Editor's Note: Once you've listened to Clay Jenkinson's tale of his recent Cultural Tour to Cuba, check out this VIDEO "Cuba: Rhythm in Motion" Produced by Waterway Guide Editor-In-Chief Ed Tillett and University of Richmond's Dr. Mike Davison to become immersed in the music. And when you're ready to take your own trip to Cuba check out Waterway Guide's latest cruising guide to Cuba authored by Addison Chan and Nigel Calder.
Jenkinson is an American humanities scholar, author and educator. He is currently the director of The Dakota Institute, where he co-hosts public radio's The Thomas Jefferson Hour, and creates documentary films, symposia, and literary projects.
In his latest broadcast of The Thomas Jefferson Hour, Host Clay Jenkinson returns from his recent cultural tour to Cuba. He gives an in-depth report on the country, its history and people, and Thomas Jefferson’s thoughts on Cuba.
CLICK HERE to listen.
Jenkinson has begun a series of Cultural Tours and there will be a repeat of this journey next February.
"Improved U.S. relations with Cuba means new tourism opportunities, and there are already many ways you can experience the island nation, but few opportunities to dive deep into the most momentous times and places in U.S.-Cuba history," According to the website booking the tours with the scholar.
"Our Cuban-American History Tour covers more than 500 miles and 500 years of history. With historian Clay Jenkinson and a select group of English-speaking Cuban guides, you will experience first-hand the history and culture of this incredible island."
This tour began in the region of Cuba’s “Second City,” Santiago de Cuba. The group visited the site of the Battle of Las Guasimas, where Theodore Roosevelt and the Rough Riders saw their first action of the Spanish-American War, then traveled to San Juan Hill, where Roosevelt famously overrode orders and led a successful charge that led to U.S. victory.
The group also saw the Caribbean bay outside of Santiago where the U.S. Navy pummeled the vaunted Spanish fleet, leading to Spain’s ultimate surrender.
Clay's Notes:
My interest in Cuba is fourfold. First, and most important, Cuba has been a problem for the United States since 1959. The Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis were key moments in the Cold War. Virtually every President from Eisenhower to Bush 41 had to worry about Cuba and Castro. You cannot make sense of the Cold War without factoring in Cuba, almost as much as Berlin.
Second, Theodore Roosevelt and the Rough Riders. TR had to jump over half a dozen hurdles, a few of them remarkably challenging, to get himself to San Juan Hill in 1898. He called his heroics there "my crowded hour." San Juan Hill propelled TR into the Governorship of New York and, soon enough, into the presidency. Cuba is one of the handful of most important places in Roosevelt's biography. I want to scale those heights.
Third, Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway was one of the handful of greatest American writers of the 20th century. We associate him with Key West, the Caribbean, and Cuba. His footprint in that region is considerable, and it helps to illuminate his art and his life. I hope everyone will read the Nick Adams stories, A Farewell to Arms, and The Sun Also Rises before we gather. We will spend some time in Cuba talking about Hemingway's writing.
Finally, now’s the time to visit Cuba before the gates burst open and Costco rushes in. Because of Castro, the communist movement, the Cold War, and America's implacable refusal to come to terms with Cuba's independent way of being a Western Hemisphere country, Cuba has been in many respects frozen in time. Now is the moment to see it in that state before it begins to be transformed by corporate capitalism.
I've got my TR scarf and my copy of the short stories of Hemingway. Let us go and see what was the principal taboo nation of the Americas, before it's too late.
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