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oe ects t: z 4 NY 97-1792 "that night,with all of its intrigues, was the beginning of the end for the Fair Play for Cuba Commitee. But no one mew it then. The ad, which appeared on April 6, 1960, read: ‘Perhaps their crime (the Cuban leaders') is their youth. Perhaps the explanation is simply that there are in the U.S. powerful interests pent in frustrating the primary purpose of the Revolu- tion: to give Cuba back to the Cubans.' "those who opened the envelopes that came in after the ad, those who counted the $5 annual dues, say today that the response was remarkable. ‘It was more than remarkable,'! says a man who spent five to six hours a day in the Fair Play office during this hectic period in 1960. ‘We felt that this was a real intellectual dissent. It was a genuine mass dissent. But even then there were some doubts. A lot of people had suspicions, put in the excitment they kept 1t to themselves.' "By the spring of 1961, the organization claimed a membership of 7,000 with chapters in 23 cities and 37 colleges. On April 15, 1961, it brought out some 300 demonstrators for a mass protest at the UN. 'Cuba si, Yankees no! read thehundreds of signs. "But behind the signs there was trouble. Even before this the liberal support that helped found the organization had been quietly slipping away. As early as the summer of 1960 the Rev. Donald Harrington of the Community Church was losing faith in Fair Play. ‘'There were two reasons why I left the Committee,' he says. ‘I was disenchanted by what was happening in Cuba. Castro was betraying the revolution. He sold out to the Commun- 4sts. He could have had the support of the U.S. but he didn't care. There was a second reason: I couldn't =. mmitment that the undergirding (of Fair Play), was re= presented by American money. It looked to me like Castro money was running it, so I got out.' - 39 - CO