Mr. Smith Goes Home

"All the time I've been here I have tried to do things that were correct, and to be correct you can only deal with the government to which you are accredited," said Earl Edward Tailer Smith, the stockbroker and former member of the Republican National Finance Committee (for Florida) who became U.S. Ambassador to Cuba in 1957. Being correct meant keeping in contact with Batista, and that, to the new rebel government, constituted support for Batista. Last week, after the U.S. became the twelfth country to recognize the new Cuban government, Ambassador Smith, 55, cleared the way for cordial relations by resigning.

"Following a governmental upheaval as explosive as that which has just occurred in Cuba," Smith wrote to President Dwight Eisenhower, "I sincerely believe it is in the best interests of the United States to change its ambassadors." To newsmen he added: "I have been thinking about it a great deal and I just figure the new government deserves a right start." Answered Eisenhower: "We all earnestly hope, as you do, that the people of that friendly country, so close to us in geography and sentiment, will through freedom find peace, stability and progress."

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