1 New York Times, 4 February 1961. “Cuban Refugees,” p. 1.

2 “The first refugees (from Bilbao) to be evacuated were children, to be parcelled out among those who agreed to look after them. The CGT in France agreed to take 2,300 and the Soviet Government undertook the care of Communist children. A Basque children's relief committee in England, supported by the British branch of the Roman Church, agreed to look after 4,000 children… . Opinion was nevertheless so cautious in America that even a project to bring certain Basque children there was dropped as a possible breach of neutrality.” Thomas, Hugh, The Spanish CivilWar (New York: Harper&Row, 1961), pp. 437,438.Google Scholar

3 Michael Kenny (Washington, D.C., Catholic University), unpublished manuscript. “From 1937-1943 they ('Los Niños de Morelia’) were educated and cared for in the España-México school or similar institutions entirely at the expense of the Mexican Government. See ‘Los Niños de Morelia’ by Vera Foulkes, Social Work Thesis presented to U.N.A.M. Mexico D.F., 1953.”

4 Close, Kathryn, Transplanted Children (New York: The United States Committee for the Care of European Children, Inc., 1953), p. 79.Google Scholar

5 “As the revolution entered its second year, it was evident that a large part of Catholic opinion, particularly among the regular clergy, was opposed to the government, and that it was hardening daily in direct proportion to the alienation of Havana from Washington. Early in the new year a document was circulated for signature among the Spanish clergy in which they reaffirmed their loyalty to Franco. The meaning of this gesture could not escape anyone in Cuba, where the memory of the Spanish civil war is more alive than anywhere else in the world outside of Spain itself. The document amounted to a condemnation of Castro on the grounds that, as the Republican government had supposedly once done in Spain, Castro now was culpably betraying the revolution to communism.” Dewart, Leslie, Cuba, Church and Crisis (London: Sheed and Ward, 1963), p. 154.Google Scholar

6 Time, October 6, 1961. “Cuba—And Now the Children,” p. 41.

7 “We have heard, of course, from time to time of the efforts, the laws that are being drawn up to prevent any child over the age of five to leave Cuba. Last July 26th, or prior to that time, when on Fidel's great celebration we knew there were sitting on his desk laws that would do just that. There was, according to the information supplied to us by the underground, quite a controversy between two sets of Fidel's advisers, the economists and party-line Communists. The economists maintained that it was necessary to keep the flow of U.S. dollars and therefore they were for continuation of allowing people to leave. The comment of the party line, of course, as we know, is to grab on to the children. Now the deadline for this to happen is supposedly January 1st, 1962. And we just expect sooner or later it is going to happen.” Testimony of Wendel N. Rollason, Director, Inter-American Affairs Commission, Miami, Florida. U. S. Senate Hearings, December 1961, p. 159.

8 Leslie Dewart, Cuba, Church, and Crisis, p. 161.

9 “They are taking the children of underground members who have been caught and either jailed or shot and to punish the families these children are being sent deliberately, being picked and sent to Russia by way of retaliation, as a way of a threat to other families of what is going to happen to their own children if they do not knuckle under. Children are paraded in front of their fathers in prison as a means of exhorting confession.” Ibid., p. 160.

10 “Student (university) opposition to the Castro regime was at first amorphous, but as the tempo of the revolution increased and the communists gained in strength, it took on definite form. Later in 1959 and throughout 1960, anti-Castro organizations established branches within the University of Havana. Among them, one known as Trinchera (The Trench), whose leaders originated from the Catholic University Association (Agrupación Católica Universitaria) soon acquired some importance. The Church provided the framework for these students’ anti-communist activities, offering them a doctrinal alternative to Communism.” Suchlicki, Jaime, University Students and Revolution in Cuba, 1920-1968 (Coral Gables, Florida: University of Miami Press, 1969), p. 95.Google Scholar

11 “Most Cuban refugees arriving in the United States during the first year and a half after the Castro Revolution were able to bring sizable amounts of money as they fled Cuba and upon arrival in the United States were self-supporting. Restrictions on removal of money and possessions from Cuba became increasingly severe after mid-1960. Real and personal property of refugees was confiscated. Each departing refugee was permitted to take only five U.S. dollars and items for personal use. Later no money could legally be taken from Cuba by refugees and clothing was restricted to a given number of pieces. Without funds, household goods and other essentials, refugees were in immediate need of welfare assistance upon arrival.” The Cuban Migration 1959-1960 (Miami, Florida: Research Institute for Cuba and the Caribbean; Center for Advanced International Studies, University of Miami, 1967), p. 24.

12 “The weight of welfare assistance fell first on the local Cuban community in the Miami area. In fact, as Reverend Bryan O. Walsh, Executive Director of the Catholic Welfare Bureau of Miami, observed it was not until the support resources of the Cuban colony in the Miami area were reaching saturation that the larger community became fully aware of the Cuban refugee problem.” Ibid, p. 24.

13 Minutes, Board of Directors, Welfare Planning Council, 18 October, 1960, p. 2. Copy in files of the Catholic Welfare Bureau.

14 Resolution adopted by the Welfare Planning Council of Dade County, 22 November, 1960. Copy in the files of the Catholic Welfare Bureau.

15 Voorhees, Tracy S., Interim Report to the President on the Cuban Refugee Problem (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 19 December, 1960), p. 10.Google Scholar

16 U. S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Cuba's Children in Exile, Social Rehabilitation Service, Children's Bureau, 1967, p. 1.

17 Kenneth Campbell, personal letter to Monsignor Bryan O. Walsh, July 16, 1964.

18 Hearing Before the Subcommittee to Investigate Problems Connected with Refugees and Escapees of the Committee of the Judiciary, U.S. Senate, 87th Congress, First Session, December 6, 7, 13, 1961.

“When the United States broke off diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba on January 3, 1961, the closing of the Embassy at Havana and the Consulate at Santiago shut off the means of escape for the thousands of Cubans besieging these offices for Visas. Relatives, friends, and social agencies soon began to ask the Department of State to take emergency action in behalf of these peoples.

“As a matter of sound and humanitarian national policy, and in keeping with the traditional role of the U.S. as a haven for those fleeing persecution, the Department concluded that it should ask the Department of Justice to act jointly in waiving the visa requirement, pursuant to Section 212 (d) (4) (A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, in individual cases involving specific elements of unforeseen emergency.” Testimony of Robert F. Hale, Director, Visa Office, Department of State.

19 Bryan O. Walsh, unpublished diary.