FIDEL CASTRO AND THE CUBAN REVOLUTION, 1959 term paper

Fidel Castro (1927–), the leader of the most successful social revolution in Latin American history, was born into a wealthy landowning family. While a student at the University of Havana, Castro took an active interest in radical politics. He joined a group of dissidents who dreamed of overthrowing Fulgencio Batista, who had seized power in a coup d’état in 1952 (he had been in and out of power since the 1930s). An ally of the United States who received large amounts of American aid, Batista presided over a corrupt dictatorship that favored the large landowners and exploited the peasants.

On 26 July 1953, Castro led a small band of Cuban revolutionaries in a raid on an army barracks near Santiago, Cuba. The attack, though a failure, was significant in three respects. First, it gave identity to Castro’s nationalist-inspired revolutionary movement, henceforth known as the 26th July Movement. Second, in melodramatic oratory, Castro conducted his own trial defense, ending with the impassioned words “History will absolve me.” This speech was later printed and distributed throughout Cuba, winning Castro widespread support. Third, after serving a prison term of nineteen months Castro visited Mexico, where in 1955 he met Ernesto Ché Guevara, who became his second in command and the most celebrated martyr of the Cuban Revolution. In 1956 Castro, his brother Raúl, and Ché Guevara secretly returned to Cuba, where the 26th July Movement began a guerrilla insurgency against Batista. By 1958 Castro’s 3,000 guerrillas, along with other Cuban revolutionaries, had seized control of large parts of Cuba. Unable to stop Castro or to convince the United States to support him, Batista fled to Miami on 1 January 1959. Upon taking power in February 1959, Castro disbanded the Cuban parliament and instituted the Fundamental Law of the Republic, which gave full power to Castro, who served as prime minister and first secretary of the Communist Party. Castro then launched a program of land reform, redistribution of wealth, comprehensive, free public education, and universal public health. To help pay for his social revolution, Castro began to expropriate American companies such as Coca-Cola, Sears, Texaco, and Standard Oil. Castro argued that longtime American exploitation of Cuba justified his expropriation of American property. Initially, the Eisenhower administration used an economic embargo, causing Castro to seek aid from the Soviet Union. Later the Eisenhower administration severed diplomatic relations with Castro, and the Kennedy administration supported the failed invasion of the Bay of Pigs by Cuban exiles, in 1961.
Suggestions for Term Papers
1. How was Cuba ruled before Castro came to power? Write a paper examining Cuba under Fulgencio Batista between 1952 and 1959.
2. Who was Ernesto Ché Guevara? Why did he become one of the most celebrated revolutionaries of the 1960s?
3. Investigate the attempted invasion of Cuba by Cuban exiles at the Bay of Pigs in 1961. Why did it fail? To what extent did the failure of the operation influence the Kennedy administration’s Cuban policy?
4. Many Cubans point to Castro’s achievements in education and health care. Do a research project on what has been accomplished in education and health care and what remains to be done.
5. Many Cubans fleeing Cuba in 1959 and in following years settled in Florida. Examine the political and economic influence of these Cuban Americans. Use The Cuban Americans as a starting point (see Suggested Sources). 6. For nearly forty years, the United States has refused to trade with Cuba. Assess this policy in terms of what it has and has not accomplished. Begin with The Cuban Americans (see Suggested Sources).

Research Suggestions

In addition to the boldfaced items, look under the entries for “The Guatemalan Coup, 1954 (#50), “The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962” (#64), “The Overthrow of Salvador Allende in Chile, 1973” (#76), and “The Sandinistas and the Contras in Nicaragua, 1981–1989” (#88). Search under Platt Amendment, Cold War, Trade Embargo, and Helms-Burton Act.

SUGGESTED SOURCES

Primary Sources

Castro, Fidel. Che: A Memoir. Edited by David Deutschmann. New York: Talman Co., 1994. An insight into the close comradeship between the two men.

———. Cuba: At the Crossroads. New York: Ocean Press, 1996. An explanation of Cuba’s economic problems.

———. Fidel Castro Speeches. Edited by Michael Taber. New York: Pathfinder Press, 1981. Three volumes of Castro’s speeches.

———. My Early Years. Edited by Deborah Shnookal and Pedro Álvarez Tabío. New York: Ocean Press, 1998. Recollections of his early life.

———. Revolutionary Struggle, 1947–1958. Edited by Rolando E. Bonachea and Nelson P. Valdés. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1972. A good starting point for Castro’s early thinking.

Secondary Sources

Balfour, Sebastian. Castro. 2nd ed. London: Longman, 1995. A brief introduction to Castro’s years in power.

Draper, Theodore. Castro’s Revolution: Myths and Realities. New York: Praeger, 1962. An important early analysis of the Cuban Revolution.

Gonzales-Pando, Miguel. The Cuban Americans. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1998. Good overview of the political power of Cuban exiles and Cuban-Americans, particularly in Florida. Helpful listing of immigration population statistics in the appendices.

Leonard, Thomas M. Castro and the Cuban Revolution. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1999. A good source of information for students, with accompanying biographical profiles and primary documents. Liss, Sheldon B. Fidel! Castro’s Political and Social Thought. Boulder: Westview Press, 1994. A solid explanation of Castro’s thought.

Lockwood, Lee. Castro’s Cuba, Cuba’s Fidel. Boulder: Westview Press, 1990. A review of three decades of Castro’s rule.

Perez, Louis. A. Cuba: Between Reform and Revolution. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995. A comprehensive examination of Castro’s revolution.

Pérez-Stable, Marifeli. The Cuban Revolution: Origins, Course, and Legacy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993. Highlights the political and economic factors that made Cuba susceptible to revolution.

Quirk, Robert E. Fidel Castro. New York: W. W. Norton, 1993. A detailed scholarly study of Castro’s rule.

Ruiz, Ramon E. Cuba: The Making of a Revolution. New York: W. W. Norton, 1968. An important study of the causes of the revolution.

Thomas, Hugh. Cuba: The Pursuit of Freedom. New York: Harper and Row, 1971. Dense but well-written history of Cuba before as well as under Castro.

———. The Cuban Revolution, Twenty-five Years Later. Boulder: Westview Press, 1984. A helpful retrospective appraisal.

World Wide Web

“The World Factbook, 1999.” http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html.. This Central Intelligence Agency site is updated yearly.

“The National Security Archive.” http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv. Places the Cuban Revolution in the Cold War context.



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