A NEW LOW FOR CASTRO

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP64B00346R000200170001-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 13, 2004
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: May 25, 1961
• Content Type: OPEN

? X808
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CONGRESSIONAL .RECORD - PPENDIX
When President Kennedy meets with So-
viet Premier Khrushchev in Europe next
month, he will be succumbing to the delu-
sion whlch has bedazzled all his recent pred-
ecessors---Ghat the only way to deal with the
Russians is at the top.
Axxd he will be defying the lessons of his-
tory, ignoring the insulting treatment given
President Eisenhower in Parts just a year
ago, and reversing ttxe advice given by the
Secretary of State, in a magazine artlcle pub-
lished before the election.
The President will be facing his formidable
adversary in a p:xrticularly weak bargaining
position. Since his lnatzguration, U.S. policy
has experienced a series of humiliating set-
backs-in Ctiba. in Laos and in the failure to
reach agreement in the G' eneva talks on a nu-
clear-test ban. Even though responsibility
for these reversals may lie largely with the
previous administration, the Kennedy record
is unlikely to impress Khrushchev, to whom
only action and results matter.
Moreover. the Soviet positiotl'on the eve of
a top-level meeting has never been stronger.
Khrushchev possesses an absolute nuclear
deterrent and massive, well-equipped con-
ventional forces. Gagarin's orbital flight
has demonstrated the Soviet lead in space.
Laos has fallen into the dictator's lap, and his
Cuban puppet has easily repelled a U.S.-sup-
ported invasion attempt. Khrushchev and
the Soviet press have never sounded more
confident.
O1Rcia1 circles in Washington suggest pri-
vately that the purpose of the meeting is to
permit the President to sound out Khru-
shchev's intentions and to warn him that
U.S. patience is not unlimited.. On the first
count nothing is apt to be discovered that
was not clearly spelled out in the manifesto
of the 81 Communist parties which met in
Moscow last December: active pursuit of the
goal of world domination, avoidance of gen-
eral war, support of "national liberation
movements." ' It would be unrealistic to ex-
pect Khrushchev to tip his hand on tactics
or priorities.
As for warnings, Khrushchev might be
forgiven if he took them with a grain of salt,
He will not have forgotten Kennedy's brave
words about Laos. He will have no intention
of taking any action which would constitute
a pretext for nuclear war. But he will have
no intention of failing to exploit any situa-
tion which seems to offer a possibility for
Communist gains-and the possibilities are
many: Vietnam, South Korea, Iran, and the
Congo, among others.
A Soviet maneuver at Geneva indicates
one line of preparation for the talks with
Kenxtedy. The Soviet delegate threatened
that the Soviet Union would resume nuclear
testing, alleging that recent French tests in
the Sahara were a subterfuge to provide in-
formation for Britain and the United States.
This is the old Soviet trick of raising the ante
before a negotiation in order to prepare for
a fallback to an already adva,need position.
The U.S.S.R. has the basic nuclear weapons
and does not have the American passion for
refl.nement; hence it has no need to resume
testing. But it wlll insist on a veto on in-
spection, hoping to induce the United States
to break off the talks and resume testing.
Thus the President would be faced with
the uxlhappy alternatives of continuing the
fruitless negotiations with no prospect of
agreement in the lace of strong internal
pressures to terminate them, or of bringing
them to an end and being blamed by world
opinion for iailuie to resolve i;his issue.
Collapse of the test-ban talks would make
prospects bleak for progress~in arms control.
Again the United States would be held re-
sponsible.
In these circumstances, critics are not
wanting in Washington who question the
advisability of holding talks at this time.
Ori the demonstrable premise that the-only
thing Moscow respects is strength, they sug-
Mai ,25
gest that the United States should rather 1a~""'~
building up its military power and explorin,
means for exploiting the major crack in the
Communist armor-the dissatisfaction and
will to freedom of the subject people of the
Soviet empire, both in Eastern Europe and iu
Asia. As .East Germany, Poland, and Hun-
gary have already shoyvn, it is here that the
most convinced freedom fighters will be
found.
once again that we are confronted with
a tyrant similar to Hitler and not un-
like the notorious? gangsters ~vho seek
ransom for their hostages. Many citi-
zens already have voiced their abhor-
rence at dealing with this Cammtlni:st
dictator.
On May 2Q, 1961, the Emporia, Kans.,
Gazette; well known to many citizens of
our Nation far its editorial excellence,
characterized the Cuban dictator most
appropriately in 'an editorial which
speaks for itself:
A NEW LOW FOR CASTRO
In the latest episode of Mr, Castro's serial-
ized program designed to make enemies and
infuriate people, he has surpassed all previ-
ous efforts to gain Yecognition for himself as
one of history's most celebrated paranoiacs.
The bearded Prime Minister, currently stxf-
fering from delusions of both persecution
and grandeur, has offered to exchange the
prisoners captured during the recent abor-
tive invasion of Ctxba for 500 bulldozers from
the United States.
This, indisputably, is a Castro first. Who
else but a sick ham with a dirty beard could
offer to eXChange human beings for earth-
moving machines?
The Castro government has claimed that
more than 1,000 invaders were captured dur-
ing the April 17 fighting, although the actual
number probably is less. The fate of these
captives, judging from, past Castro actions,
is no less tenuous -than that of former Ba-
tista officials after the fall ~of their govern-
ment.
Today, the captives are goods to Ue bar-
tered for machinery. Tomorrow, only Castro
knows what indignities await them. Still,
in the end-and there will be an end for
Castro-these prisoners may have accom-
plashed mare as pawns in Castro's confused
international politics than they could have
as revolutlonary soldiers.
.For even the most complacent free-world
citizens cannot help but be shocked Uy the
callous disregard for the dignity of humaxt
life. In its awn right, Castro's action is even
more repulsive thaxi the mass executions he
ordered after assuming power. The fact that
he could consider trading human beings for
machines is thisgratesque.
When the curtain falls on the last act of
Castro's drawn-out tragicomedy, this regent
action, along with the executions, must
stand as evidence that his crimes were as
inexcusable as any perpetrated by Hitler's
lieutenants or Stalin's stooges.-G. L. DeB.
A Deck Stacked Against Kennedy?
EXTENSION OF REMARKS
OF "
HON. BRUCE ALDER
OF TEXAS
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Thursday, May 25, 1961
Mr. ALDER. Mr. Speaker, while many
of us wait with anxious concern the
outcome of the meeting between the
President and the Soviet dictator, I rec-
ommend careful attention to an analy-
sis of the forthcgming meeting which
appeared in the i1'.S. News & World Re-
port, -issue of May 29, 1961:
A DECK STACKID~ AGAINST KENNEDY?
(The following analysis is by Francis B.
Stevens, former Dfi'ector oP the Office of
Eastern European Affairs, U.S. State Depart-
ment, and now on the staff of U.S. News &
World Report: )
The Panama Canal and United States-
Panama Relations
EXTENSION OF REMARKS
OF
HON. ADAM C. POWELL
OF NEW YORK
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Thursday, May 25, 1961
Mr. POWELL. Mr. Speaker, with the
countries of Latin America aflame with
discontent and unrest it behooves all of
us to learn all we can about the living
standards of the people south of us, their
cultures and their national aspirations.
One of these countries should be of par-
ticular concern to every American be-
cause of its geographic position at the
crossroads of the world, and because of
the most peculiar manner in which it is
linked to our country.
I refer to the Republic of Panama
through whose lands we cut an inter-
oceanic canal almost 50 years ago, join-
ing the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
This engineering feat had defied man for
several centuries and while it has brought
great prestige to our country in a polit-
ical, commercial and military sense, it is
an accomplishments that established our
relationship more securely with Latin
America than we would like to admit.
I have always maintained a close in-
terest in the people and political develop-
ment of that beautiful little country
which I visited officially back in 1947 as
chairman of a Special Investigating
Committee of Education and Labor. At
that time I prepared a detailed study
for the Congress regarding the deplor-
able working conditions of the West In-
dians and other non-United States citi-
zehs on the Canal Zone, and the dis-
criminatory policies which our Govern-
ment practiced against this lal?ge body
of nonwhite workers.
As many of my constituents in New
York are originally from the Repullic
of Panama I have watched with un-
abated interest United States-Panama
relations. I am pleased to note that
certain fundamental changes have taken
place on the Canal Zone in socioeconomic
matters; but there are still areas of
conflict between Panama and the United
States. I do not think that these re-
maining sore spots could be mare ob-
jectively treated than in the two speech-
es of Ambassador George W. Wester-
man, Panama's U.N. delegate to the
United Nations.
Dr, Westerman has not only repre-
sented his country at the United Nations
in a superior way but he has traveled
up and down these United States lec-
turing before same of our most dis-
tinguished forums on United States-
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196j CONGRESSIONAL RECORD -APPENDIX
it be teacher, doctor, shoemaker, or druggist,
we must support our country and the whole
free world from communism. We cannot do
.this without the help of every individual
American. We need not only professional
people, but all those willing to give them-
selves in any service for the safety and wel-
fare of our country and its people.
We, the youth of this country, have to
learn to respect and appreciate our American
demflcracy today. Ii we do not, the defense
of international freedom in the world of
tomorrow has no chance of survival.
Congressman Thomas B. Curtis Proposes
Action To Meet Unemployment Problems
EXTENSION 'OF REMARKS
os
HON. ROBERT P. GRIFFIN
OF MICHIGAN
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Thursday, May 25, 1961
Mr. GRIFFIN. Mr. Speaker, the need
to retrain and relocate workers who for
various reasons have lost their jobs is a
serious problem facing the Nation. One
of our colleagues, the able gentleman
from Missouri [Mr. CveTlsl, who is the
senior House Republican on -the Joint
Economic Committee and a member of
the Ways and Means Committee, .has
been very active in this field. For many
months last year and this year, he has
been busy compiling information and
interviewing knowledgeable persons in
an effort to provide. the Congress with
constructive suggestions.
Too often,. quite? thorough .legislative
work is ,seldom given recognition in the
hurry-lxp life we lead. For that reason,
I was pleased to read a recent article con-
cerning the gentleman from Missouri
[Mr. CURTISI written by the noted labor
editor of the North American Newspa-
per Alliance, Martin Arundel.
This article appeared on April 27, 1961,
in the Louisville (Ky.) Times, the
Charleston (W. Va.) Gazette and the
New Haven (Conn.) Register, and in
other papers throughout the. country.
I also read with special interest an edi-
torial in the Louisville Times, of May 2,
1961, t~cknowledging that our colleague
from .Missouri [Mr. Cuxxls] is on .the
right track, and that his novel approach
is worthy of the closest study and con-
sideraiton by the administration and the
Congress.
Mr. Speaker, I believe the newspaper
items to which I have referred should be
called to the attention of the Congress
and) accordingly, they are set forth
below
[From the New Haven (Conn.) Register,
Apr. 28, 1961 ]
PROPOSAL WOVLD AID JOBLESS IN LEARNING
MODERN SKILLS
WASHINGTON.-Representative THOMAS B.
CURTIS will soon introduce a bill that would
tackle hard-core unemployment by en-
cou4aging displaced workers to learn new
skills.
Right now, the Missouri Republican
charged, 44 States in effect penalize Jobless
workers who want to learn a new trade.
They are deprived of unemployment
benefits as soon as they enroll in a voca-
tional or other kind pf school, he said in an
interview.
"in an area where no Jobe are to lie had,"
CoRTIS pointed out, "this means that the
unemployed are- encouraged by the Govern-
ment to sit back and do nothing in order
to collect their weekly checks."
Representative CURTI3 said his bill would
do three things:
1. Teach new and needed skills to persons
who lost their Jobs because of technological
advances (automation);
2. Allow them to draw Jobless benefits for
the duration of their retraining;
.FUNDS TO RELOCATE
3. Provide funds for them to relocate in
areas where their newly acquired skills are
in demand.
The legislation also would enlarge and
bring up to date vocational and apprentice-
slI}p training programs for young men and
women. It would stress the technical skills
required in the age of automation,
Cvaxrs said he would propose that the -
program be financed by Federal funds and
that it be run by the States.
"It will probably cost a lot more than the
present program, but exactly how much I
would not venture to estimate at tine pres-
ent time," GvRTIS said. He added, "But in
the long run it will be worth any cost, for
it will help get rid of the technological un-
employment problem and raise the produc-
tivity growth of the Nation's economy to the
yearly 4 to 5 percent desired increase."
CIIRTI3 said his proposed legislation would.
be in the form of an amendment to the
unemployment compensation section of the
Federal Social Security Act. He said he will
introduce it as "soon as the technical legis-
lative language is ironed out."
C'i (7RTIa, in his sixth term, is the senior
Republican member of the House Ways and
Means subcommittee which handles unem-
ployment compensation bills, and is the
ranking Republican from the House on the
Automation Subcommittee of the Joint Sen-
ate-House Economic Committee. ,
DIFFERENT APPROACH
The Missourian said his approach to the
hard-care unemployment problem differed
from the conventional one this way:
"`The conventional approach assumes that
large-scale unemployment is almost entirely
due to ,economic downturns ,and that the
idle will return to their Jobs as soon as
business picks up.
"My thinking based on an abundance of
testimony by experts before congressional
committees studying the "subject, is that
heavy unemployment is due more to tech-
nological advances in industrial production
methods," he said.
"This is particularly true in the age of
automation," CURTIS continued. "A worker
loses his Job in a recession and when the re-
cession ends the work he formerly did is now
being done by fewer men operating new and
faster machines. That Is unemployment
brought about by automation."
PREPARE FOR NEW
Under his proposed plan, the unemployed
would take courses that would give them the
know-how to perform new Jobs, often in the
same company and sometimes 1n other in-
dustries, Congressman (.'URTIS said.
C:URTIS explained his program would re-
quire detailed planning by Federal and State
unemployment agencies, in conjunction with
industry and unions. His proposal, for in-
stance, would tail for the U.S. Department of
Labor to overhaul substantially its present
system of cataloging the scores of job skills.
"There are many Job skills that the Labor
Department has no record of, particularly in
automated industries," CURTIS pointed out.
[From the Louisville (xy.) Times of May 2,
1961]
RECOVERY WON'T MEAN JOBS FOR EVERYBODY
Business, so almost everyone is saying, is
picking up. What is more, most of the eco-
A3807
nomic experts believe tha"$ the upturn is
stronger than the ordinary seasonal rise in
business activity. They think that the bot-
tom of the. recession has been reached and
that a recovery is in progress that will carry
the economy to new heights. They differ
in their estimates of the strength and speed
of the upturn, but they are virtually unani-
m_ ous in their opinion that it is underway.
Unfortunately, they are virtually unani-
mous about something else. Almost without
exception the economic experts and observ-
ers fear that even when business has at-
tained new peaks, a very substantial number
of Americans will remain unemployed. A
New York Times story early in Apr11 reported,
"Most of the President's economic advisers
are convinced that the country will enter
1962 with no significant drop in the present
level of b.5 million Jobless workers: '
The tragic center of this problem lies in the
amount of chronic unemployment, which
continues to rise despite an overall trend of
prosperity and increased production. Ac-
cording to the National Planning Association,
the number of chronically unemployed rose
from about half a million in the third quar-
ter of 1953 to nearly 2 million in the first
quarter of 1961.
Early in April, the number of persons who
had been out of work for 15 weeks or more
was nearly 1.9 million. Eight hundred thou-
sand had been out of work far more than
6 months. Perhaps a third of these men
and women are in the 45-to-64 age group,
and in the context of our times that means
they are older workers. Complicating, the
problem for these people is that in the dec-
ade of the sixties, they will- be competing for
Jabs with millions of new workers, the begin-
ning of the generation born since World War
II. And the competition will be taking place
in an era of economic change: of new tech-
nology and automation, of economic advances
abroad, of movement of industry to new loca-
tions.
The problem is vast and complex and we
don't expect anyone to oiler quick, complete
solutions. But Representative THOMAS
Cvaxrs, a Missouri Republican, is at least
taking a crack at it--and on what seem to
be sensible lines. He plane to Introduce
legislation that would encourage the Jobless
to learn new skills. The legislation itself
has not yet been written, but Cuaxrs says
there are three things he wants his bill to
do: first, teach new skills to those who lost
their Jobs because of automation; second,
let theril draw unemployment pay while
learning (he says 44 States deprive workers
of unemployment benefits as soon as they
enroll in a school); third, provide Punds to
let the workers relocate in areas where-their
new skills are needed.
Many workers, it is likely, would be un-
willing or unable to learn new trades. Oth-
ers would be unwilling to move to greener
pastures. But others, the more imaginative,
the more intelligent, would be helped. We
hope Congress gives CuRTIS' proposals sym-
pathetic study.
EXTENSION OF REMARKS
OF
HON. GARNER E. SHRIVER
OF KANSAS
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Thursday, May 25, 1961
Mr. SHRIVER. Mr. Speaker, the
peoples of the world have been given a
vivid example of the gangster tactics
being used by the Communist regime of
Castro in Cuba. Castro's offer to trade
.Cuban prisoners for tractors reveals
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