Cuban Freedom Committee records, 1947-1993

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Summary

Creators:
Bourgin, Mariada C. and Cuban Freedom Committee
Abstract:
Correspondence, speeches, reports, radio broadcast transcripts, financial records, press releases, sound recordings, clippings, and other printed matter, relating to communism, political conditions and civil rights in Cuba, Cuban influence elsewhere in Latin America, and Cubans in exile in the United States, and especially to broadcasting activities of Free Cuba Radio from the United States to Cuba. Includes a few later papers of Mariada C. Arensberg (later Bourgin), executive secretary of the Cuban Freedom Committee.
Extent:
72 manuscript boxes, 1 oversize box, 1 sound disc (28.8 Linear Feet)
Language:
In English and Spanish
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Cuban Freedom Committee records, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection is comprised of records from Mariada C. Arensberg (later Mariada Bourgin), the executive secretary of the Cuban Freedom Committee and later the special assistant to the U.S. assistant secretary of state for education and cultural affairs. Materials include correspondence, speeches, reports, radio broadcast recordings and transcripts from Radio Free Cuba, financial records, press releases, clippings, notes, and other printed matter.

The records of the Cuban Freedom Committee and Radio Free Cuba document research efforts and the creation of and reaction to radio broadcasts to Cuba. Material includes research files on topics such as Fidel Castro, political conditions and civil rights in Cuba, the Cuban economy, Cuban propaganda, Latin American groups, Cuban society after Castro, Cuban exiles, Cuban inmates, Cuban intellectuals, Cuban schools, Cuban subversive activities in Latin America, and Cuban-Russian relations, as well as material relating to the CIA's involvement in Radio Free Cuba.

As a special assistant in the Department of State, Arensberg was in charge of its programs for women and minorities. Particularly, there is information relating to increasing the participation in international cultural exchange programs documented through correspondence, university publications, and print materials.

English and Spanish names of events and organizations were used interchangeably throughout the Cuban Freedom Committee records.

Biographical / historical:

The United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) set up the Cuban Freedom Committee in late 1960 to sponsor anti-Castro radio broadcasts similar to those of Radio Free Europe. The committee appeared as a private activist group that solicited donations for the operation, later identified as a funding conduit for CIA domestic operations.

The Cuban Freedom Committee produced Free Radio Cuba, a stridently anti-Castro program that was broadcast before, during, and after the Bay of Pigs invasion on licensed stations in the United States and overseas including WKWF, Key West; WGBS, Miami; and Radio Swan from the Swan Islands off the coast of Honduras.

Sources: Historical Dictionary of American Propaganda, Martin J. Manning and Herbert Romerstein, Greenwood Press, Westport Ct., 2004 "Ex-Pittsburger Heads Cuban Freedom Group: Mrs. Arensberg Named Executive Secretary; Financing Broadcasts Aim," Pittsburg Post-Gazzette, April 4, 1961

Acquisition information:
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library Archives in 1997.
Physical location:
Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.

Terms of access:

For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Cuban Freedom Committee records, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Location of this collection:
Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6003, US
Contact:
(650) 723-3563
hooverarchives@stanford.edu
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