Evening star., 1962-12-24

guaranteed 1t. Another week
end was coming up hardly an
auspicious time to contact
bankers-but time was growing
short.
Banker Intercepted
December Is - Mr.. Ober-
dorfer and Mr.. Harfield
caught the vice president of
the Bank of America on his
way to Idlewild Airport and
rode along to outline their
problem. Mr.. Katzenbach and
Mr.. knight went to the Amer
lea Fore Loyalty Group, a bill
lion-dollar association of surety
firms. Mr.. Katzenbach paid a
call on E. Roland Hartman,
chairman of the board of the
Red Cross, at his home in
Hartman, N. Y, to tell him
the Government would have no
objection if the Red Cross OPP
ened the letter of credit Mr..
Donovan had requested.
December 16-The letter of
credit, destined to be a unique
document in International fl
nance, was still being put into
shape that Sunday when Mr..
Donovan stopped by Washing
ton to pick up all the docu-
ments he could collect that
might do him some good when
he finally saw Mr.. Castro.
December l7-By now, the
Red Cross had collected enough
documents to show what Mr..
Castro could expect in his first
20 per cent. At 9 pm. that
night, Mr.. Donovan called from
Miami to say that Mr.. Castro
would see him at 1880 am
the next day.
But Mr.. Donovan had an
other request. One of Mr.. Cas-
tro's negotiators had a dying
child who needed a certain
medicine Immediately. Mr.. Dom
ovan wanted to take it with
him, but none could be bought
in drug stores.
Mr.. Katzenbach fielded that
one. He called Walter Reed
Hospital, checked to be sure it
was the right medicine for the
disease described by Mr.. Dono-
van and got 10 vials of it. That
night, Mr.. Oberdorfer flew to
Florida with the latest docu-
ments collected by the Red
Cross and the 10 precious vials.
Heads for Cuba
December 18 - Mr.. Ober-
dorfer and Mr.. Donovan held
a 5 am. conference. Then Mr..
Oberdorfer flew back to the
command post in Washington
and Mr.. Donovan headed for
Cuba. The letter of credit,
which Mr.. Donovan had to
have to assure Mr.. Castro that
the remaining 80 per cent of
the promised goods would be
forthcoming. was still unre-
solved.
At the command post, Mr..
Prettyman Of the volunteer
corps, who was handling trans
portation, reported he had run
out Of planes and needed one in
a hurry to pick up a donation.
A call to a freight airline had
produced the word that one
plane was on charter to the
Navy. If the Navy would re-
lease the plane, the freight line
would donate 1t. Mr.. Katzen-
bach called the Navy and with
in 10 minutes, another plane
was free to carry the ransom
goods.
December 10 - There was a
surface gayety at the Justice
Department. The Attorney
General was having his annual
Christmas party for top Off
cials and the press. But the
command post was manned and
waiting. At 7 pm, a copy OF
the long-awaited letter OF cred
1t was delivered.
The Canadian bank had is
sued a $50 million letter Of
credit TO the Red Cross to secure
the transfer OF the goods prom
ised to Castro. The Bank OF
America. San Francisco, and
the Morgan Guaranty Trust Co.
Of New York, had each issued a
$26.5 million letter OF credit TO
secure the Canadian bank. And
the American banks, In turn,
were secured by a bond issued
by the Continental Insurance
Co. OF New York. No dollars
would be made available un-
less the Red Cross failed 10 meet
It's commitment TO supply the
agreed quantities Of drugs and
food.
Donovan Gets Documents
That was the complicated fl
nancial key TO open the door OF
Mr.. Castro's prison. Mr.. Ober-
dorfer promptly flew TO Miami
to hand the copy TO Mr.. Dono-
van.
Meanwhile. Mr.. Donovan had
raised another problem. Cas-
tro's technicians didn't recog-
nize the American names OF the
drugs, weren't sure substitu-
tions were acceptable Mr. Don-