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Martinez's Book Describes Pursuit Of American Dream
Sen. Mel Martinez writes of playing sports and accompanying his father on veterinary visits to farms in his Cuban hometown of Sagua la Grande.
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Published: July 28, 2008
WASHINGTON - A reader looking for juicy gossip or insider dope about Florida and Washington politics will come away with something quite different from Florida Republican U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez's soon-to-be released first book, "A Sense Of Belonging."
The first Cuban-American elected to the U.S. Senate sums up his dramatic razor-close 2004 race, not even mentioning Democratic opponent Betty Castor of Tampa.
Similarly, there is no discussion of his time as Republican National Committee chairman last year, and only scant reflection on his work as secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 2001 to 2004.
Instead, what emerges is a memoir - often bittersweet - of his family's wrenching decision to send Martinez out of Fidel Castro's communist Cuba under the U.S. State Department's and Catholic Church's "Operation Peter Pan," and how he made his way in his new country.
Publisher Crown Forum is releasing the book in its initial 240-page hardcover form on Aug. 11, at $26.95. The subtitle: "From Castro's Cuba to the U.S. Senate, One Man's Pursuit of the American Dream." It is co-written by New York writer Ed Breslin.
Martinez does not dispute that an underlying theme of his book is that his time in public office has meant not just serving those in his state and elsewhere in his adopted country.
It has also given him a way to speak out on behalf of Cubans in his native homeland, who, in his view, are not free to speak for themselves.
But in an interview Wednesday, Martinez said he hopes his book can attract readers beyond those focused on U.S.-Cuba policy or those seeking merely another insider tell-all from a politician.
"It's not a tell-all. That's another book," Martinez said. "Whether I write that book remains to be seen.
"I set out to write this book for my children and grandchildren - and I studiously stayed away from that," Martinez said. "I would hope this is a book that can inspire young people, particularly young people who are facing some hardship, whether they be immigrants or in foster care."
Regardless, Martinez said: "It's my first book. It's an honest book."
Martinez sets out with recollections as a youngster in his hometown of Sagua la Grande, with fond memories of playing sports and accompanying his father on veterinary visits to farms. But his was a boyhood suddenly interrupted in 1958, he recounts, with gunshots in his hometown and the arrival of Castro's communist revolution.
Eventually, Martinez was on a plane bound for the United States, a tough decision that his parents believed was made for his own good. They were hoping the Castro regime would not last long. But eventually, his family chose to join him in the United States.
Martinez's story weaves its way through refugee camps and foster homes; his reunion with his father, mother and other relatives; and attending Orlando Junior College and Florida State University, where he met his wife-to-be, Kitty.
Work after law school sometimes included pro-bono legal efforts on behalf of his father's friends in the Cuban-American community throughout Florida. There came a failed run for lieutenant governor, election as Orange County mayor in 1998, and then an unexpected opportunity in late-2000 to serve in Washington as HUD secretary.
Even then, in a recollection that underscores one of the book's main themes, Martinez recounts he was compelled to ask then-President-elect George Bush something before accepting the job.
"Mr. President, during the time I am privileged to serve, I would hope that I could have a voice on issues relating to Cuba," Martinez writes of what he told Bush.
Andrew Card, who would become Bush's first White House chief of staff, chimed in, stating flatly in that meeting that foreign policy would fall outside HUD's purview.
But Martinez said Bush differed with Card, saying: "Mel will be able to have something to say on Cuba."
"And that has ever since been the case, and I will forever be grateful to President Bush for including me in all discussions of his administration's official policy toward Cuba," Martinez writes.
Reporter Billy House can be reached at (202) 662-7673 or bhouse@tampatrib.com.
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