“The United States and Cuba: Business and Diplomacy, 1917-1960” is about different patterns of relations between Cuba and the United States. The book covers the period from 1898 to 1959; it depicts the events which took place in the United States and Cuba. Robert F. Smith starts this book with the discussion of connection between business and diplomacy accentuating the importance of the private business enterprise for the citizens of the United States. According to Smith, interrelation between business and politics is inevitable because most of the officials have social ties with business leaders and had been involved in business before their government service began. In this book, Smith traces Cuban-American relations and their influence on the American business, as well as the development of these relations from 1989 till the middle of the twentieth century. The relations are considered in terms of trade and different trade agreements concluded between Cuba and the United States. Tracing the relations between these two countries, Smith tries to find out and analyze the mistakes which the United States made during the Cuban revolution emphasizing the necessity of certain measures which should be taken to prevent the spread of Communist influence in the country. The main questions the author tries to give answers for in the book are: What were the main patterns of Cuban-American relations? What was the main advantage for America in liberating Cuba? What were the reasons for the sugar tariff battle? What did this battle lead to?
The thesis of the book reflects its aim to criticize the policy of the United States to show that the country’s concentration on its interests in the past has in a certain way contributed to the crisis of freedom that takes place in the underdeveloped countries of the world. In general, the book consists of eleven chapters. Chapter One explores the pattern of American-Cuban relations between 1989 and 1919. It describes the revolution in Cuba in 1917 and its influence on American business. Smith describes in detail how American marine troops were sent to the territory of Cuba and how the latter agreed to assist the United States in the war with Germany. Further, the author moves to the discussion of negotiations of 1917 between the United States and Cuba during which Cuba was granted a fifteen million dollar loan under the condition that the country settles the claims of the Cuba Railroad and the Ports Company of Cuba. Under certain pressure, Cuba settled the claims almost within a year. The chapter also deals with the issues of the International Sugar Committee which was organized as a response to the increased prices for Cuban raw sugar on the New York Market. The second part of the chapter describes the liberation of Cuba and the main advantage the United States got from its liberation, namely, the commercial one because it got expanded markets and rich fields for investment.
Chapter Two of the book discusses the economic setting in Cuba at the beginning of the 20th century and the boom of the sugar industry after World War I. In the summer of 1920, the sugar prices started falling and the National City Bank of New York began loaning money to sugar planters. At those times, the Cuban sugar industry could be characterized by bank-controlled corporations and more efficient production by which the sugar companies hoped to compensate for the low prices. The chapter describes American investments into Cuba’s enterprises in the 1920s when there appeared the first holdings and monopolies, such as the Consolidated Railroads of Cuba and the Cuban Telephone Company. Smith names the depressed state of the Cuban sugar economy as the main reason for the decline of American exports to Cuba in 1920.
Chapter Three deals with the first phase of the sugar tariff battle. The increased production of sugar led to the demand of the Cuban producers to increase the tariff, which marked the beginning of the tariff debate in 1921. In January 1921 “Emergency” Tariff Act was adopted, which entailed the increase of the duty on Cuban sugar, though the producers still demanded a further increase. By August 1921 the battle between both the parties renewed. American business groups demanded lowering the sugar tariff because it harmed the American export trade with Cuba, while Cuban producers insisted on higher tariffs because of the increased German competition. Even the American Committee on Cuban Emergency which was organized in October 1921 was unable to cope with this dispute and by the end of 1921, most of the Cuban sugar started to be controlled by the American bankers. The desire of both the countries to balance their interests was destroyed after the bankers, who arranged to sell the surplus of Cuban crop in Europe, dumped it on the market.
Chapter Four discusses the second phase of the sugar tariff battle which involved five distinct lobby groups two of which were domestic and insular producers who worked against the Cuban interests. The United States Sugar Association and the American Chamber of Commerce of Cuba represented the Cuban interests; their heads had properties in Cuba and thus were interested in its economy. The fifth lobby was represented by seaboard refining companies who did not participate much in the battle. A serious battle lasted till 1930 and was continued by the groups which had almost no relation to the sugar industry. As result, the tariffs were substantially raised despite the objections on the part of American refining companies.
Chapter Five describes the struggle for the Parcel Post Convention which defined the prices for tobacco, the second major export product of Cuba. This time the conflict was based on the American Chamber of Commerce of Cuba’s desire to repeal the cigar limitation statute. It took some time for the bill to be considered by Congress and it was only in April 1929 when the provisions of the repeal bill were added into the tariff readjustment act, which laid an end to the battle. Chapter Six, in its turn, deals with America’s connecting loans, trade, political stability, and investments to shape American-Cuban relations. The chapter describes policy techniques utilized by the United States to successfully blend these elements without the use of armed force. The chapter also discusses the elections of 1920 in Cuba and the United States’ controlling these elections.
Chapter Seven is devoted to anti-American feelings in Cuba bred by the events described in the previous chapters and the public protests against American policy in Cuba in 1921. The Cuban Senate adopted many resolutions which prohibited the United States to interfere in the affairs of the Cuban Government. This had a certain influence on American business and trade with Cuba and Cuban-American relations in general. Chapter Eight deals with Machado’s era and the influence of this Cuban President on the country’s relations with America. After Machado won elections in 1924, his main objective became to increase the country’s commercial relations with the United States. His frequent visits to the United States were aimed at establishing cooperative relations with the country, which resulted in American business interests’ supporting his administration even when his administration was accused of corruption and despotism.
Chapter Nine presents the pattern of Cuban-American relations and the desire of American business groups and the State Department to maintain a stable Cuban Government. Basic elements of the pattern of Cuban-American relations were trading, direct investments, political stability, and bank loans and these elements were mutually dependent. This is why the American business groups and the State department needed its stability to protect their investments in Cuban industries and their interests-trade opportunities. Chapter Ten describes the desire of the Cuban Government to save the Machado administration and to negotiate a trade agreement that would increase American exports and lead to the economic rehabilitation of Cuba. Despite the tries, in 1933 Machado was forced to leave his office and General Herrera was chosen as a President ad interim. The final chapter summarizes the patterns which Cuban-American relations follow. It is stated that the pattern which was established in 1934 has been followed for twenty-five years. The period from 1934 to 1959 saw quite a few disturbances in Cuban-American relations. The economic situation in Cuba was relatively stable with American imports from Cuba rising and declining according to the same general patterns, though Cuba became more independent from the United States market. The total value of direct investments also declined and the sugar tariff remained stable. In sum, the chapter enumerates what the events which were taking place from 1898 to 1959 led to.
In conclusion, Smith found that the main elements of the patterns of Cuban-American relations were trade, political stability, direct investments, and bank loans. He also concluded that Cuba and the United States’ relations followed the same pattern starting from 1934. Smith discovered that the liberation of Cuba brought the United States a commercial advantage expanding the country’s markets and opening to it new fields for investment. He also found out that the main reasons for the sugar tariff battle were Cuba’s desire to raise the tariffs because of the market competition and the USA’s objection to this because it considered that the raised tariffs would harm its export trade with Cuba. The sugar tariff battle caused numerous disturbances in both countries but still led to increased tariffs and tight control over the sugar industry in the subsequent years.
Analysis and Criticism
On whole, Smith’s book is quite coherent. Most of the chapters flow one into another logically; the exception is the second part of Chapter One in which the United States’ war with Spain is discussed. Of course, this information is related to the first part of the chapter because the roots of the pattern of the Cuban-American relations in 1917-1919 lie in the Spanish-American war. However, the sudden presenting of information of different timesis a bit confusing; it seems that the second part of the chapter should have preceded the first. This is a problem with organization, rather than with the presentation of information; the latter strikes with clarity and comprehensiveness. Smith’s arguments are not contradictory; he supports each of the arguments with corresponding data. For instance, when discussing the increase of American investments in Cuba in 1913 (chapter 2), Smith provides numerical data to support this idea and compares this data with America’s investments in 1929.
The information presented in the book is not biased because the author frequently refers to the works of other writers and sometimes inserts direct quotations. The quotes are properly referenced and the information about all the sources used is arranged in the section “Notes”. The author made it easy to use this section by separating the footnotes according to the chapters in which they were used. Some of the notes contain not only information about the utilized sources but about the author and the scope of his/her studies. The book can be regarded as well-researched because the notes are numerous, which means that the author referred to a great number of sources. He seems to have worked with different scholarly works, which means that the sources are reliable and which once again proves that the book is not biased.
Therefore, “The United States and Cuba: Business and Diplomacy, 1917-1960” can be considered a reliable source of information for those who are interested in Cuban-American relations, their emergence and development throughout the decades. The book is educational and informative; the information presented in it is objective and the book is coherent and well-organized. The book does not contain any bias because the author does not express any personal opinions simply laying out the facts and referring to the works of other writers at this.
Bibliography
Smith, Robert F. The United States and Cuba: Business and Diplomacy, 1917-1960. New York: Bookman Associates.