1968: The Global Revolutions

Cuba and Fidel Castro, its revolutionary leader, provided inspiration to radical movements in the United States during the 1960s. Castro’s militant opposition to American diplomatic and military threats and actions made him a hero to many. Although the Cuban regime’s celebrations of its armed forces were troubling to pacifist Americans, the government’s social policies to redistribute wealth, and promote literacy and health care signaled a new and liberating style of Third World revolution.