78-10-B3

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Cuba

Transcript Unless you've boycotted the daily press or refused to listen to the evening news, you are aware that the administration in Washington has had some harsh things to say about Cuba , Castro has been told to remove his mercenary troops from Africa or we'll--or we'll--or we'll what? Come to think of it, the administration has never mentioned what the "what" might be. And you can bet that Mr. Castro is well aware of that. There are now 50,000 Cubans in Africa propping up a whole cluster of third world nations and training an assorted pack of guerillas in the gentle art of butchery. And not so incidentally threatening to cut off minerals vital to the industrialized western world. Some of the senior members of Congress on both sides of the aisle have become very much aware of that unanswered "what" in the President's rhetoric. Like prompters coming to the aid of an actor who has forgotten his lines, they are trying to give him the next sentence. House minority leader John Rhodes of Arizona urged the President to stop wringing his hands and take some specific action , which he then outlined . I bring this up because if you weren't in the House gallery on the day Congressman Rhodes spoke, you probably have never heard or read of his proposal. For some reason this subject seems to be of no interest to the news media. Then a short time later Democratic Senator Talmadge of Georgia took the Senate floor to charge Cuba with aggression and subversion in Central America and support of Puerto Rican terrorists who have been responsible for numerous bombings in our own country. The Senator said that outside of a few feeble protests, our only response has been to exchange diplomats with Cuba, lift the ban on travel to Cuba, send athletes, performers, businessmen and Congressional delegations down there. He added: "We seem to be bent upon treating our enemies as friends and our friends as enemies." Senator Talmadge didn't have any trouble suggesting some practical steps--close the Cuban mission in Washington, ban travel to Cuba, prohibit sending dollars to Cuba and restore the ban in diplomatic and economic relations. But for all the press he received, he might as well have marked his speech "top secret". Shortly thereafter the Democratic majority leader of the Senate, Robert Byrd of West Virginia, echoed his colleague's words and added that we should cut back sales of advanced technology to the Soviet's who "have not swerved from their committment to foment chaos wherever they believe it can benefit". He made page 14 of the New York TIMES and was mentioned in the Washington POST in a story hailing the split between "McGovern and Byrd". McGovern got 10½ paragraphs , Byrd, 3½, but his proposals about the action we should take were not mentioned. The visit of the Cuban ballet to the United States was given more than one full page. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening.		Details Batch Number 78-10-B3 Production Date 07/15/1978 Book/Page RPtV-339 Audio Youtube? No
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