Cuba: Friend or Foe?
Class | Registration opens 11/12/2025 12:00 PM EDT
The United States and Cuba have shared a rich history since the onset of the Spanish-American War in 1898. The objective of this course is to examine the political, military, economic and cultural events that have brought the two countries together at times and have separated them at other times, often magnified by outsized personalities: Teddy Roosevelt (Rough Riders), the Bacardi family, Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Ernest Hemingway, Fulgencio Batista and Nikkita Khrushchev, among others. Particular attention will be given to the current dilemma of Cuban-American relations given the strong Cuban diaspora in the United States.
Bill Helm
Since moving to New London in 2000, Bill Helm has been a volunteer at New London Hospital, Colby-Sawyer College, Ausbon Sargent Land Trust and Chapin Senior Center. He has also served as chair of the New London Planning Board and chair of the New London Board of Selectmen. In his pre-retirement life, Bill was a business executive in Boston and Geneva. His past AIL courses have included Norway’s Arctic land, Dutch history, Tulipmania, Romania, world railroads and Daniel Webster.