William Alexander Morgan was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on April 19, 1928^*. His life origins are obscure and his death legendary (Abella, 2000). He is said to have been a martial arts expert, he was good with guns, and it is rumored that he was a CIA operative (an unlikely claim as no evidence has ever been found).

By all accounts he went to Cuba in 1958. He was opposed to the Batista government but he did not work for Fidel Castro. He commanded a small force that operated around the city of Santa Clara and which fought against Batista's soldiers. He met and married a local woman, Olga, who was also a revolutionary. In December, 1958, Che Guevara appeared at the head of a column of troops. They joined forces and captured the city of Santa Clara on December 31. Twelve hours later, Batista fled Cuba and the revolution had won.

In August of 1959 he helped to foil a coup attempt from the Dominican Republic by playing along with the attempt and then betraying the plot to Castro. ^* It is said by some that he orchestrated the massive explosion of the arms ship Le Coubre.

Amidst growing anti-American sentiment in Cuba, he was arrested on October 17, 1960 and held in jail for six months before a show trial convicted him of treason and sentenced him to death. ^*. Charged with treason, he was executed by the Cuban Government (his firing squad was said to have been commanded directly by Fidel Castro) on March 12, 1961. His wife was imprisoned for 12 years before being released (she then left for the United States). In a series of interviews with the Toledo Blade in 2002, she broke her silence about Morgan's role in post-revolutionary Cuba, saying he began running guns to anti-Castro guerillas because he was disenchated with the Cuban president's pro-Soviet leanings. She also told the newspaper she wanted Morgan's remains to be sent to the United States for reburial. After the story was published, U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur traveled to Cuba and met with Fidel Castro to ask him to return the corpse. Castro agreed, but the body, buried in the Colon Cemetery in Havana, remains there in 2006.

Bibliography

Abella, Alex 2000 The Great American: A Novel. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0743205480

1928 births | 1961 deaths