Press Reaction to
Castro Kidnap of 50 People
[Reference: News Tribune June 24, 1958 page 5]
Press reaction to kidnap varied
The press' presence was both a picnic and problematical for many during
the 1958 Castro kidnap venture. Point of view and objective -
rather than objective point of view - made the difference.
Possibly the lightest-hearted among the press gang who never left the
Navy base was Associated Press photographer Bill Smith. He had
little to do, except to try unsuccessfully to solicit film from the
newsmen straggling in from the hills.
He otherwise occupied much of his time needling the homesick or
reluctant such as a more mature William Warner's oft-repeated "a pox on
both their houses," Batista and Castro condemned equally, would bring
from Smith a statement he hoped to spend the entire summer at
Guantanamo. The Navy was hospitable to the point of forbidding newsmen
on board taking to the hills. It also offered amenities such as
the officers mess and clubs, and provided the some 250 newsmen present
at various times with special quarters.
Naturally the newsmen's billet, Bachelor Officers Quarters 90, was
christened "Playhouse 90," a then-current television production
title. The christening probably was with Heineken's beer, the
most popular potable found, and in plentiful supply.
Possibly the most-harassed individual, even more so than Warner, was
Navy Lt. (jg) Ralph Blanchard Jr., who would have preferred to have
been in his home duty station of Washington D.C.
Blanchard was press liaison officer for the event. All the
newsmen's problems were his responsibility. Lack of worthwhile
facts, other than the hostages still were in the hills, and animosity
toward the Navy for its enforced hospitality annoyed the visitors, many
of whom vented frustration on Blanchard with repeated requests for
useful information.
Blanchard's most vexatious problem, temporarily, was a telegram from
Washington, presumably, directing him to acquire and dispatch a
one-page biography and photograph of each of the more than 250 newsmen
in his command.
Blanchard was so relieved that even he was amused when he found the
order to be hoax by Jay Mallin, Time magazine and Miami News
correspondent based in Havana. Mallin had time for pranks. he had
been among the first into the hills and had brought out the first film
on hostages, which was an exclusive in LIFE magazine. --Tom Dunkin
End of Page
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