Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Pop History Moment: The Rise of Fidel Castro

Photobucket - Video and Image HostingOn this day in 1959 Fidel Castro was sworn in as the youngest Prime Minister in Cuban history, succeeding José Miró Cardona, whose own resignation from the position was considered sudden. Cardona was later appointed ambassador to Spain by Castro.

Castro's leadership of the 26th of July movement against the military dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista - originating in 1953 with an attack on the Moncada Barracks - has come to be known as the Cuban Revolution in the five decades since it occurred.

The image* accompanying this post makes reference to various plots by the US government to assassinate the only communist leader in the Americas by means of - among other things - exploding cigars. Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and Reagan all gunned for him; now they're all dead and he's still alive. Good job there guys.

*On a personal note, the Pop Culture Institute only recently acquired its own copy of the October 1963 issue of
Mad
magazine shown at right... I mean, seriously. How could we not?
*

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