ABSTRACT
During the break between fall and spring semesters in 1960—61, a few of the New Left students went to Cuba. They returned after a week excited and with much news to tell. They had met with Castro, who had taken them on a tour of the island. Cuba, Castro said, pointing to one place after another, is a beautiful island in its setting, its topography, its resources, and its people. During the spring of 1961 Sartre visited Cuba and wrote a glowing report of the Cuban effort. At the end of the spring semester one of the students went again to Cuba, joining C. Wright Mills, who had flown in separately from New York City. The student returned to Madison after a few weeks with glum news. The author have been in dwindling contact for many years with some of the radical friends he made in Madison, and still in touch with a couple of them.
