Clay Jenkinson, Author at Listening To America

Fidel Castro's cradle is on prominent display at his birthplace in Biran, Cuba. His father's sugar plantation, where Castro grew up, is now a museum.

Fidel Castro’s Boyhood Home in Biran, Cuba

Sunday, March 02 2025 by Clay Jenkinson

Fidel Castro’s birthplace, now a museum, is one of the initial stops for Clay and his companions as he leads a cultural tour of Cuba.

Published in Dispatches from the Road

Tagged under: America at 250, Cuba

A Visit to Little Havana’s Bay of Pigs Museum

Friday, February 28 2025 by Clay Jenkinson

Before setting off for Cuba this week on a cultural tour of the island nation, Clay and his guests stopped in at the Bay of Pigs Museum in Little Havana, Miami.

Published in Dispatches from the Road

Tagged under: America at 250, Cuba, Florida, U.S. Presidents

Thomas Jefferson long harbored a desire to make Cuba part of the newly forming United States. In 1809, he wrote to James Madison outlining his dream to erect a column on the Southernmost limit of Cuba inscribed:

Thomas Jefferson, the U.S. Annexation of Cuba (And More)

Tuesday, February 25 2025 by Clay Jenkinson

The United States has a long, tortured relationship with Cuba, including Thomas Jefferson’s imperial designs on the island. As Clay travels to Cuba this week to lead a cultural tour, he reflects on a bit of forgotten history between the U.S. and the island nation 90 miles from Key West, Florida.

Published in Features

Tagged under: America at 250, Cuba, Native Americans, Thomas Jefferson, U.S. Presidents

Word From Our European Friends, February 2025

Tuesday, February 18 2025 by Clay Jenkinson

Clay Jenkinson spent 10 days in Europe in early February, read the English language magazines and newspapers, conferred with old friends and new in England, France, and Switzerland, and attempted to assess the mood of Europe as the second Trump administration began. Here is his report.

Published in Features

Tagged under: America at 250, U.S. Presidents

Digital display on the Chunnel, a 31.5 mile undersea railway that connects England and France.

Pushing “Send” From Somewhere Under the English Channel

Tuesday, February 11 2025 by Clay Jenkinson

Amazing Engineering Grace: The Brave New World we take for granted. Clay reports from “The Chunnel” traveling between England and France.

Published in Features

Tagged under: Humanities, U.S. Presidents

President Kennedy and Adlai Stevenson in the Oval Office.

The Cuban Missile Crisis, John Steinbeck, and the Nobel Prize — October 1962

Tuesday, February 04 2025 by Clay Jenkinson

In preparation for a cultural tour of Cuba Clay will lead later this month, he came across a surprising connection between John Steinbeck, Adlai Stevenson, and the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.