Cold War In South Florida Historic Resource Study; Cultural Resources Southeast Region

x, 103 pages. Decorative front cover. Figures. Footnotes. Map. Suggestions for Further Research. Appendices. Bibliography. Index. Sticker residue on back. South Florida was the location of important events during the Cold War period 1945- 1989. The region served as a forward command center for the projection of U.S. power into the Western Hemisphere throughout the conflict. The region’s proximity to Latin America made it an operational center for both covert and overt activities as the United States pursued its policy of containing communism. From the 1950s until the end of the Cold War, government officials directed operations from south Florida military installations such as Homestead Air Force Base, Opa Locka Marine Air Station, and U.S. Navy facilities in Key West that affected events in Guatemala, Cuba, Nicaragua, and other nations throughout Latin America. From Miami to Key West, neighborhoods were havens for undercover operatives while the swamps and forests served as training grounds. From south Florida the United States launched numerous operations: the overthrow of the Arbenz government of Guatemala in 1954; the unsuccessful Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961; the military buildup necessitated by the Cuban missile crisis of 1962; surveillance, intelligence, and espionage activities against Cuba, Nicaragua, and other nations; and radio and television propaganda broadcasting to Cuba. As the south Florida region helped shape these events, the events helped shape the region. In many cases, physical traces of these operations are still visible on the south Florida landscape. This Historic Resource Study (HRS) provides a historic context for, and identifies, sites in south Florida related to the Cold War and U.S. relations with Latin America. The report focuses on resources in and near the four national parks located in the region: Everglades National Park (Everglades NP), Biscayne National Park (Biscayne NP), Big Cypress National Preserve (Big Cypress NP), and Dry Tortugas National Park (Dry Tortugas NP). The study identifies structures, remains of structures, and landscapes where activities associated with the Cold War are reported to have taken place. This HRS pays particular attention to resources associated with the large Cuban exile population of south Florida. The HM- 69 Nike base within Everglades National Park was listed in the National Register in 2004. This report consists of four main sections. Section One includes a brief introduction to the Cold War and provides historical context for resources identified later in the report. This section is intended to provide the reader with a basic summary of major Cold War events and trends in order to understand better the relevance of resources discovered during the course of this research. The first section of this report attempts to avoid the pitfalls of both orthodoxy and revisionism while still providing a useful introduction to Cold War history. The United States fought the Cold War for a variety of reasons and utilized a variety of methods in the battle. U.S. motivations for waging the Cold War were multifaceted and cannot be solely explained as a purely altruistic desire to save the "free" world. Such rhetoric is challenged by the reality of the methods used to wage the Cold War. U.S. Cold War ideological assumptions often resulted in questionable policies and ambiguous outcomes while U.S. policies impacted the nation’s politics, society, culture, environment, and demographics in ways that are only now beginning to be examined by historians. The first section of this report illuminates at least some of these broader issues. Section Two identifies historic resources within the boundaries of Everglades NP, Biscayne NP, Big Cypress NP, and Dry Tortugas NP. These parks, by virtue of their location and resources, played an important role in the Cold War history of the region. Everglades NP served as a training ground for Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)- sponsored Cuban ex.…