 In the early days of the second Eisenhower administration Gardner was pressured to resign his position as ambassador to Cuba, even though Gardner had gone directly to President Eisenhower to ask to stay on.Pressure also came to bear that Gardner's inability to communicate to the US the terrorist nature of Fidel Castro, blinded him to the perceived atrocities taking place by the 26 of July movement all over the island and the significance of the uprising.Gardner's position came to be viewed as a liability, and his continuing as ambassador was portrayed as an obstacle to improving relations between the countries during a possible transition from Batista to a democratically elected president.