Sumner Welles

Sumner Welles was a close confidant of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

In March 1933, while Ambassador to Cuba, Welles was charged with the task of preventing the left from taking power. FDR sent him to Cuba along with US warships, which dropped anchor off the coast. Eventually Sumner Welles picked Fulgencia Batista for the job. [

Batista met at least two of the requirements deemed necessary for the job by Welles in 1933: "First, [he had a] thorough acquaintance with the desires of this Government... Sixth, [he displayed an] amenability to suggestions or advice which might be made to him by the American Legation".

In 1938 he urged FDR that the Munich settlement "presented the opportunity for the establishment by the nations of the world of a new world order based upon justice and upon law,” in which the Nazi “moderates” would play a leading role". 

Sources: Williams, Eric. From Columbus to Castro. Vintage Books: New York, 1970.