Before i begin, i would like to ask if there are any pedro panes in the room. A special thank you for coming. I want to acknowledge pedro pan is not strictly or even primarily a topic for academic analysis and that you are the experts in this history. It is with that recognition that i will share a few thoughts with you today, but i do so with humility and appreciation for the opportunity to be with you today. Fall of 1960 and october of 1962, the parents of more than 14,000 cuban children made the heartbreaking decision to send their children alone to the United States where they were cared for by friends, relatives, foster parents, as well as in camps and orphanages. The reasons why parents did this were buried. Many feared for the spiritual wellbeing of their catholic children after an increasingly radicalized cuban revolution began to oppress religious expression, for schools, expel priests and religious orders from the island. Others feared growing interventions into fannie family