This Sidebar episode starts with my notes from my trip to Cuba "in support of the Cuban people," one of the exceptions to the general ban on Americans traveling there. Those notes lead to a story from American - Cuban relations: Three "filibustering" invasions of Cuba launched from the United States in the 1840s, the strange American origin of the flag of Cuba, the election of Franklin Pierce on the platform of acquiring Cuba for the United States, and the curious swearing in of his Vice President, William Rufus King, on a sugar plantation in Cuba.

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Selected references for this episode

Ada Ferrer, Cuba: An American History

Fulgencio Batista (Wikipedia)

Franklin Pierce (Wikipedia)

William Rufus King (Wikipedia)

"As Cuba turns page on Castro era, economic reform gains urgency"

"Economic Reforms In Cuba Over the Past Decade"

"The rise of Vegas, thanks to the fall of Cuba"