From the Collection: St. George, Andrew, 1924-2001
Published / Created:
1960 February
Call Number:
MS 1912
Container / Volume:
Box 46, folder 5
Image Count:
6
Description:
These images document the visit of Vice Premier Anastas Mikoyan to Cuba in February 1960. Ostensibly, Mikoyan was there to inaugurate the traveling exhibit of Soviet culture and products that would be held at the Museo de Bellas Artes in Havana. Also included are photographs of a student protest held in Central Park shortly after Mikoyan deposited an imperial-looking floral wreath with Soviet bloc symbols at the foot of the monument to Cuban nationalist leader José Martí. Other images show the lavish state reception Prime Minister Fidel Castro and President Osvaldo Dorticós held at the Presidential Palace to honor Mikoyan on the day of his arrival; Mikoyan at the airport; and members of the Soviet security detail as they kept watch during the reception at the Presidential Palace. One of the photographs is from an issue of Life magazine.
From the Collection: St. George, Andrew, 1924-2001
Published / Created:
1960
Call Number:
MS 1912
Container / Volume:
Box 46, folder 12
Image Count:
2
Description:
In this series of photographs St. George appears to document the surge in security measures taken by the Cuban government in 1960 as it mobilized to defend against the U.S. invasion at the Bay of Pigs in April 1961. The photographs show snipers posted on the roof of Havana’s airport; a wrecked train and a burned-out bus that appear to have been the products of counter-revolutionary assaults; a plane of the type manned by exile counter-revolutionary forces in their regular invasions of Cuban airspace (this one appears to have either crash landed or been shot down by Cuban defenses); and images of a police check point on the western outskirts of Havana near the San Alejandro Art Academy.
From the Collection: St. George, Andrew, 1924-2001
Published / Created:
1959 October 2
Call Number:
MS 1912
Container / Volume:
Box 42, folder 13
Image Count:
2
Description:
The photographs document U.S. Ambassador Philip W. Bonsal addressing a convention of the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) delegates in Habana’s Blanquita Theatre on October 21, 1959. The convention was sponsored entirely by the revolutionary government that hoped to ignite Americans’ interest in traveling to Cuba. The revolutionary government also wanted to thwart U.S. press and governmental caricatured depictions of the Revolution as “Communist,” a charge consistently levied since January 1959 in an effort to discredit all changes in Cuba that would negatively impact U.S. business interests.