Did Kennedy invoke the Monroe Doctrine when he ran the Soviets out of Cuba?

Cuba

SOME MIGHT BE LED to think that Cuba isn't part of the Western Hemisphere. Under the terms of the Monroe Doctrine, wasn't the United States supposed to protect all countries in that part of the world from European intervention? Actually, no. President Monroe was warning Europeans, especially Spain and Portugal, that any attempt to interfere with or colonize any state in the Americas would be viewed as an act of aggression requiring U.S. Intervention. By 1823, all of Spain and Portugal's colonies in the Western Hemisphere had won their independence, except for Cuba and Puerto Rico and they were specifically excluded from America's “protection.” Why?

President James Monroe (Click to enlarge)

Theoretically, independence was desirable for all of the Western Hemisphere. The rejection of Old World rule was implicit in the Declaration of Independence. To tolerate imperialism anywhere in the world, especially anywhere in the New World, was a betrayal of the American ideal.

On a more practical level, where would America be if it supported the overthrow of Spanish rule in Cuba only to be replaced by the English? Or the French? It was no secret that England wanted to install puppet governments in the former colonies of Spain in the New World. These newly minted states were struggling to emerge as independent nations. Most were ruled by a cuadillo – a strong man, military-political leader. The British felt it would be easy to replace any and all of them with their own cuadillos (and they were probably correct in their thinking). There was no doubt in Monroe's mind that American commercial interests would suffer under such an arrangement.

The Monroe Doctrine was a rather hollow threat inasmuch as the United States was not a major power at that time. Fortunately, Britain was focused on war in Europe and didn't entertain any ambitions in the Western Hemisphere at that time. They even went so far as to offer a limited alliance with the United States to enforce the terms of the Monroe Doctrine. However, America was still leery of Britain. The War of 1812 was still fresh in their memories and they suspected any overture from that direction. The exclusion of Cuba and Puerto Rico from the terms of the Monroe Doctrine was a tacit admission that the United States was powerless to force an Old World empire to surrender its existing claims in the New World.

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Ultimately, the primary motivator of Cuban-American relationships has always been the commercial interests between the two nations. Although American and Cuban leaders alike may have dreamed of adding a Cuban Star to the American constellation, it never happened because those commercial interests were never sufficient to warrant it. Businessmen in both countries never saw any necessity for a political bond. This is the conclusion that Nick Andrews, the hero in Rebels on the Mountain, reaches as he observes Castro's revolution on behalf of members of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.