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IQP SEeftET debate with regard to the outcome of the 1960 elec- tion as time passed. In 1964 he would write "Most observers agree that our positions on the Cuban issue could well have been the decisive factor [in -the" outcome of the election]." But in his recent memoirs he_expressed doubt that any single factor in such a close election could really have changed the outcome.* 27/ Following the TV debate,..in which Kennedy had raised the issue of assistance for Cuba, Nixon quickly lashed back at Kennedy. The result of the introduc- tion of the Cuban issue into the late stages of the * In an interesting conversation with" Fawn M. Brodie who is writing a Nixon biography, the avthor of this history, in response to Brodie's concern about the fact that Nixon knowingly lied to the American public, emphasized that plausible deniability was of real con- cern at the time of the TV debate. He also emphasized the Catch-22 aspect of the situation as explained by Nixon. The author also suggested-to Mrs. Brodie that it seemed equally valid to infer that perhaps Kennedy had been leaked detailed information about the anti- Castro program and that he used this device to put Nixon in a corner during the TV debate. Arthur Schles- inger, of course, claimed that the Kennedy comments "were no more than a rhetorical flourish. Neither Kennedy nor his staff knew about the secret Cuban Army in Guatemala." 28/ - 272 - TOP gf:C~T