. >> i'm telling you, a us court convicted them of the same crimes as julius and ethel rosenberg, andhe is suffering right now -- the only thing that saved her from going to the electric chair was a plea bargain. she was stealing us secrets. >> you push a wedge between the rulers and the people these things systematically draw them together. there are dissidents who have said clear this embargo strengthened the castro regime. >> the overwhelming majority favor the embargo. the so-called embargo. it's not really an embargo. stossel: president eisenhower started this so-called embargo with partial trade restrictions one year after castro took power. president kennedy expanded it to include all trades when he learned that the russians were shipping missiles to cuba. >> a proclamation of cuba. our goal is not the victory of might. but the vindication of rights. stossel: i was 15 then. i thought i was going to die in a nuclear war. but the russian ships did turn around. as far as i know, that's the only real success from this. >> no, in fact -- that's the only failure of the embargo. what