Includes bibliographical references(pages 485-500) and index.

Introduction: Rebuilding bridges -- Eisenhower : patience and forbearance -- Kennedy : the secret search for accommodation -- Johnson : Castro reaches out -- Nixon and Ford : Kissinger's Caribbean d'tente -- Carter : close, but no cigar -- Reagan and Bush : diplomatic necessity -- Clinton : from calibrated response to parallel positive steps -- George W. Bush : turning back the clock -- Obama : a new beginning? -- Intimate adversaries, possible friends.

"Challenging the conventional wisdom of perpetual hostility between the United States and Cuba--beyond invasions, covert operations, assassination plots using poison pens and exploding seashells, and a grinding economic embargo--this fascinating book chronicles a surprising, untold history of bilateral efforts toward rapprochement and reconciliation. Since 1959, conflict and aggression have dominated the story of U.S.-Cuban relations. Now, LeoGrande and Kornbluh present a new and increasingly more relevant account. From Kennedy's offering of an olive branch to Castro after the missile crisis, to Kissinger's top secret quest for normalization, to Obama's promise of a 'new approach,' LeoGrande and Kornbluh reveal a fifty-year record of dialogue and negotiations, both open and furtive, indicating a path toward better relations in the future"--Provided by publisher.