Good for a Million

The call came in late December from Attorney General Robert Kennedy to an old family friend in Boston. Said Bobby: "Castro wants an extra $2,900,000, and everybody wants to get the prisoners home to Miami by Christmas." Said the friend: "I'm all for that." Asked Kennedy: "Can you help out toward that $2,900,000?" Replied the friend: "I'll call you back in an hour." He was as good as his word: within an hour, Boston's Richard Cardinal Gushing had pledged to raise $1,000,000 to help achieve the release of the Bay of Pigs prisoners.

Only last week did Cardinal Gushing identify himself as the mysterious benefactor whom Bobby had called. He was doing so, he said, to stop "rumors crediting this gift as coming from sources with which I have no identification." Declared Gushing: "I alone am responsible for the collection of this extraordinary sum."

Person to Person. Bobby had good reason to think he could depend on Gushing. The cardinal has known Joseph P. Kennedy for 25 years; old Joe managed to say his first words after his paralytic stroke last winter when Gushing visited him in Palm Beach. Gushing baptized Caroline Kennedy, both of Teddy's children and one of Bobby's sons; he also delivered a memorably lengthy invocation at Kennedy's inauguration.

When the request from Bobby came, Gushing went to work. Already earmarked for Cuba was $200,000 raised by Gushing at the time of the tractors-for-prisoners proposal and set aside when that deal fell through. Moreover, in each of the past five years Gushing has raised at least $1,000,000 for the Society of St. James the Apostle, which sends missionaries to Latin America. It was from society benefactors that Gushing sought the money for the prisoner exchange. He "worked day and night, through person-to-person contacts." The largest single donation was only $1,000--but the money was obtained. "Like many others," Gushing explained simply, "I, too, wanted the prisoners home with their loved ones before Christ mas Day."

Covering the Loan. Castro's $2,900,000 demand (retired General Lucius Clay underwrote the rest) had been in addition to the $53 million he was getting in drugs, food and other goods in exchange for the prisoners. Last week the list of donors to that $53 million was being filled out; some companies had given or pledged more than they had been listed for in previous, partial lists (TIME, Jan. 11). Among them: American Cyanamid Corp., Pearl River, N.Y., $3,300,000 (instead of the previously reported $1,000,000); Richardson-Merrill, N.Y.C., $1,337,000 (instead of $155,000); Johnson & Johnson, New Brunswick, N.J., $1,011,000 (instead of $350,000); Abbott Laboratories, North Chicago, listed as contributing an undisclosed amount, gave about $1,000,000; and H. J. Heinz Co., Pittsburgh, which was omitted from previous lists, gave $1,000,000.

A separate check of 25 of the nation's largest companies turned up a goodly number that pledged money to cover the quick cash loan signed by General Clay. Among them: Standard Oil Co. (N.J.), N.Y.C., $100,000; Texaco Inc., N.Y.C., $100,000; Ford Motor Co. Fund, Dearborn, Mich., a nonprofit corporation supported by Ford Motor Co., $100,000; Socony Mobil Oil Co., N.Y.C., $25,000; Morgan Guaranty Trust Co., N.Y.C., $10,000; Dallas Clearing House Association, $10,000; and Shell Oil Co., N.Y.C., an undisclosed amount. General Motors Corp. was reported to have given $150,000 but declined to confirm the contribution.

The Kennedy Administration, which has nudged and guided the ransom payments throughout, made its first direct contribution when the Agriculture Department released 5,000,000 lbs. of dried skim milk from its store of 500 million lbs. for shipment to Castro. Eventually, the dried milk shipments are expected to reach 20 million lbs.--an estimated $5,000,000 worth. The donation of surplus foods to charity for overseas shipment, explained the department, has been a regular practice. Besides, repayment is expected from the Cuban Families Committee--some day.

The Troops Remain. While the ransom shipments continued to flow into Cuba, the U.S. and Russia announced in a United Nations declaration that formal negotiations between the two powers on Cuba had been suspended, leaving unresolved U.S. demands for on-site inspection of missile removal and Soviet demands for a no-invasion pledge. Sterling J. Cottrell, a Foreign Service career officer who has headed a policy task force on U.S. operations in Viet Nam, was named coordinator of U.S. policy toward Cuba.

A period of diplomatic quiet had thus settled over the Cuba situation. But upward of 20,000 Soviet troops remain in Cuba. For so long as they do--and for so long as Castro remains in power--Cuba will still be a crisis point.

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