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.;foOr SEC l{ET It is equally clear that Mr. Nixon, principally through his aide, General Robert E. Cushman, Jr., was fully read into the plans that were being developed by the Central Intelligence Agency for the ouster of Fidel Castro. This interest was especially strong in the period from the winter of 1960 through the late summer of 1960~ It also should be apparent to the reader that while some of the Vice President's inter~t -- particularly in his insistence on placating William Pawley, especially in giving undue attention to Pawley's concerns that the Agency-sponsored Cuban-exile organization was being taken over by the pro-Com- munist groups was politically motivated, his basic concern was the fear of the establishment of a communist government in the Western Hemis- phere. Certainly his constant i,nterest and offers to provide help for the Agency in its relations to other branches of the US Government fall into the latte~, rather than the former, category. The unanswerable question, of course, is whether Cuban Communism would play such a large role in international· - 275 TOP SECRET