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US-Cuba Relations during the Cold War
(click one of the images to see an enlarged view)
 Overview
Since Fidel Castro took over Cuba
in 1959, that country has been transformed socially, economically, and politically. Cuba's
alignment with the Soviet Union during the Cold War was seen as a threat to both the
safety and democracy of the United States by many US politicians and citizens. A
country less than 90 miles off the southern coast of Florida aligned with an unfriendly
country in the Nuclear Age posed a real challenge to our Foreign Policy makers.
We as a nation have been
conditioned over the years to make communism synonymous with depravity and associated
with mal intentions. From this fear coupled with intense anti-Cuban propaganda, has
come the current status of the United States-Cuban relationship. This relationship
is among the most evident examples of United States foreign policy in the Americas, for it
demonstrates the distrust, as well as the severity of our country's actions against those
we deem to necessarily be under our influence.
Cuba's Role in the Cold War
We as a nation have watched such
occurrences as the Bay of Pigs incident, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the more recent threat in Angola bring our nation as well as our globe to a state of
astonishment. These occurrences have played a part in the formulation of our foreign
policy.
Link to our fact sheets for more
detail:
The enactment of United States
foreign policy in Cuba is complex historically and economically. It began with the
colonialism of the 1500's and continues today.
Bibliography
Books:
Thirteen Days/ Ninety Miles by Norman H. Finkelstein
The missile crisis by Elie Abel
American Foreign Policy Since 1945 edited by Robert A. Devine
Websites containing more information
This page created by The Learning Community team of:
Sonia Valdez and Nora Vujhovic-Cvijin
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