

[57] The Times, 19 July 1960.

[58] Observer, 22 May 1960.

[59] TNA FO371/148260 AK1151/20, Caccia to FO, T. No. 1633, 16 August 1960.

[60] TNA FO371/152126, ‘Foreign Office Steering Committee Paper: British Interests in Latin America’, 19 May 1960.

[61] TNA FO371/148261 AK1152/25, Edmonds (FO) to Sutherland, 13 September 1960.

[62] TNA FO371/156137 AK1011/1, Marchant to Home ‘Annual Review, 1960’, 17 January 1961.

[63] TNA FO371/148262 AK1152/41, Marchant to FO, T. No. 511, 3 October 1960.

[64] TNA FO371/148254 AK11345/11, minute by Hankey, 20 October 1960.

[65] TNA FO371/156211 AK113145/1, FO memorandum by Scott ‘U.S. request for the denial of trans-shipment facilities for U.S. goods bound for Cuba’, 20 December 1960.

[66] TNA FO371/148262 AK1152/43, minute by Hankey, 14 October 1960.

[67] TNA FO371/148262 AK1152/46, memorandum ‘UK Trade with Cuba’ by Hankey, 20 October 1960.

[68] TNA FO371/148238 AK1111/11, Sutherland to Edmonds, 2 December 1960; TNA FO371/148238 AK1111/10, FO memorandum by Edmonds ‘Coinage for Cuba’, 7 December 1960.

[69] TNA FO371/148219 AK10345/158, Hood to FO, T. No. 523, 3 October 1960.

US documents affirm that the British pre-empted and staved off the US request. The British embassy in Washington suggested an approach to the Canadians instead, an idea the State Department did not pursue. See: ‘Memorandum from John C. Pool of the Office of Caribbean and Mexican Affairs to the Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs (Mann)’, 26 October 1960, FRUS 1958–60: Volume VI Cuba, 1100–2.

These interpretations differ markedly from Hershberg, ‘Their Men in Havana’, 122.

[70] TNA FO371/148219 AK10345/158/A, minute by Hankey, 6 October 1960.

[71] TNA FO371/148219 AK10345/160/G, Marchant to FO, T. No. 532, 8 October 1960; TNA FO371/148219 AK10345/158, FO to Washington, T. No. 5175, 20 October 1960.

[72] TNA FO371/156176 AK103145/28, Greenhill (Washington) to Hankey, 13 January 1961. Canada, Italy and West Germany agreed to perform similar functions, but on a smaller scale.

[73] TNA FO371/156177 AK103145/46, Sutherland to Hankey, 2 February 1961.

For more detail on the British embassy's supply of intelligence to Washington from January 1961, see: Hershberg, ‘Their Men in Havana’.

[74] TNA FO371/156175 AK103145/4, minutes by Scott (5 January 1961) and Hankey (6 January 1961); TNA FO371/156138 AK1015/3, Marchant to FO, T. No. 24, 5 January 1961.

[75] TNA FO371/156137 AK1011/1, Marchant to Home ‘Annual Review 1960’, 17 January 1961.

[76] TNA FO371/156138 AK1015/6, Sutherland to FO, T. No. 91, 19 January 1961; Guardian, 23 January 1961.

[77] TNA FO371/156140 AK1015/41, Marchant to FO, T. No. 267, 6 April 1961.

[78] For a detailed account of the Sea Fury's engagements, see Jones, The Bay of Pigs, 106–7.

[79] TNA FO371/156179 AK103145/97, FO to UK Mission to UN (New York), T. No. 1620, 19 April 1961; TNA FO371/156181 AK103145/125, UK Mission to UN (New York) to FO, T. No. 746, 21 April 1961; Hansard Vol. 639, Parliamentary Debates – House of Commons, 26 April 1961, 406–13. Michael Foot MP (Labour) asked: ‘Are we to take it from the right hon. Gentlemen's replies and from the votes cast … that the British Government condone and even support the action which the American Government took about Cuba?’

[80] TNA FO371/156184 AK103145/181, memorandum ‘Cuba’ by Hankey, 9 May 1961. On British foreknowledge of the Bay of Pigs invasion, see: Ashton, Kennedy, Macmillan and the Cold War, 66–7. For British agreement to the United States using Carribbean territories for future combat operations, see: Scott, Macmillan, Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis, 27; Guardian, 23 December 1992.

[81] TNA FO371/156184 AK10345/181, Hoyer Millar to Caccia, 18 May 1961.

[82] TNA FO371/156184 AK10345/189, Caccia to Hoyer Millar, 24 May 1961.