Unfinished Business: Kennedy and Cuba

A troubled relationship exists between the U.S. and Cuba, the island nation located 90 miles south of Florida. At the heart of this history is the leadership and legacy of President John F. Kennedy.

Renewed interest in Cuba became apparent in 1999 when headlines heralded the predicament of a small child. On Thanksgiving Day, a young boy was rescued from an inner tube drifting off the coast of Florida. He was the only survivor of a desperate attempt to escape Cuba and a life dominated by Fidel Castro's regime.

Elián González, six years old and frightened, was welcomed by relatives in Miami and embraced by Cuban American communities across America. For them, the name of "Elián" became a cry of liberty, a word of defiance, and a call to action.

A volatile custody battle erupted between Elián's Miami-based family members and his father, who remained in Cuba. The exiles, who recognized that Elián's mother had died bringing her child to freedom, argued that no one should have to return to the oppressive environment of Fidel Castro's Cuba—especially not a child who had miraculously reached sanctuary.

On the other side of the debate, many believed that the child should be returned to Cuba. Some questioned the wisdom of separating the child from his father, although Elián's parents were already divorced. Still others pointed to the law, preferring to debate legal questions rather than philosophical ones.

Ultimately, the U.S. Justice Department upheld the decision by the Immigration and Naturalization Service to follow U.S. law and return the child to Cuba in the care of his father. On April 22, 2000, representatives of the U.S. government seized Elián from the home of his Miami relatives and reunited him with his father, who had traveled to the U.S. to retrieve his son. Within weeks, they returned to Cuba amid much fanfare and resumed their lives.

While Miami's Cuban population lobbied government officials, distributed flyers and staged protests, others across the country responded with confusion to their displays of unity and resistance. What was the controversy over sending a little boy home?