SETTING UP THE SCAPEGOAT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP68-00046R000200190004-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 19, 2014
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: March 13, 1961
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @50-Yr 2014/03/19 : CIA-RDP68-00046R000200190004-4
. ajt .10.;411 RE PUBLIC - MAR 13 1941
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Setting' Up. the Sca.p
Who le To731tilne.for the Loss of C
by gilbert A. Earrison
For nearly zo months A subcommittee of -the Senate'
Committee on the Judiciary has been holding hearings,.
ostensibly on "the Communist threat to the. United
States through the Caribbean," presided over.by James
a Eastland of Mississippi. He is- assisted 11 Senators
DOdd, Johnston of South Carolina, McClellan, Ervin,
Hruska, Dirksen, Keating and Cotton. How many Wit-
nesses have been called has not been disclosed. The
testimony of only e few has been released, and that has
been edited before publication: It was said that the
investigation was inspired by Democrats hoping to
embarrass a Republican Administration by implicating
it in the loss of Culla. But 'the gamiest parts of the
testimony have been made public. since Ms. Eisen-
hower's departure,, and one searches it in vain for
uncomplimentary references to Republicans:
Out of? this weird jumble of. inaccuracies, irrele-
vancies and plain absurdities emerges a discernible pur-
pose: to pin responsibility now on "the illierals," not
only .for the leSs. of Cuba but for any-future losses in.
Latin America - whether in:Haiti-or the Dominicanite-
, ?
public or Panarina. From first to last (though the last ntis
yet to comes the Subconunitfee,iia, used its..investiga-
tive authority to muddy those who have.not been will-
ing to equate the national interest with business in-
terests , and who have stood against identifying the US
-with the maintenanceof dictatorshipsz '
I have read all the testimony One is permitted to see.
It is ludicrous - and sinister. For . if the President is
correct, that things may get worse before., they get'
better (and that applies to -Latin America), we may soon
be asked to wreak our vengeance on. a ,scapegoat this
Committee has invented. The whole of these hearings
is a repeat performance of the drama about "Who lost
China" - a fairy tale of sell-out by s,ubversives, leftists
and other oddballs in the government, the press and the?
Congress. ?
It is for thie.reason that these' hearings ire worth.
looking at with some care. And We begin with Arthur
Gardner, Chairman o'f fthe 'Board: of Bundy Tubing
Company and our Ambassador to Havana. from 1913
to 955. He gave his testimony on August ,29, 1969:
Senator Dodd: Mr. Gardner, you have been -quoted as
saying that Washington "pulled the' rug out" from un-
der Batista. Is this a correct quote and if so, what did
you mean by that? ?
Mr. Gardner: Yes,. I think ifis a torrect quote. I mean
. that Batista harilways. leaned 'toward . the United
. States. I don't 'think we ever had a better friend....
He was doing an amazing job ... When we talk about
pulling out the rug, I mean there are a number- Of .fac-
4ors that occurred repeatedly that showed that the
State Department did not want to have anythinglo do
:with Batista.
? 'Ambassador Gardner's successor in Havana, Earl E.
T. Smith,' took a broader vie* of -where the guilt lay:
the Department was at fault; yes; but not just the
Department. Batista, he told the Subcommittee on 'Au-
gust 30,1.960 "was overthrown because of the corrup-
tion, disintegration from within, and because. of thee
United States and the various agencies of the United
States who directly and indirectly aided the overthrow,
? of th.e, BatIstu.*Government and. brought into power
Fidel Castro." This doUbleleilged ikplanation -did not
? ?hoWe.ver, satisfy the chief counsel I the subcommittee:
Mr. Sourwine: What were those agencies, Mr. Smith?
Mr. Smith: 'The US Government agencies.... Certain .
influential people,, influential sources id the State De-
- .partment, lower down echelons in the CIA. I wauld'say
representatives of the majority of the US Government
Agencies which have anything to do with the Embassy.
:Senator 'Eastland: As a matter of fact, 'isn't it your
judgment that ,the Sate .Department of 'the United
States is primarily responsible. for bringing Castro to
power in Cuba?
a
? -
Mr.. Smith was reluctant to say that, althotgh he
admitted the "State Depaitment played a large part in
.bringing Castro to power." .
?
. Senator .Eastland: But'your ,adices were that it was
7 not in the best interest of tlqi United States for him to
?
come to power, .and in spite of that then you say that
the American Government is primarily responsible for
putting him in power? ... Do you agree with it? .
Mr. Smith: Would you repeat that, what Senator East-.
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41
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npriaccifiari in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2014/03/19: CIA-RDP68-00046R000200190004-4