"The duty of the hour; - to save her not only from Spain, but from a worse fate." Chromolithograph, 1898. Library of Congress.
Published: October 19, 2012
Fifty years ago this week, a U.S. military jet photographed strategic nuclear missiles that had been installed by the Soviets in Cuba. Over the next 13 days, the world watched with white knuckles, wondering if the Cold War was about to turn very, very hot.
In this episode, we consider the outsized influence that Cuba has had throughout American history. Over the course of the hour, the History Guys consider several major episodes in US-Cuba relations, including the filibustering expeditions of the 19th century, the Spanish-American War of 1898, the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, and the Mariel Boatlift of 1980. In each case, they learn that the episode’s standard storyline gets a whole lot more interesting if you dial its starting point back in time.
Foreign policy expert Jim Blight explains to Brian why the Cuban Missile Crisis wasn’t just a 13-day-long affair, but rather an 18-month-long affair.
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Land Grabs
BackStory producer Jess Engebretson tells the story of a band of renegades who, in the 19th century, planned an invasion of Cuba with the hopes of annexing it for the United States.
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A Jewel in the Crown?
Peter explains why Thomas Jefferson and others in the early republic were interested in acquiring Cuba.
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Stormy Waters
Peter talks with historian Julio Capo about the 1980 Mariel Boatlift that brought thousands of Cuban “undesireables” to Miami, and forced the U.S. to decide whether it was more opposed to Cuba or to homosexuality.
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Just Like a Woman
Historian Kristin Hoganson chats with Brian about how gendered depictions of Cuba influenced U.S. public opinion in the lead-up to, and during, the Spanish-American War.
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Why We All Like to Cha-Cha-Cha
Ed talks with musician and scholar Ned Sublette about the often unsung influence of Cuban rhythms on American music.
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Web Extra: Extended Interview with Jim Blight
Listen to Brian’s extended interview with Jim Blight on the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Guests Include:
eJames Blight, Balsillie School of International Affairs
Resources galore! Explore a list of outside sources compiled by the BackStory team to provide a more complete picture of the history behind U.S.-Cuba relations.
Mentioned on the Show
The Armageddon Letters: A website of creatively produced material, including short films featuring James Blight, all about the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Caldwell, Robert. (1915) “The Lopez Expeditions to Cuba.” (Doctoral dissertation).
Capo, Julio Jr. “Queering Mariel: Mediating Cold War Foreign Policy and U.S. Citizenship among Cuba’s Homosexual Exile Community, 1978-1994.” Journal of American Ethnic History29, no. 4 (2010): 78-106.
* +1 for discussing the Bay of Pigs (typically and conveniently omitted in discussions by the corporate-consensus media, including NPR)
* -1 for barely mentioning US deployments of MRBMs (equivalent to the Cuban R-12s) in Italy and Turkey in 1961. C’mon, guys: even the wikipedia entry on this does a better job!
* Given the above, is there not a case to be made that Khrushchev’s deployment was a masterstroke? He solidified their foothold in Cuba, removed the Jupiters, and bought deterrent time until the Soviet ICBMs improved in the mid-60s. Khrushchev’s downfall, of course, was letting Kennedy “write the first draft of history,” casting Khrushchev as the “guy [who] blinked.”
* -2 for condemning Castro’s jailing of gays without mentioning that, until 2003 (Lawrence v Texas), “sodomy” was illegal in much of the US. (And that such laws had been explicitly upheld by the Supreme Court in Bowers v Hardwick in 1986, six years after the Marielitos.)
* -5 for omitting the “I-word” when talking about the “deep vein of American thinking” about “an empire for liberty.” The “liberty” bit is obviously bogus when pursued by slavers, but the “empire” bit was totally apt: these guys were Imperialists with a capital “I”!
I generally enjoy the show, but the segment on Cuban music was irresponsible at best, and intellectually and academically dishonest at most.
I cannot believe that you let this Sublette make such outrageous claims about the origins of Cuban music and its influence on American so called “rock and roll.”
Every musical style he mentioned is founded on African rhythm. This music is fundamentally African music brought to the western hemisphere by African slaves. Ethnic European Spaniards were not primarily responsible for the development of this music as your guest you have the audience believe.
This music and its rhythm’s have existed for thousands of years in Africa. And they were developed concurrently in both North and South America as well as in the Caribbean.That this guy claims that Cuba was responsible for the development of R&B is laughable. As if this is a creation of white Castillion Cubans. This is simply not the case
The music of Cuba is undeniably beautiful and historically important and has influenced the world. But what does your guest mean when he says Cuban? If he means white Europeans he is not being truthful. He would do much better to speak of the music of Cuba in its original and authentic context which is framed in the context of the African diaspora, rather than offering a homogenized version of Cuban history and culture.
What is Cuba? The vast majority of Cubans look a good deal more like Louis Armstrong than they do Mr. Sublette, I would wager.
I cannot believe that your editorial staff has such little knowledge of music. You did not show so well with this segment.
Agreeing somewhat with Tom Roche. Sublette really overstates his case for Cuban and Latin influence in Rock, R & B, and Jazz. It was unusual to hear a BackStory with no discussion on slavery, but, the slave trade is responsible for many Caribbean island cultures as we know them today since these islands acted as the clearinghouses of slave trade. Overall, Sublette is misleading at worst and tries too hard to force his examples to fit his theory; Louie Louie owes just as much to Jamaica as it does to Cuba. Comparing the 3 chord hippie jams of the 1960s to Cuban music is dishonest. Much of that aesthetic borrows directly from the 12 Bar Blues structure. Claiming some of the US’s greatest contributions music in the US is part Black, part White, and part Latin is not a bad thesis and needs more examining.
Not even the American History Guys are immune from the wrath of music nerds : )
Tom Roche
Pretty good show! but a couple criticisms:
* +1 for discussing the Bay of Pigs (typically and conveniently omitted in discussions by the corporate-consensus media, including NPR)
* -1 for barely mentioning US deployments of MRBMs (equivalent to the Cuban R-12s) in Italy and Turkey in 1961. C’mon, guys: even the wikipedia entry on this does a better job!
* Given the above, is there not a case to be made that Khrushchev’s deployment was a masterstroke? He solidified their foothold in Cuba, removed the Jupiters, and bought deterrent time until the Soviet ICBMs improved in the mid-60s. Khrushchev’s downfall, of course, was letting Kennedy “write the first draft of history,” casting Khrushchev as the “guy [who] blinked.”
* -2 for condemning Castro’s jailing of gays without mentioning that, until 2003 (Lawrence v Texas), “sodomy” was illegal in much of the US. (And that such laws had been explicitly upheld by the Supreme Court in Bowers v Hardwick in 1986, six years after the Marielitos.)
* -5 for omitting the “I-word” when talking about the “deep vein of American thinking” about “an empire for liberty.” The “liberty” bit is obviously bogus when pursued by slavers, but the “empire” bit was totally apt: these guys were Imperialists with a capital “I”!
vic
I generally enjoy the show, but the segment on Cuban music was irresponsible at best, and intellectually and academically dishonest at most.
I cannot believe that you let this Sublette make such outrageous claims about the origins of Cuban music and its influence on American so called “rock and roll.”
Every musical style he mentioned is founded on African rhythm. This music is fundamentally African music brought to the western hemisphere by African slaves. Ethnic European Spaniards were not primarily responsible for the development of this music as your guest you have the audience believe.
This music and its rhythm’s have existed for thousands of years in Africa. And they were developed concurrently in both North and South America as well as in the Caribbean.That this guy claims that Cuba was responsible for the development of R&B is laughable. As if this is a creation of white Castillion Cubans. This is simply not the case
The music of Cuba is undeniably beautiful and historically important and has influenced the world. But what does your guest mean when he says Cuban? If he means white Europeans he is not being truthful. He would do much better to speak of the music of Cuba in its original and authentic context which is framed in the context of the African diaspora, rather than offering a homogenized version of Cuban history and culture.
What is Cuba? The vast majority of Cubans look a good deal more like Louis Armstrong than they do Mr. Sublette, I would wager.
I cannot believe that your editorial staff has such little knowledge of music. You did not show so well with this segment.
Hankering For History
First time visitor, I love the site! Keep up the great work.
Brian Sullivan
Agreeing somewhat with Tom Roche. Sublette really overstates his case for Cuban and Latin influence in Rock, R & B, and Jazz. It was unusual to hear a BackStory with no discussion on slavery, but, the slave trade is responsible for many Caribbean island cultures as we know them today since these islands acted as the clearinghouses of slave trade. Overall, Sublette is misleading at worst and tries too hard to force his examples to fit his theory; Louie Louie owes just as much to Jamaica as it does to Cuba. Comparing the 3 chord hippie jams of the 1960s to Cuban music is dishonest. Much of that aesthetic borrows directly from the 12 Bar Blues structure. Claiming some of the US’s greatest contributions music in the US is part Black, part White, and part Latin is not a bad thesis and needs more examining.
Not even the American History Guys are immune from the wrath of music nerds : )
Brian Sullivan
Correction: Agreeing somewhat with vic.
Didn’t notice that the author’s identity was at the bottom of the comment.
Jim Mica
Kudos not only for bringing in the Bay of Pigs but for adding the interpretation of the Cuban psyche at the time.
Feeling that your only choices: surrender/going down fighting will lead to your destruction can really skew the decisions you’ll make.
You brought a much richer reading of the events forward than I heard anywhere else.
Jim MIca