The untold story of the ABC journalist who seduced Fidel Castro and set up a secret backchannel between the White House and Cuba politico.com/magazine/story… 
In the 1960s, Lisa Howard transformed herself from a sultry soap opera star into one of the most famous and pioneering TV journalists of her generation. politico.com/magazine/story…
After the Cuban Missile Crisis, she tried to score an interview with Fidel Castro, then one of the most alarming figures on the world stage. politico.com/magazine/story…
The two met for the first time in a Havana nightclub, and unexpectedly hit it off. politico.com/magazine/story…
After her interview, Howard wrote Castro a deeply personal letter promising to bring the US and Cuba together. She crossed out this line:
“We met and came together and, I know, felt something for one another that could not go further.” politico.com/magazine/story…
“We met and came together and, I know, felt something for one another that could not go further.” politico.com/magazine/story…
Howard convinced the Kennedy administration to make contact with Cuba, and her house became the central hub of secret communications between the two countries. politico.com/magazine/story…
Over the next year, Howard secretly carried messages back and forth from Havana and Washington while developing a close bond with Castro. politico.com/magazine/story…
Howard was torn between her feelings for Castro and her distaste for his revolution. But, she wrote in her diary, “We did get to bed and he made love to me quite expertly and it was, of course, thrilling and ecstatic—as much as anything I have ever experienced.”
Officials speculated about “a physical relationship between” Howard and Castro. They feared she would write about Washington’s secret talks with Castro, but both she and Castro took the secret of their intimate diplomacy to their graves. politico.com/magazine/story…
Once Howard had almost single-handedly built a backchannel, the White House wasted no time shutting her out. A year later, after battling depression, she overdosed on sedatives at age 39. politico.com/magazine/story…
Her efforts might not have fully paid off during her lifetime, but they created a foundation of back-channel diplomacy that led to the breakthrough in relations achieved by the Obama administration 50 years later. politico.com/magazine/story…
