Nation: The Tractors (Contd.)

The 500 tractors Fidel Castro demanded as ransom for 1,200 imprisoned Cuban survivors of the Bay of Pigs invasion were ready, and the Tractors-for-Freedom Committee, headed by Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt. Walter Reuther and Dr. Milton Eisenhower, was prepared to deliver them to the Cuban dictator in lots of 100. The committee still had no visible funds to pay for the tractors, but hoped to find them in 25,000 unopened letters. If and when Castro agreed to the deal, the committee would open the letters. But in order to pay the $16 million tab, each letter would have to contain a...