Propaganda During The Cold War

In the Cold War, propaganda played a major role in politics in order to ensure that moral and support for the government stayed high. Propaganda was used to influence the general public’s opinions on people, such as Castro, political preferences, such as communism, and events, such as the Cuban revolution, Bay of Pigs, and Cuban missile crisis. One such example of the propaganda in a newspaper article from the New York Times on January 31, 1961. This article was used in multiple newspapers. The article, titled “80 Cubans on a Ship Admitted by U.S.: Refugees Win Asylum Here Pending Inquiry- 2 Tell of escape From Police” discusses how Cubans hid in order to flee Castro and his communist control over Cuba.This newspaper article is a good example
These words include “Refugees,” “Asylum,” “Escape,” “exiles,” “secret police,” “regime,” “hidden,” “christian anti-communist front,” “anti-Castro,” “disguised,” “removed,” and “pleas.” Refugees, escape, secret police, regime, and removed are each closely associated with WWI, WWII, Hitler, and Stalin. This buzz word use promotes the connection in people minds between atrocities and Castro. Some people raised in the 1960’s still see a connection between Castro and totalitarian oppression. The other buzzwords such as asylum, exiles, hidden, christian anti-communist front, disguised, and pleas are used to evoke a more emotional response of sympathy towards those needing assistance based on the idea of christian kindness and charity. Propaganda such as this was distributed with the intent of portraying Castro as a villain and the US as the saviour of scared
Two names within the book can verified, although their role in the incident at hand is questionable. Peter A. Esperdy was in fact an immigration officer, although his statement cannot be corroborated, much like the ship having had landed at East River Pier 15 in Lower Manhattan, it existed, however has no proof of said ship with said passengers. In fact, the ship and its captain can also not be corroborated, as I was not able to find any record of either, or the pairing. The biggest issue with attempting to corroborate this story is the two Cubans who gave their story. I was not able to find any other record of these alleged people or their story. One of the men, Gabino Delgado said that he had worked for Castro as an interpreter at the UN, however, yet again, there is no evidence to support the fact that this person ever existed and therefore calls into question whether or not this source can be used as a source for much other than its contribution in terms of