How It Was Done

New York Lawyer James Donovan, counsel for the Cuban Families Committee, was annoyed by the notion that Bobby Kennedy and the Justice Department were really responsible for arranging the ransom payments to Castro. "I have enormous respect for the Attorney General." said Donovan, "but it is absolutely and unqualifiedly so that the policy and negotiations were entrusted to me."

Donovan undeniably believed what he said. But he was about the last one who did. For by now a spate of stories was appearing, detailing Bobby's efforts.

All the Volunteers. Months ago, acting at Bobby's behest, Donovan negotiated the $53 million payoff to Castro. But before the exchange could be consummated, the October Cuba crisis erupted. Only after it had ebbed did Donovan make tentative inquiries about whether Castro was still interested. He was.

At that point. Attorney General Kennedy ordered a "staff study" to find out if the ransom could be raised from food and drug companies (a quick check had shown that voluntary contributions from citizens might bring nothing). Assured that the goods could be obtained, he set a Christmas deadline for the exchange.

Bobby assigned two top aides, Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach and Assistant Attorney General (for taxation) Louis F. Oberdorfer, to work full-time for three weeks on the project. Under them were some 25 other Government employees and a host of private citizens, mostly lawyers, who had volunteered their services.

Progress in winning pledges for ransom contributions was charted on a large wall graph in Oberdorfer's office. The American Red Cross agreed to act as middleman in the exchange. Justice Department officials approached the trade associations of drug, medical and food industries. Five officials of the American Pharmaceutical Association came to Washington, saw the Attorney General. Referring to the Bay of Pigs fiasco. Bobby said, "My brother made a mistake." and implied that the prisoner exchange would be one way of rectifying it.

The drug companies were not accustomed to being summoned to Washington for contributions. Their industry had only recently been berated for the high price of drugs by a Senate subcommittee headed by Tennessee Democrat Estes Kefauver. One major drug firm has a price-fixing case pending in the Justice Department; two others are under investigation by a federal grand jury in New York, one of which is also under investigation by the Federal Trade Commission.

The drug companies volunteered handsomely, and were assured by the Justice Department that their gifts would be considered charitable contributions--at their sales price, rather than at their production cost. Each firm was permitted to deduct such contributions up to 5% of its annual income--and each received a speedy ruling from the Internal Revenue Service on whether it approved the specific deductions requested.

In record time, pledges for $23,000.000 in drugs and Pharmaceuticals, $14,000,000 in baby foods, $9,000,000 in powdered milk and $7,000,000 in surgical, dental and veterinary instruments were offered.

One Call, One Million. To transport the goods from manufacturers to Cuba, ten airlines, ten railroads, one shipping firm and a group of truckers chipped in with equipment and manpower--tax deductible at out-of-pocket cost. Even then, with the full ransom in hand or pledged, and with fast transportation assured, the whole effort almost fell apart. For Castro insisted on ironclad guarantees that he could collect cash for any goods not delivered, once the prisoners were set free. This meant a $53 million performance bond. Katzenbach flew to Montreal to seek such a bond from the Royal Bank of Canada, which has a representative in Cuba. "It was zero-zero," recalls Katzenbach, "zero outside, and even colder inside the bank." The Royal Bank insisted it must have letters of credit from U.S. banks.

Donovan, retired General Lucius Clay, and members of Bobby's Government and private task force telephoned bankers across the nation. This is not the sort of business in which most banks are interested. But Bobby's people were persuasive: Morgan Guaranty Trust Co. and the Bank of America agreed to assume the risk by posting a $26.5 million bond each with the Canadian bank. As a final guarantee, Chicago's Continental Casualty Co. reinsured the two U.S. banks.

After Castro had finally inspected the 20% down payment of ransom goods carried to Cuba in the freighter African Pilot, the exchange began. Suddenly Castro stopped the release of the last three planeloads of prisoners, recalled that he had not been paid $2,900,000 in cash for the release of 60 prisoners last spring. With just one telephone call, Robert Kennedy got a $1,000,000 pledge from an unidentified donor--a fund-raising feat that should qualify him for the chairmanship of the United Arab-Jewish Appeal. The sponsoring committee pledged the rest, Clay borrowed cash against the pledges, and the Royal Bank of Canada gave Castro a check for the additional $2,900,000.

The Bonus. When the exchange was completed, Donovan, who had been exchanging quips with Castro for hours, mentioned casually that it was a shame that the African Pilot would return to Miami empty. Castro said he would fill it with 1,000 relatives of the prisoners, called it his "Christmas bonus." Some bonus. As it turned out, 922 were permitted to sail--but only after signing over all their property and possessions to Castro's Communist government.

In Miami, one Cuban refugee said: "This affair has permitted Castro to assume the role of a humanitarian. People forget the thousands of men he has executed." He has some 70,000 political enemies still languishing in prisons and concentration camps.

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