Pinback button worn by a greeter of Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro during his April 1959 visit to the United States, 1959. No maker mark; embossed union bug verso. Light mottling.
Four months after leading a revolution in Cuba, Fidel Castro began an 11-day visit to the United States. Castro neither requested nor received an official government invitation, but came at the invitation of the American Society of Newspaper Editors. During his stay, Castro placed a wreath on George Washington’s grave, toured the Bronx Zoo, ate hot dogs at Yankee Stadium, and made a media splash. Wearing his trademark green fatigues and chomping on a cigar, the 33-year-old head-of-state was mobbed by admirers wherever he went.
President Eisenhower snubbed him, although the Cuban leader did receive an audience with Vice President Richard Nixon and Secretary of State Herter. In a speech in New York to the Council on Foreign Relations, Castro said he would not beg the United States for economic assistance, then stormed out of the session, professing anger at some of the questions raised by the audience. Relations between the United States and Cuba deteriorated rapidly. Exactly two years after Castro’s visit, President John F. Kennedy put into motion Operation Zapata, also known as the Bay of Pigs.
