Chapter 34
We conducted extensive interviews with numerous members of the Second National Front of the Escambray, including Roger Redondo, Armando Fleites, and others. They provided critical details of how the plot unfolded. They also were in the room when Morgan contacted Trujillo via radio. During the plot, Morgan confided in Olga and several close friends, including Redondo and Fleites. In interviews with the authors, they recounted their conversations with Morgan.
Chapter 35
The narrative for the chapter comes from extensive interviews with Olga Goodwin. We also used details from Olga’s memoir and talked to members of the Second National Front of the Escambray about the plot. We reviewed FBI and State Department documents along with news stories. Our account of Morgan’s voyage to Cuba with the weapons was drawn in part from FBI documents, which included details of an August 20, 1959, phone call between Morgan and Leman Stafford Jr. It came one week after Morgan’s role as a double agent was revealed to the world.
“He apologized for what he claimed was his inability to furnish the true details regarding the purpose of his previous visits to Miami, Florida. He felt that he had not violated any United States laws by his previous actions, although he did feel he may have ‘bent’ some of them,” Stafford wrote.
Chapter 36
We interviewed a number of people who participated in the Trujillo conspiracy, including Eloy Gutiérrez Menoyo, Roger Redondo, Armando Fleites, and others. We talked at length with members of the Second National Front of the Escambray who were in a Havana house when Fidel Castro and Camilo Cienfuegos confronted several adversaries involved in the plot to overthrow the Cuban government. We reviewed documents, news stories, and FBI and State Department documents, including cables and memos.
Chapter 37
The chapter’s details were culled from extensive interviews with Olga Goodwin. She also described in her memoir how the Trujillo conspiracy elevated Morgan’s profile in Cuba. In the aftermath, Morgan had become a celebrity.
“After the ‘Trujillo Conspiracy,’ there was much change in our lives, because way before this problem, he had a lot of followers. But when it happened, their sympathy toward him increased. I mean there was a lot of movement around his person, not only within Cuba, but in the Cuban radio, television. Many American journalists called him constantly and asked him for interviews. So my place was constantly full with American journalists,” Olga wrote in her memoir.
Chapter 38
Our account of Morgan losing his US citizenship comes from extensive interviews with Olga Goodwin and Morgan’s family members and friends. We also reviewed State Department, Central Intelligence Agency, and other documents. We interviewed numerous members of the Second National Front of the Escambray about protecting Morgan in the wake of the Trujillo conspiracy. We pulled the transcripts of broadcast journalist Clete Roberts’s interview with Morgan. During the session, Roberts asked him about the revolution, Morgan’s relationship with Fidel Castro, and Morgan’s loss of American citizenship. He also touched on Morgan’s marriage.
Roberts: “You know, Bill, what you’ve just told me—the meeting with Mrs. Morgan, the romance, the kind of a life you live—sounds to me like all of the movie scripts that were ever dreamt about in Hollywood. How has it happened that you haven’t offered a diary for sale?”
Morgan: “I don’t believe you should cash in on your ideals. I don’t believe I was an idealist when I went up into the mountains, but I feel that I am an idealist now. At least I have an awful strong faith in an awful lot of people and what they want to do.”
Chapter 39
We talked at length with leaders of the Second National Front of the Escambray about how Fidel Castro’s secret police began watching Morgan. In a series of interviews, Olga Goodwin said her life with Morgan during this period was difficult. She had a newborn. They had just moved into a new apartment—her fourth home since the revolution ended. She told us she dreamed about moving to the United States to raise their family. But after Morgan lost his US citizenship, she knew that was out of the question. We drew from Olga’s interviews and memoir for our account of Morgan confronting Fidel Castro in front of a live television audience. At the time, Castro was beckoning a crowd to join him in denouncing America. Her memoir was a valuable resource for Morgan’s decision to create a farm for fish and frogs.
Chapter 40
Our account of Morgan’s push to get the fish and frog farm up and running comes from interviews with Olga Goodwin, Morgan’s friends, and members of the Second National Front of the Escambray, including Roger Redondo. We used transcripts of interviews with Edmundo Amado Consuegra and Pedro Ossorio. During this period, Olga recalled that Morgan took Antonio Chao Flores under his wing, trying to keep him from getting in trouble.
“Describing this young man is for me, in a certain way, a reason for pride, since I deemed him an extraordinary young man,” Olga wrote in her memoir. “William and I thought of him as our son. He had a fair skin, was very amiable, affectionate and fluent in his conversation, and had extraordinary political ideals. He had a soft, penetrating and pure look in his eyes, a short height, blond hair and quick movements upon walking, never fearful and courageous to a maximum, ready to face any danger and even look for it at any time. I looked at him at times and told him: ‘I fear for you, because at times you are a little impulsive and I think that something could happen to you.’ He smiled and told me: ‘Don’t worry; nothing will happen to me.’ ”
Chapter 41
We talked to Olga Goodwin at length and had access to her memoir, providing critical details about the couple’s family life. Our account of the La Coubre disaster comes from numerous interviews with Olga and members of the Second National Front of the Escambray, among them Eloy Gutiérrez Menoyo, Roger Redondo, Armando Fleites, and others, as well as from historical documents and news stories.
Chapter 42
We interviewed key members of the Second National Front of the Escambray, who provided critical information about their struggle to find a way to counter Fidel Castro’s tilt toward the Soviet Union. In a series of extensive interviews, Roger Redondo and others told us that no military unit was more opposed to Communism than the Second Front. They had publicly proclaimed this position. They had even expressed their views to Castro. Our account of Morgan’s decision to run guns to the Escambray comes from interviews with Olga Goodwin, Second Front members, and Cuban historians, among them Enrique Encinosa. We also drew on historical documents and transcripts of interviews with key players, including Frank Emmick. Olga’s memoir provided information on Morgan’s fight to free Jesús Carreras from jail.
Chapter 43
The chapter derives from extensive interviews with Olga Goodwin and members of the Second National Front of the Escambray, among them Rafael Huguet, Roger Redondo, and Armando Fleites. We also drew from historical documents—especially for the section on the emerging Soviet presence in the Escambray. We also reviewed news stories and numerous books on the Cuban revolution. For the birth of Olga’s second daughter, we pulled information from Olga’s memoir.
Chapter 44
Many of the critical details of Morgan’s and Olga Goodwin’s arrests come from Olga’s memoir and from our extensive interviews with her during the last decade. We also pulled material from our lengthy interviews with members of the Second National Front of the Escambray, Morgan’s friends and family, Cuban historians, State Department documents, and news stories.
Chapter 45
We based much of the narrative of Morgan’s incarceration in La Cabaña and his wife’s house arrest and subsequent escape on interviews with Olga Goodwin and members of the Second National Front of the Escambray, among them Roger Redondo and Armando Fleites, as well as transcripts of interviews with Pedro Ossorio Franco and Edmundo Amado Consuegra. We used Olga’s memoir to provide critical details about her meeting with Morgan in La Caba
ña and about how she escaped house arrest with her two young children by drugging Cuban guards.
Chapter 46
We conducted extensive interviews with members of the Second National Front of the Escambray, among them Roger Redondo, Armando Fleites, Eloy Gutiérrez Menoyo, Domingo Ortega, and others. Redondo and Fleites talked at length about their decision to flee Cuba. Our interviews with Olga Goodwin provided details of her journey to the Brazilian embassy, where she was granted asylum. We also pulled information from her memoir. During interviews with Cuban historian Enrique Encinosa, he revealed that his father provided a safe house for Olga and her children as they eluded the secret police.
Chapter 47
Our account of Morgan’s incarceration in La Cabaña and his March 1961 trial comes from numerous sources, including transcripts of interviews with Pedro Ossorio and Edmundo Amado Consuegra. We also interviewed journalist Henry Raymont, who covered the trial for United Press International. We reviewed Morgan’s last letters to his mother and Olga, and we examined historical documents, including the trial transcripts (translated by Donald Cellini, former Spanish professor, Adrian College). In addition, we drew from news stories and Olga’s memoir, which described her escape from the Brazilian embassy in a desperate attempt to reach Morgan in Camagüey. Our account of Loretta Morgan’s frantic attempt to save her son’s life came from a number of sources, including the transcript of an interview with her in the 1980s, as well as documents and letters revealing her appeals to congressional and religious leaders on her son’s behalf.
Chapter 48
We drew from a number of interviews with people who were in La Cabaña the night Morgan was executed, among them Hiram Gonzalez and Pedro Ossorio (tape-recorded in 1983). We also reviewed historical documents and an account written by the Reverend John Joseph McKniff, the priest who heard Morgan’s last confession and then escorted him to the execution wall. McKniff described Morgan’s death by firing squad. Among the documents were Morgan’s letters to his mother.
“I have made my peace with God,” he wrote from his cell. “I can accept whatever happens with my mind clear and my spirit strong.”
Our account of Olga’s arrest was drawn from our extensive interviews with her as well as her memoir written in 1982.
Bibliography
Books
Anderson, John Lee. Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life. New York: Grove Press, 1997.
Bethel, Paul D. The Losers. New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House, 1969.
Bonachea, Ramón L., and Marta San Martin. The Cuban Insurrection 1952–1959. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books, 1974.
Castañeda, Jorge G. Companero: The Life and Death of Che Guevara. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997.
Castro, Fidel. Che: A Memoir. New York: Ocean Press, 2005.
de la Cova, Antonio Rafael. The Moncada Attack: Birth of the Cuban Revolution. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2007.
Dorschner, John, and Roberto Fabricio. The Winds of December. New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1980.
English, T. J. Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba . . . and Then Lost It to the Revolution. New York: William Morrow, 2008.
Escalante, Fabián: The Secret War: CIA Covert Operations Against Cuba 1959–1962. New York: Ocean Press, 1995.
Guevara, Ernesto Che. Guerrilla Warfare. 3rd ed. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, Inc., 1997.
Kelly, John J. Father John Joseph McKniff, O.S.A. Rome, Postulator General’s Office, Order of St. Augustine, 1999.
Mallin, Jay, and Robert K Brown. MERC: American Soldiers of Fortune. New York: MacMillan Publishing Co., 1979.
Matthews, Herbert L. The Cuban Story. New York: George Braziller, 1961.
Paterson, Thomas G. Contesting Castro: The United States and the Triumph of the Cuban Revolution. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.
Ryan, Henry Butterfield. The Fall of Che Guevara: A Story of Soldiers, Spies, and Diplomats. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
Shetterly, Aran. The Americano: Fighting with Castro for Cuba’s Freedom. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books, 2007.
Verdeja, Sam, and Guillermo Martinez. Cubans: An Epic Journey, the Struggle of Exiles for Truth and Freedom. St. Louis: Reedy Press, 2011.
Von Tunzelmann, Alex. Red Heat: Conspiracy, Murder, and the Cold War in the Caribbean. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2011.
Weiss, Mitch, and Kevin Maurer. Hunting Che: How a US Special Forces Team Helped Capture the World’s Most Famous Revolutionary. New York: Penguin Group, 2013.
Archives and Documents
Cemetery records, Colón Cemetery, Havana, William Alexander Morgan, Jesús Carreras, 1961–1971.
CIA, Confidential, Summary of Counter-Revolutionary Plot. August 8–17, 1959.
———, Invasion of Cuba, September 1, 1959.
Escuela Normal para Maestros de Las Villas, República de Cuba Ministerio de Educación, Olga Maria Rodriguez Farinas, Titulo de Maestro Normal, March 16, 1959.
FBI, Miami, Confidential, Internal Security, Background Investigation, Neutrality Matter, May 21, 1959–March 14, 1960, Leman Stafford.
———, report to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, Cuban Rebel Activity in Cuba, 30th of November Movement, April 10, 1961.
FBI, New York, SAC to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, Dominican Republic, Trujillo bounty on Morgan, February 3, 1961.
Goodwin, Olga (Morgan), 150 pages of handwritten and typed notes (Spanish and English), describing her background, the revolution, and her life with William Alexander Morgan, 1981–84.
Iglesia Parroquial del Vedado, Havana, baptismal certificate, Loretta de la Caridad, May 9, 1960.
Morgan, William Alexander, letters to Loretta Morgan (1958, 1961), William Morgan Jr. (1958), Ann Morgan (1958), and Olga Morgan (1961).
National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC. This archive includes Central Intelligence Agency, US Army, and Defense Department documents and military intelligence files related to William Morgan, Fidel Castro, and Ernesto “Che” Guevara’s guerrilla war in Cuba and the US government’s response.
Ohio Department of Health, Division of Vital Statistics, original birth certificate, William Alexander Morgan, St. John’s Hospital, Cleveland, April 19, 1928.
Trial Records of William Alexander Morgan, La Cabaña, Regular Council of War, Captain Jorge Robreño Marieges, president of tribunal, March 10, 1961.
US Army Intelligence, report to FBI Director, US Citizens in Cuban Government Positions, March 11, 1960.
US Immigration and Naturalization Service, report to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, Loss of Citizenship (CO-1085-C), March 14, 1960.
US State Department, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, Volume IV, Cuba, Document 469.
US State Department, Foreign Service, telegram from Ambassador Philip Bonsal to State Department in Washington, DC, warning of conspiracy to overthrow Castro by Dominican leader Rafael Trujillo, with “William Alexander Morgan reportedly key factor” in the plot, July 31, 1959.
———, letter from US Ambassador Philip Bonsal to Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs Richard Rubottom, about deteriorating relations between Cuba and United States, December 2, 1959.
———, Memorandum of a Conversation, William A. Wieland, US Rep. Adam Clayton Powell, March 12, 1959.
———, telegram from US Ambassador Philip Bonsal to State Department in Washington, DC, about strained relations between Cuba and United States, October 6, 1959.
———, telegram from US embassy in Chile to US embassy in Cuba, confusion over US disclosure to Fidel Castro on Trujillo conspiracy, August 12, 1959.
Periodicals
Albarelli, H. P., Jr. “William Morgan: Patriot or Traitor?” WorldNetDaily.com (2002).
Branson, Robert. “Frogs in New Command of Toledo Major in C
uba.” Toledo Blade, April 11, 1960. http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/morgan/Morgan-04-11-60.htm.
Driscoll, Amy. “US Reclaims Citizen Who Led Cuban Rebel Fighters.” Miami Herald, April 13, 2007.
Eaton, Tracey, “Widow Pushes for Remains of Yankee Commander.” Dallas Morning News, March 31, 2002.
Flick, Jim. “The Ordeal of Frank Emmick.” Toledo Blade Sunday Magazine, February 3, 1980.
Grann, David. “The Yankee Comandante: A Story of Love, Revolution, and Betrayal.” New Yorker, May 28, 2012.
Havana Post. “US Turns Down Morgan Citizenship Request.” February 5, 1959.
Matthews, Herbert L. “Cuban War Aided by Second Front.” New York Times, April 3, 1958.
Miami Herald. “Dockworker Set Ship Blast in Havana, American Claims.” March 7, 1960.
———. “Once Cuban Hero, Buried as ‘Traitor.’ ” March 11, 1961.
Revolución. “Comerciaremos con el Mundo Entero. Roa.” July 26, 1959.
Sallah, Michael. “Cuba’s Yankee Comandante.” Toledo Blade, March 3–5, 2002.
Schultz, Randy. “In Pursuit of Dreams.” Palm Beach Post, November 4–8, 1979.
Toledo Blade. “Castro Names Toledoan to Military Post.” January 5, 1959.
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