Editor's Note

This issue begins with an article by Hideaki Kami examining how U.S. officials in the late 1970s tried unsuccessfully to normalize relations with Cuba after nearly two decades of intense hostility. The overtures were spurred in part by early indications that the Cuban dictator Fidel Castro might be interested in a dialogue. U.S. officials sensed that they would need to involve Cuban-Americans in any opening, not only because the émigré community would be uneasy about any seeming warming toward the Cuban regime but also because some important issues in the dialogue pertained directly to Cuban-Americans, including questions of migration, family contacts, human rights in Cuba, and armed anti-Castro operations launched by émigrés. Ultimately, the dialogue made little headway and was derailed by Cuba's stepped-up military intervention in Africa in support of Soviet-backed regimes and insurgents and by Castro's refusal to show greater respect for human rights in Cuba. Nevertheless, the...