Latin America: Fact and Theory

Latin America: Diplomacy and Reality, by Adolf A. Berle Jr. Harper, $2.95; paper $1.25

Proust’s aphorism, “The facts of life do not penetrate to the sphere in which our beliefs are cherished,” applies with particular aptness to much of the intellectual career of Adolf Augustus Berle Jr. At 67, Berle seems to have abandoned a substantial portion of New Deal-Liberal dogma and made a brave attempt to separate fact from credo in his new short book, Latin America: Diplomacy and Reality. Berle has had ample experience of Latin America: as delegate to numerous Pan American conferences, Ambassador to Brazil, chairman of the Kennedy task force on Latin America and—following the Cuban debacle—occasional consultant to Secretary Rusk. Berle was an advocate of the hard line on Castro. Though his book tactfully omits discussion of the Administration decision-making process that led to U.S. defeat at the Bay of Pigs, the text in general reflects a mature disillusionment with the standard Liberal theory of “belly Communism” and spells out the Communist subversive threat to the Americas in a refreshingly forthright manner. Even so, he is spiritually unable to reject the Establishment canon that the Cuban revolution was “betrayed” by Castro, despite ample contrary evidence that what evolved was simply a following-through, a consummation, of goals stated and implied.

Featured Tags

Latin America: Diplomacy and Reality, by Adolf A. Berle Jr. Harper, $2.95; paper $1.25

Proust’s aphorism, “The facts of life do not penetrate to the sphere in which our beliefs are cherished,” applies with particular aptness to much of the intellectual career of Adolf Augustus Berle Jr. At 67, Berle seems to have abandoned a substantial portion of New Deal-Liberal dogma and made a brave attempt to separate fact from credo in his new short book, Latin America: Diplomacy and Reality. Berle has had ample experience of Latin America: as delegate to numerous Pan American conferences, Ambassador to Brazil, chairman of the Kennedy task force on Latin America and—following the Cuban debacle—occasional consultant to Secretary Rusk. Berle was an advocate of the hard line on Castro. Though his book tactfully omits discussion of the Administration decision-making process that led to U.S. defeat at the Bay of Pigs, the text in general reflects a mature disillusionment with the standard Liberal theory of “belly Communism” and spells out the Communist subversive threat to the Americas in a refreshingly forthright manner. Even so, he is spiritually unable to reject the Establishment canon that the Cuban revolution was “betrayed” by Castro, despite ample contrary evidence that what evolved was simply a following-through, a consummation, of goals stated and implied.