At the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, President John F. Kennedy took time

out of managing potential nuclear apocalypse to meet the leader of one of the youngest countries

in the world, Ahmed Ben Bella, the Prime Minister of Algeria.

As more liberal Cold Warriors saw it, stopping global communism wasn't just about

Soviet nukes, but winning the hearts and minds of the third world. After all, Ben Bella was a

statesman on the make. The Algerians had won their independence from France just a few months earlier,

visiting the UN in New York that October for the official admission of Algeria to the UN,

Ben Bella was toasted personally by JFK at the White House afterwards.

His government was a recipient of American aid.

Quote, only one cloud marred the visit, writes historian Piero Glehesus.

Ben Bella was going to Cuba.

Quote, on October 16th, he boarded a Cuban plane in New York for a two-day visit to the island.

At the airport, Castro was waiting, end quote. The two men bonded over the following day and a half.

Never had 36 hours seemed so short, Bella later remembered.

It was also during this visit that one of Cuba's foremost legacies was born,

its medical missions abroad, teams of doctors sent to help the world's poor and needy.

Most of the doctors in Algeria were French, Castro explained in a speech,

and many have left the country.

There are four million more Algerians than Cubans,

and they have been left a great many diseases by colonialism,

but they only have a third, or even less, of the doctors we have.

In terms of health care, their situation is truly tragic."

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