ABSTRACT
From the late nineteenth century until the revolution of 1959, the US pursued contradictory policies towards Cuba which invited a revolutionary response that initially was misunderstood and underappreciated by Washington. The rigidity of the Cold War assured a strong American consensus against considering a move towards normalization of ties with Cuba, and this was further certified by Castro's inflammatory anti-American rhetoric. American involvement in Cuba began with the Spanish-American War in 1898. Throughout the rest of the 1960s and into the 1970s, US relations with Cuba remained tense, but the threat of general military confrontation abated. Just as the successful communist revolution in China impacted domestic political dynamics in the US, so did the Cuban revolution. US policy towards Cuba in the wake of the Bay of Pigs refused to countenance developing a normalized relationship with the Castro regime and instead undertook an array of dubious and futile efforts at regime change that entailed unanticipated costs and complications.
