In this 1983 photograph president reagan meets with a group of afghan mujahideen commanders in the white house. In february of 1988 reformist leader gorbachev announced the soviet government would withdraw their 100,000 troops from afghanistan. The final troop withdraw was a year later. American history tv airs all weekend every weekend on cspan3 and in prime time on week nights when congress is in recess. On our website, cspan. Org history you can watch all of our past programs. Find the tv schedule, see youtube clips of upcoming shows and connect with us on twitter and facebook. Tonight we feature reel america with a sampling of archival films made between 1946 and 1982. This a Weekly Program you can watch every sunday at 4 00 p. M. Eastern. Only on American History tv on cspan3. Travel with us to historic sites, museums and archives to learn what artifacts reveal about American History. Friday night on American History tv and prime time highlights from our american artifacts program. At 8 00 p. M. Eastern well visit the National Gallery of art, to tour american portraits by artists like gilbert stewart. At 9 00 a look at medical history with the visit of the National Museum of health and medicine. At 9 30, a trip to the white house visitor center. At 10 00 well travel to stan don, virginia, to learn about the lives of early migrants in europe and what rural life was like with a visit to the frontier cultural museum. Cspan has your coverage of the road to the white house 2016 where you will find the candidates, the speeches, the debates, and most importantly, your questions. This year were taking our road to the white house coverage into classrooms across the country with our student cam contest. Giving students the opportunity to discuss what important issues they want to hear the most from the candidates. Follow cspan student cam contest and road to the white house coverage 2016 on tv, on the radio, and online at cspan. Org. Each week American History tvs reel america brings you vintage Public Affairs films that help tell the story of the 20th century. The 1963 u. S. Information agency film cuba, a world verdict traces the history of the cuban revolution from january 1959 through the 1962 cuban missile crisis. And includes observations from a variety of journalists from south america and europe who were eyewitnesses to the rise of fidel castro. When he came to cuba i was pleased to see a democracy was coming to that island. Translator i thought that castro was a real genuine colorful Popular National hero, a savior of his nation. Translator unless we were reactionaries we would have no right to think that castro would not fulfill his goal. The victory of fidel castro was the victory of all of us latin americans, proud, nationalistic, and lovers of freedom. Havana, january 1st, 1959. Julio, the 26th of july movement led by fidel castro, had turned out the tyrant bautista. To the cuban people and to the admiring world, there could be no better way to start the new year. A correspondent remembers those heady days. Venezuela. Translator 23 days after castros victory we received him in caracas. He had just triumphed over a dictatorshi dictatorship. And, therefore, we welcomed his revolution. Castro was animpassioned man, but civil war is no joke. We had hopes that he would allow the cuban people to decide on their own future, to take their place in the sun, and to adapt their institutions to their desires. The revolutionary leader now took to the Public Square in havana to tell the people what have beenry meant. They would soon be general elections. There would be a free press, beholdened to no one. There would be land for the peasants. This revolution fidel castro told the people standing in the sun is as native as the cuban palms. But first there was further blood letting to be done. The world had mixed emotions about such violent retribution as convict editor churers and collaborators fell with a maximum of publicity and a minimum of due process of law. m it was the seventh month in power of the cuban revolution. While the people waited for the first free general election in 20 years, as fidel has promiseden, political orientation was carried out, argentine with a butter chillys angels face and a scholar of marks. From on security came cuban communist leader claiming that communist as fought as hard as anyone else in the revolution. It was a fiction curiously toleratedly castro. On the night of july 13th provisional president manuel, a liberal judge who denounced bautista and forced into exile for his pains went on national television. There he warned that communism was not concerned with the welfare of the people, that it constitutes a danger for the cuban resolution. Among those who listened and watched was the man who brought the president back from exile. Four days later he took to the Television Channels to accuse arudia of treason. He resigned and was put under house arrest. Later he once again sought political refuge. Senior of socialist part of italy recalls the time. Translator it was the degeneration of thed6 his speech in swede don made to the writer and they can also be applied to the journalists. Journalists who wish to examine the situation in cuba. Four years after the revolution have to begin by acknowledging three undeniable facts that underlie everything that happened later. The first was the arrest in october of 1959 of commander hubert matos who was one of the first of castros colleagues and was arrested in his general headquarters. He was arrested for one reason, because he wrote a letter to castro in which he expressed his disagreement with the communizing position, it wasnt as yet a communist one, but a communizing position of the government. He took no stand. He made no action. He made no rebellion. He merely wrote a letter to a friend who was also a chief. He was arrested and, despite castros request for a death sentence, he was sentenced to 20 years in jail. Now, i believe that it is this fact that kamu, were he still alive, would have born in mind when he prepared those two principles, the refusal to deny what one knows and resistance to oppression. In early 1960 the serious communication problem that existed between the United States and cuba grew worse. U. S. Ambassador philip who had come to cuba with support in greetings for the revolution was rebuffed. What would amount to a 315 million worth of land and property was exappropriated without compensation. United states offers to reconcile differences went ignored. From his suite high up in the havana hilton hotel, where he would often seek his own tormented counsel, castro now made his choice. On february 4th, 1960, the Havana Airport resounded to the excitement and confusion attended to great occasions of state. The arriving celebrity, first deputy premier of the soviet union. In the month that followed, cuba and russia signed economic and trade agreements. Hencefor henceforth, cuban snu garr which sweetened the cups of russian tea drinkers. 100 million worth of credit would be extended. Soon after, the new honorary citizen of cuba, and fidels brother raul, went to communist in eastern europe. Arms. In this 1960 havana mayday par rid the arm s were checked. From the kremlin, he pledged they would extend a helpful hand to the people of cuba. In the case of necessity, he threatened, soviet artillerymen can support the cuban people with rocket fire. Meeting in san jose, costa rica, the Foreign Ministers of the american republics declared such extra continental intervention endangers the security of this hemisphere. In response, raul rora, castros foreign minister, walked out. In havana in a rambling monologue for which he is now famous fidel castro attacked the states and denied communist china had interventions intentions. More over, cuba would establish relations with the china peoples republic. No amount of bluster can disguise the peoples unrest. To make certain it will not spread, people s brigades are rapidly formed. Children are encouraged to inform against their parents. Anyone protesting or criticizing is a counter revolutionary and, as such, can be sentenced to the wall. Brazilian journalist visited cuba during this time. Translator i return to cuba in march of 1960 and things had still not been clearly defined and many people still believed in fidel castro, but i must say that i found a series of promises that had been made had not been fulfilled. Fidel was leading the country via television and speeches made all over the city. And with his police, many persons had been held in prison for four or five days without being interrogated. Thousands of political adversaries had been shot and this massacre left fidel many simp thidsers in latin america. The great land owners who had lost their land had found that the land had not been given to the peasants. The land had been nationalized and the peasants instead of serving the land owner now was serving the state itself. Something that was even more distant and more abstract than the land owner. Fidel had nationalized a great enterprises, which was fine, but through a work law he had also done away with private property and small business, however humble it might be. The state had the right to intervene and nationalize a shop if the employees were not satisfied with what they were being paid or the treatment they were receiving. The classes that were raised fidel of power now were deceived by him. In an interview that difficufid me at that time one night in the Brazilian Embassy he told me that socialism as far as he saw it was the best way for latin america but he wanted a more strict type than that that existed so far. All the answers he gave me that night were of marxist inspiration. He did not belong to the soviet block. But he had become a selftaught marxi marxist. In schools a textbooks had been substituted by marxist textbooks. Trade unions had no more autonomy and they had become organs of the body and along soviet lines. One day a very well known journalist of cuban television, a very close friend of fidels, told me that i had been misled, that not only did fidel dislike the communist but few days later fidel would throw them all out of the country. Yet a couple of days ago this correspondent had to leave cuba for mexico. The next time fidel castro came to new york after a triumphant first visit in april 1959 it was not as a conquering hero. Soon diplomatic relations between the United States and cuba would be severed all together. The mus man who once had been impressed now took another look. Translator i obtained a clearer and when i look back, even a more accurate picture of castro. When he returned to new york for the General Assembly of the General Assembly, the fall of 1960, that was, that General Assembly when a great number of heads of states and governments were there. And castro, of course, had to be there himself. It was a memorable theater performance which he gave, a performance with very low and vulgar tastes, quite obviously cynically and well planned. And certainly centrally directed. There was a hotel which castro chose first and he then declared that from now on he would live in a tent in central park. And then he went to a hotel in the quarter and visited him and they embraced and everything that would be cheap and vulgar k