In a video from 1986, Bernie Sanders tell an audience that he remembers “being very excited” when Fidel Castro led the communist revolution in Cuba.
Sanders was 12 when the revolution in Cuba started in 1953, and was 17 when Castro and the communists finally ousted Batista in 1958. He told the listening audience that he remembered “for some reason, being very excited when Fidel Castro made the revolution in Cuba.” He said that it just “seemed right and appropriate the poor people were rising up against rather ugly rich people.”
Sanders recalled watching the Presidential debate between Nixon and Kennedy in 1960, the first time televised presidential debate in US history.
There was Kennedy and Nixon talking about which particular method they should use about destroying the revolution. Remember, the irony, as we learned the history later on, Kennedy was saying that Nixon was too soft on communism… in Cuba. “We should deal firmly with Fidel Castro” [Kennedy argued] and Nixon was playing the role of “hey, you’ve got to be patient. You know, you can’t do these things, you got to negotiate.” When of course, what he was upset about is that secretly they were planning the Bay of Pigs invasion right then. But for security reasons, he couldn’t come out and say we’re already planning the destruction of the Cuban Revolution, don’t worry about it. So he – he was the liberal and Kennedy was playing the conservative. – READ MORE
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