American Policy and Cuba, 1961-1963

Abstract

In 1997 the Department of State finally released the two FRUS volumes on Cuba policy in the Kennedy administration. At the end of 1998 the department released a microfiche supplement. The set is distinguished by a new level of editorial assistance and especially broad research across the archival holdings of agencies and collections of papers. The result is authoritative. The volumes provide an excellent foundation for understanding U.S. policy on Cuba during this period, if complemented by the contents of the secret White House tape recordings of meetings on Cuba available elsewhere.1 If Cuba is the subject, State Department documents are obviously not sufficient. So these FRUS volumes became a test case for securing the interdepartmental documentary access commanded by the 1991 law passed to support the Foreign Relations series. The volumes pass the test. Indeed, the majority of documents in these two volumes come from outside State. Large numbers are from the White House and CIA, of course. But Defense Department records also provided a treasure trove of material, especially for the Bay of Pigs and other developments in 1961. The microfiche supplement provides even more CIA and Defense material, some of which – like the report on the Bay of Pigs by the CIA’s inspector general – was extricated with the help of prodding from the National Security Archive (especially Peter Kornbluh).