Cuban Revolution

In January 1959, after years of civil war, forces under the leadership of Fidel Castro overthrew the government of Cuba and established a communist state.  Cuba would be the first communist country in North America, only 80 miles or so from the United States.


The close proximity of Cuba to the United States had led presidents to undermine and overthrow the new regime in Cuba many times.  In 1961, the United States supported a botched military intervention in Cuba known as the "Bay of Pigs Invasion."  And in 1962, the world teetered on the brink of war when the Soviet Union attempted to install nuclear missile bases on Cuban soil.

In 2014, President Barack Obama announced a start to the normalization of relations between the United States and Cuba.  In 2016, the President took a trip to Cuba, the first president to do so in over 60 years.