- Arthur Gardner
Arthur Gardner (1889-1967) was a United States foreign
diplomat and American ambassador toCuba 1953-1957. Gardner was a close confident of PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower and was also strongly pro-Batista. "A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House"Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. 1965 ]Gardner fought in World War One, and worked for the
War Production Board during World War Two. Following the war Gardner became an assistant to the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury,John Snyder . Following theCuban revolution of 1959, Gardner testified that he felt that Washington had "pulled the rug out" from under Batista. He added cquote|"Batista had always leaned toward the United States. I don't think we ever had a better friend. It was regrettable, like all South Americans, that he was known-although I had no absolute knowledge of it-to be getting a cut, I think is the word for it, in almost all the, things that were done. But, on the other hand, he was doing an amazing job." [ [http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/us-cuba/gardner-smith.htm Hearings to the Sub Committee 1960] ]In the early days of the second Eisenhower administration Gardner was pressured to resign his position as ambassador to Cuba, even though Gardner had gone directly to President Eisenhower to ask to stay on. Pressure also came to bear that Gardner's closeness to Batista, blinded him to the perceived atrocities taking place all over the island. Gardner's position came to be viewed as a liability, and his continuing as ambassador was portrayed as an obstacle to improving relations between the countries during the predicted transition from Batista to a new regime. [ [http://www.historyofcuba.com/history/havana/Fidel-2.htm History of Cuba] ]
On Jun 16, 1957, Gardner was forced to resign. In his place, Eisenhower named
Earl E.T. Smith as Gardner's successor.----
ee also
*
Cuba-United States relations
*History of Cuba External links
* [http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/us-cuba/gardner-smith.htm Testimony of Arthur Gardner to the U.S. Senate concerning Cuba]
Notes
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