American Comandante

Overview

When he was executed outside a Havana prison on March 11, 1961, the strange story of William Morgan seemed to vanish from the popular imagination as quickly as it had appeared. William Alexander Morgan was one of only a couple dozen US citizens who joined Cuban rebel forces, fighting for Fidel Castro in 1957. With government documents recently declassified, new information has come to light and Morgan’s story has come back into the public eye. American Comandante has the makings of a Cold War thriller— with adventure, spies and historical figures such as J. Edgar Hoover and Chè Guevera. Eyewitness accounts from Morgan’s widow and several Cubans who fought alongside him, as well as commentary from journalists and biographers, tell the story of a man who transformed from a failure to a hero and celebrity. American Comandante is a quintessential American story of a man who reinvented himself.

Cast

Oliver Platt

Self - Narrator (voice)

N/A

William Alexander Morgan

Self (archival footage)

Fidel Castro

Self (archival footage)

Che Guevara

Self (archival footage)

David Grann

Self

N/A

Olga Morgan Goodwin

Self

N/A

Henry Raymont

Self