By Rich Fisher
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kwgs/local-kwgs-908600.mp3
Tulsa, Oklahoma – On this edition of our program, host Rich Fisher speaks with Dr. Wayne Smith. A scholar-diplomat who's been specializing in Cuban-American relations for several decades now, Dr. Smith was recently a guest of the Tulsa Committee on Foreign Relations. He visited our studios for an interview while he was in town. Dr. Smith is currently a Senior Fellow at the Center for International Policy; he's also the director of that center's Cuba Program. Here's a bit more background: He served in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Korean War, and then joined the State Department in 1957. Thereafter, Dr. Smith served in the Soviet Union, Argentina, and Cuba. In 1961, he was appointed by President Kennedy to serve on his Latin American Task Force. Dr. Smith also served as Chief of the U.S. Interest Section in Cuba from 1979 to 1982, but left the Foreign Service in the early 1980s due to disagreements with the foreign policy of President Reagan. Then, he was named a Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. In 1985, he became Adjunct Professor of Latin American studies at the Johns Hopkins University --- and since 1992, he's been a Senior Fellow at the Center for International Policy in Washington. His many books include "Castro's Cuba: Soviet Partner or Nonaligned?" (1985), "The Closest of Enemies: Personal and Diplomatic Account of United States-Cuban Relations since 1957" (1988), "Subject to Solution: Problems in Cuban-U.S. Relations" (1988), "Portrait of Cuba" (1991), and "The Russians Aren't Coming: New Soviet Policy in Latin America" (1992).