CUBAN REFUGEES, LOCAL POWER, and COLD WAR POLICY in MIAMI, 1959-1995 Mauricio Fernando Castro Purdue University
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Purdue University Purdue e-Pubs Open Access Dissertations Theses and Dissertations January 2015 CASABLANCA OF THE CARIBBEAN: CUBAN REFUGEES, LOCAL POWER, AND COLD WAR POLICY IN MIAMI, 1959-1995 Mauricio Fernando Castro Purdue University Follow this and additional works at: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/open_access_dissertations Recommended Citation Castro, Mauricio Fernando, "CASABLANCA OF THE CARIBBEAN: CUBAN REFUGEES, LOCAL POWER, AND COLD WAR POLICY IN MIAMI, 1959-1995" (2015). Open Access Dissertations. 1173. https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/open_access_dissertations/1173 This document has been made available through Purdue e-Pubs, a service of the Purdue University Libraries. Please contact [email protected] for additional information. Graduate School Form 30 Updated 1/15/2015 PURDUE UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL Thesis/Dissertation Acceptance This is to certify that the thesis/dissertation prepared By Mauricio Fernando Castro Entitled Casablanca of the Caribbean: Cuban Refugees, Local Power, and Cold War Policy in Miami, 1959-1995 For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Is approved by the final examining committee: Jon C. Teaford Chair Darren Dochuk Nancy F. Gabin David Atkinson To the best of my knowledge and as understood by the student in the Thesis/Dissertation Agreement, Publication Delay, and Certification Disclaimer (Graduate School Form 32), this thesis/dissertation adheres to the provisions of Purdue University’s “Policy of Integrity in Research” and the use of copyright material. Approved by Major Professor(s): Jon C. Teaford Approved by: R. Douglas Hurt 7/1/2015 Head of the Departmental Graduate Program Date CASABLANCA OF THE CARIBBEAN: CUBAN REFUGEES, LOCAL POWER, AND COLD WAR POLICY IN MIAMI, 1959-1995 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Purdue University by Mauricio Fernando Castro In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2015 Purdue University West Lafayette, Indiana ii For Adrian iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I was not absolutely certain that I would get to this point; life has not always been easy in the last few years. Beyond the massive undertaking of a dissertation, I often doubted that I would be able to overcome the obstacles put in my path. Along the way, however, I had the best network of institutional and personal support I could have asked for. These acknowledgements are not only in recognition of the impact the organizations and individuals had on the writing of my dissertation, but on the tremendous impact they had upon my life. As such, my thanks go out not only as a scholar, but as man. I have received significant and sustained funding from Purdue University in pursuit of this project. The Department of History generously funded my travel to Miami with the Harold Woodman Graduate Student Travel Grant, allowing me to arrive in the city in preparation for the summer I spent in residence at the University of Miami. The year-long Purdue Research Foundation Grant freed me from on-campus obligations and allowed me to pursue multiple research trips between the summer of 2012 and the fall of 2013. Support from Purdue University’s Graduate School in the form of the Winifred Beatrice Bilsland Dissertation Writing Fellowship enabled me to spend my final year in West Lafayette devoted to writing the majority of this dissertation. Without the assistance I received from Purdue, this project would have been impossible to complete. iv Another inestimably important source of support was the Cuban Heritage Collection Graduate Fellowship, which allowed me to spend three months in residence at the University of Miami. The Cuban Heritage Collection, the Goizueta Foundation, and the Amigos of the Cuban Heritage Collection provided me with the opportunity to mine the depths of the most significant source of material for this dissertation. I am also forever indebted to the CHC’s faculty and staff. I would like to thank Maria Estorino Dooling, Esperanza de Varona. Gladys Gomez-Rossie, Annie Sansone-Martinez, Meiyolet Mendez, and Rosa Monzon-Alvarez, among others. Despite its rich collections, it might be people who welcome and provide the fellows with a home away from home that are the Cuban Heritage Collection’s greatest resource. I must also thank other organizations that helped provide the assistance necessary to travel to multiple states in order to research this work. The Samuel Flagg Bemis Dissertation Research Grant from the Society for Historians of American Foreign relations provided significant support for me to conduct an extended, multi-state research trip in early 2013. The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation’s Abba P. Schwartz Research Fellowship allowed me to travel to Boston and conduct research at the Kennedy Presidential Library. This trip proved incredibly fruitful to my research. Likewise, without the funds provided by the LBJ Foundation’s Moody Research Grant, I would not have been able to travel to the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin. The Research Travel Grant from the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation also allowed me to access collections essential to this project. I must also thank the archivists and staff of these Presidential Libraries and those of the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, the George Bush Presidential Library, and the William J. Clinton Presidential Library. I am also indebted to their counterparts at the University of Miami Libraries Special Collections and University Archives, the Barry University Archives and Special Collections, the Florida International University Special v Collections & University Archives, the Rutgers University Special Collections and University Archives, and the HistoryMiami Archives and Research Center. I must also thank those senior scholars who have been, over the course of my graduate career, so incredibly generous with their time and mentorship. At the Urban History Association Conference in 2012, Mark Rose was kind enough to read my prospectus and to provide extremely helpful feedback that shaped the course of my project. At another conference that same year, the American Historical Association Annual Meeting, I met a friend and mentor who has done nothing but support me and the development of my career. Andrew K. Sandoval- Strausz has been a strong ally and a true friend to me in the years I have known him, and I am truly grateful to have met him. My first mentors, of course, were those faculty members at the institutions at which I received my education. This started well before my arrival at Purdue. Jeanie Ayub, as both my International Baccalaureate history teacher and my unofficial college counselor, instilled in me a love of the craft and set me on a path that ultimately led to pursuing a career in history. She was also instrumental in my pursuing an undergraduate education at Vassar College. There I was graciously mentored by faculty members David Schalk, James Merrell, and especially Maria Höhn. My Vassar education prepared me well for the rigors of graduate school and solidified my interest in a career in history. Once at Purdue, I received the full support of the Department of History. Department Head R. Douglas Hurt’s door was always open and he always had time to discuss my plans and provide career advice. Director of Graduate Education John Larson was similarly available and eager to provide an encouraging word tempered by a bit of cynical realism regarding the state of the profession. I received valuable classroom instruction from talented instructors including Sally Hastings, Caroline Janney, and Yvonne Pitts. I was also lucky enough to receive aid and vi encouragement from Kathryn Brownell and Will Gray. I am forever indebted to two other instructors at Purdue that helped shape my development as a scholar. Alicia Decker, now at Penn State, helped shape my understanding of the developments of nation and sharpened my understanding of gender as a category of analysis. She was also a true friend and a talented and inspiring co-author for my first major publication. Michael Morrison also graced me with his friendship and his mentorship. In him I found an example to follow as I found my voice as an instructor. This work would not exist, of course, without the aid I received from the members of my dissertation committee. Nancy Gabin was always supportive of my work, knowledgeable in multiple historiographies, and instrumental in allowing me to conduct oral history interviews as part of my research. David Atkinson provided another excellent example to follow in teaching undergraduates and helped shape my thinking about borderlands and my contributions to the history of American foreign relations. Jon Teaford was kind enough to step in for Darren Dochuk after the latter moved on from Purdue University. He always provided good advice regarding the development of the project and helped to keep me on task regarding the writing of the dissertation over the past year. Darren Dochuk was unwavering in his support and in his dedication to directing this dissertation. He gave me the freedom to pursue this project as my own but maintained rigorous academic standards at every step of the process. He was both a friend and advocate over the years. Without his help and guidance I could not have written this dissertation. Purdue’s graduate student community was also a source of support, inspiration, and friendship throughout my graduate school career. From my early days as a graduate students to my last days in the writing hermit cave, I was supported by good friends and colleagues vii including Chris Snively, Andrew Smith and Erika Cornelius Smith, David Cambron, Sanket Desai, David Weir, Mark Otto, Beau Gaitors, A. William Bell, Josh Jeffers, Jeff Perry, Annie Snider, Max Rieger, Olivia Hagedorn, and Trevor Burrows. Mason Danner came into the program with me and will forever be not just a friend, but the guy who went through academic “boot camp” with me during our first semester here.