Soft, 'feminine' side of 'Che' Guevara described in Kennedy documents
(Globe file photo)
Ernesto "Che" Guevara in 1964.
By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff
The covert meeting took place at 2 a.m.on an August night in 1961 in the backroom of a seaside resort city in Uruguay.
 Richard Goodwin |
Taking place just months after the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, the sit-down was dangerous for both sides. The American was Richard Goodwin, a speechwriter and aide to President Kennedy who now lives in Concord. For Cuba, the emissary was Ernesto "Che" Guevara, the legendary guerrilla and revolutionary icon. The two men met at a birthday party for a Brazilian official, each brought to the meeting through quiet, back-channel diplomacy.
Guevara wore green fatigues and his trademark "overgrown and scraggly beard," Goodwin wrote in a five-page memorandum that is on public display for the first time today at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.
"Behind the beard his features are quite soft, almost feminine, and his manner is intense," Goodwin wrote. "He has a good sense of humor, and there was considerable joking back and forth during the meeting … [he] soon became relaxed and spoke freely. Although he left no doubt of his personal and intense devotion to communism, his conversation was free of propaganda and bombast."
Guevara spoke so freely, in fact, he wanted Goodwin to convey his thanks to the Kennedy administration for the botched Bay of Pigs invasion, the failed attempt by US-backed Cuban exiles to overthrow the government of Fidel Castro.
"He then went on to say that he wanted to thank us very much for the invasion -- that it had been a great political victory for them -- enabled them to consolidate -- and transformed them from an aggrieved little country to an equal," Goodwin wrote.
The release this weekend of the film "Che" by director Steven Soderbergh prompted the Kennedy Library to dig the five-page summary and another document written by Goodwin out of its archives, which includes 48 million items. The two memorandums for the president were declassified in the early 1990s, but have never before been put on public display.
On the surface, the documents offer a rare, human glimpse of Guevara, a figure who has developed mythical stature since his death in October 1967.
"Sometimes the history books give us a one-sided view of this revolutionary," said Thomas J. Putnam, director of the Kennedy Library. "These two documents give some historical context."
At the same time, the memorandums demonstrate that both governments were at least open to quieting the rhetoric after the Bay of Pigs and before the Cuban missile crisis.
"The two countries had stared one another down publicly, but this was a chance using back channels to explore the possibility of another way," Putnam said. "Of course, it didn't come to pass. But at least both sides were willing to consider it, based on this exchange."
The Globe first wrote about the clandestine meeting with Guevara in 2002, when Goodwin described it at a gathering in Havana that marked the 40th anniversary of the Cuban missile crisis. Goodwin, the husband of author Doris Kearns Goodwin, could not be reached today for comment. In 2002, his tale of the meeting earned "gasps and guffaws from listeners," according to an account by Globe staff writer Marcella Bombardieri.
"Of course my first response was to flee into the streets," the wild-haired and bushy-eyebrowed Goodwin said, according to Bombardieri. Instead, he followed Guevara into another room. When Guevara sat on the floor, so did Goodwin, thinking, "He's not going to out-proletarianize me!"
Guevara told Goodwin that he spoke for the Cuban government and suggested that the two countries negotiate a "live and let live" agreement. But when Goodwin later relayed the message to Kennedy, along with a gift of cigars, the president dismissed any possibility of striking such a deal. Kennedy also joked that he should make Goodwin light up one of the cigars first, Bombardieri wrote, a reference to a CIA plot to assassinate Castro with an exploding stogie.
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More socialist tripe propping up the coward who never did anything of substance but torture and execute the bound and gagged as Castro's chief executioner.
Terrorists are just misunderstood.
Can i just correct this story to say that those documents have been publicly available on the website of the National Security Archive (www.nsarchive.org) since the 40th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs invasion in 2001. Indeed, just last week, the Archive's Cuba Documentation Project re-posted the five page report to Kennedy on the meeting which described Che's features, and the talks with Richard Goodwin, as part of an electronic briefing book on the history of dialogue between the U.S. and Cuba.
Such a nice murderer he was.
Bilbo Baggins lives!!!
terrorist? maybe? but i think you may have been listening to too much rush limbaugh...or maybe watching too much fox news...
You claim Che Guevara to be a terrorist because of unjust killings... decent argument. But what about the United States' fire bombing campaign of 67 Japanese cities before the bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. These fire bombings killed almost 500,000 people, not to mention the 300,000 killed with the atomic bombs.
So, if Mr. Guevara is a terrorist for killing 'X' amount of people, what does that make the United States?
Or were the Japanese civilians terrorists too?
When will a terrorist be called a murderer, isn't the same thing. The Che terrorized Cuba, rounded up about 2,500 or maybe more "Cubans" and gave the order to execute them, many with his own gun. Why is this forgotten and shoved to the side, this is part of history also. It is well documented, but no, who cares about the Cuban people. It was the Cuban people that this so-called revolution was suppose to free. On the contrary, it was a revolution designed to enslave free people. Now, after "50 Years" the revolution continues, it is laughable. Who ever heard of a revolution lasting so long, who's fooling who?
made him popular
The guy was a MURDERER. The less I hear of him the better. Also celebs like Carlos Santana get negative points for wearing a picture of the murderer on their tee-shirt.
Che was the most complete human being of our age, and our era's most perfect man. We need another Che now more than ever.
Hasta la Victoria Siempre !
There were two sides to the man. He started as an idealist, wanting the south and latin American people to unite and to eliminate the huge economic disparity between the classes. But then, in the name of revolution, he became someone and something entirely different, murdering and torturing people whether they were guilty of something or not. I guess the taste of power over people brought out an evil side of him. I'm just grateful that he was actually killed and not just locked up somewhere where some misguided soul could still release him and let him do more damage.
Che Guevara was no terrorist, or a murderer. He was a revolutionary and a guerrilla fighter. He believed that the only way to stop the intense poverty in latin america and cuba was to establih a new government. While he did this successfully there were innocent lifes lost, but lifes of the innocent are lost every day. F. Batista, the us supported dictator of Cuba didnt care at all about the cuban people. While i dont agree with Castro's ways of leading i do agee with Che. So please Dont insult the name of Che Guevara because you dont agree with his partys members
Che's dream of a new government was destroyed by those wanting to control Cuba and it's people. He was a passionate socialist, who only wanted fair and equal treatment for the native people of these lands. If you've never left this country, you will never understand the suffering outside of it so don't comment on actions taken by revolutionaries. Everyone here forgets that we are in Iraq to supposedly free people, how much freedom have we achieved? How many innocent people killed with no proof of crimes? Che was murdered by the CIA because we were afraid of him.
"Che's life is an inspiration for every human being who loves freedom. We will always honor his memory." --- Nelson Mandela
This blogger might want to review your comment before posting it.
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