Did Lyndon Johnson summon R. A. Butler and rebuke him over British bus sales to Cuba?
Short answerThe sale happened, but the dramatic meeting story remains unproven without corroborating sources.
NotesThe sale of British buses to Cuba is distinct from the much more dramatic account of a presidential confrontation. A private British company could earn foreign currency while supplying Cuba from the Western rather than Soviet economy, so the sale made commercial and strategic sense for Britain. American officials plausibly complained, but the claim that Johnson summoned Butler and waved dollar bills at him remains doubtful. The story needs independent corroboration before its vivid details can be accepted. The biography cited in support of it had not been read for this assessment.