WHAT MAKES THIS MAN RUN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000300180028-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 25, 1998
• Sequence Number: 28
• Publication Date: August 28, 1962
• Content Type: NSPR

CPYRGHT
i; AUG2 8 1962 t
Sanitized -Approved For Release : CIA-RDP75-0014MT180028-3
,The Rise and Apparent Fall of a New Frontiersman
akes This Man Run?
NOTE: This is the
story of the meteoric
rise-and current obscu-
ration -- of a youthful
star of the New Fron-
tier, by our news ana-
lyst who specializes in
Latin American affairs.
PYIQFARD H. BOYCE
Scripps-Howard Staff Writer
show scandals of telgvi Ike
h rst ~1 ? en
There Dick Goodw too e
came to national attention Presider p ritlting
when he sold an article about Goodwin-Guevara meet
the TV probe to Life maga- then unpublicized. Sr. Mu
tine. Newspapers criticized disclosed that Messrs. Good-
him for it. The nmhP crnn. win and Guevara bad %. r,ee-
the staff of the House'Cgm- *a4brought .ai s:ism from
rrtzttee investigating the quiz- tkw4Argea try. Ar-
CPYRGHT
For a year after he left
Harvard he served as clerk
for Supreme Court Justice
Felix Wrankfnrhur T. +h .
I Law School, c l a s s of
1958, came to '`the New
Frontier eatdy and .got on
rapidly.
Richard. N. Goodwin,
41 Star Rises
publication. Find Dick Good- to get along"fate"lit'
win quit his job. States.
The Life piece had not a Mr. Goodwin denied this,
to do with it, he si saying the Guevara meeting
The eommi ee, C ill2 ra11 was soai4 unex acted, not
committee unspl ,listed le than a half
had con 2 its piI hour, and that hey didn't
cation, he said. byway, he'd discuses Cuba-U. S. relations.
been offered a job with John
F. Kennedy, then a senator Sr. Mugica insisted no high
building a campaign staff. U. S. official could talk with
Now Dick Goodwin's star
began to rise. As a Kennedy
campaign speechwriter and
member of a Kennedy pre-
inauguration task It7r a on
Latin-American problems,
the curly-haired Goodwin and
Mr. Kennedy became close.
When Mr. Kennedy moved
into the White House, Mr.
Goodwin moved in too-gas
an Assistant Special Counsel
to the President. .
Then only 29, Mr. Goodwin
became the President's chief
adviser ? on Latin America.
But he'd never been there.
He didn't speak Spanish. He
had no Latin-American back-
ground. These factors, plus
his youth, brought more
criticism,
But the young law grad-
uate with the brilliant mind
ignored all this. He continued
on the way up. And he
learned fast. He wrote Mr.
Kennedy's speech in March
1961, which announced the
Alliance for Progress. He
headed a White House task
force on Cuba after the at-
tempted invasion. He at-
tended a Rio meeting of the
Inter-American Bank. He
made other trips to Latin
America on special missions
for the President. He studied
Spanish.
In August, 1961, Mr. Good-
win went to Uruguay for the
hemisphere conference that
put the Alliance for Progress
into being.
(I Conversation
It was there Mr. Goodwin
experienced the first of sev-
eral incidents that have
slowed his pace - he had a
conversation with Ernesto
(Che) Guevara, Cuba's Min-
ister of Industry.
Two days later, Argentine
President Arturo Frondizi
also\ met with. Sr. Guevara.
a high. Cuban communist
without the Pre siden is
knowledge. Sr. Guevara ad-
ded fuel to the fire by pub.
licly backing Sr. Mugica, say-
ing he told Mr. Goodwin
Cuba was "ready to talk to
the U. S." Sr. Mugica's boss
said his statements had em-
barrassed Washington, Sr.
Mugica resigned.
41 House Blast
On the floor of the House,
Rep. Steven Derounian (R.,
N. Y.) called Mr. Goodwin a
"kid playing with fire" and
said he was "running a one-
man State Department on
Latin America." He wanted
Mr. Goodwin "summarily dis-
missed or reassigned to some
other less sensitive field of
endeavor."
But a Senate committee
said it was satisfied with Mr.
Goodwin's version of the
Guevara incident. Sen.
Wayne Morse (D., Ore.)
called Mr. Goodwin "a com-
petent expert in the Latin-
American field." And a few
weeks later, President Ken-
nedy promoted Mr. Goodwin
to Deputy Assistant Secre-
tary of State for Latin-
American Affairs.
Still controversy seemed to
dog him. After he went to
Brazil and Argentina last
December to discuss the
hemisphere conference on
Castro scheduled for Jan-
uary, some congressmen
complained that Mr. Good-
win represented to the Latins
that the United States would
be content with only a joint
condemnation of Castro.
Actually, at the conference
the United States sought and
won a much firmer anti-
Castro position.
Of this Mr. Goodwin says
today that he discussed what
was then the formal U. S.
position, but this later
changed. "Maybe I handled
it unskillfully, but I didn't
deviate," he said. He feels he
id not leave a wrong im-
pression.
IJ Invitation
During the conference Chi-
ean officials Invited Mr.
oodwin to visit their
ountry and discuss aid. He
greed. . Later Washington
old Chile it would send in-
tead Teodoro Moscoso, Al-
ile insisted on Mr. Good-
The situation was
gained. Finally both men
vent, and Chile was pro-
sed $120 million in aid.
Inc nadministration official
aid:
'IT
Ilealt
?'tgtate Ru'sk. They wanted
11i 7~01711'197!'1S-17CCZLRSC-Rh
knew they could work on his
inexperience."
While Mr. Goodwin was in
Chile, his boss, Robert Wood-
ward, was moved out as As-
sistant Secretary of State for
Latin America. Some
thought Mr. Goodwin would
get the job. But Edwin Mar-
114 ggti-it. Under Secretary
ilbr to Spain) "because you
haven't been able to control
that boy.',"Mr. Woodward re-
portedly replied: "How can
I oontrot? hirr? Ire's a White
House man!'' In Apl.`i1 Mr. c o in: ryas
criticized again when he
agreed to a TV debate with
Carlos Fuentes, a Mexican
communist. The debate didn't
come off because Sr. Fuentes
was denied an entry visa.
Of this, Mr. Goodwin says
he accepted the network's
invitation to debate after
checking with superiors, and
the debate was called off
When it was learned Sr.
Fuentes was a communist.
Mr. Goodwin was criticized
again in May when he gave
me information regarding
negotiations with Mexico to-
ward settling a . long-stand-
ing Texas border dispute. Mr.
Goodwin's critics said prema-
ture publication might injure
delicate negotiations, called
his action "poor judgment."
41 Rarely Seen
Last month newsmen
noted that when Mr. Good-
win accompanied the Pres-
ident to Mexico he took no
part in official functions,
was rarely seen during the
three-day visit. A State De-
partment source commented:
"Ed Martin, Mr. Goodwin's
new boss, kept him under
wraps, kept him from being
his own worst enemy."
Was New Frontiersmen
Goodwin's rocket-like career
beginning to slow down?
One State Department of-
ficial thought so. He said:
Goodwin is no longer
our liaison to the W h i t e
House on Latin Affairs,
only link over there."
Mr. Dungan is a special as-
sistant to President K e n-
nedy. He has been handling
some Latin affairs since
January 1961. Today he said:
"I do maintain more t h an usual interest in Latin Amer-
ica now."
After the Men
+ P'i Q
Mr. Goodwin was given an
"additional assignment" with
the Peace Corps. He is pre-
paring for an October c o i'i-
ference on training of in i d-
d I e-management personnel
for Latin nations.
IJ Eased Out?
4 FM.M -1N ; ,.,. 34..nFtNM k ,'.,.
The announcement spai?14~ad
talk that Mr. Goodwin was
being eased out of his high
post because of the series of
incidents which have been
labeled poor judgment.
But officials who h a c i-
worked closely with Mr.
Goodwin deny this. Mr. Go,si-
win himself airily dismis c s
it as untrue. His name 7,
.still on the door of his Si rte
Department office and im
spends about h a If his time
there.
Does New Frontiersman
Goodwin think he has,ei
guilty of poor judgment?
"That's for others to .say,
not me. But my career ' a s
not been shortened, hi" fact
the contrary; after I finish
the Peace Corps job I'll tee
back here (at State) f u 11
time,"
The pleasant and mild-
mannered Goodwin concedes
he may have critics in the de-
partment "but I don't know
of anybody trying to oust nt
and I get along well with icy
colleagues."
There is no question M r.
Goodwin has had a hand in
almost every important
Latin-American policy deci-
sion during the Kennedy
term..
It seems equally sure that
no matter how he may stand
with some of the State De-
partment or the White House
Staff, Mr. Goodwin is still
high in Mr. Kennedy's es-
teem.
Sanitized - Approved For Release : CIA-RDP75-00149R000300180028-3