History of U.S.-Cuban Relations

This course will examine the history of U.S.-Cuban relations from the earliest days of the American republics up to the present day, focusing on the major turning points in international history and U.S. foreign policy. Part one will examine the 19th-century Cuban wars for independence and the development of Cuba’s quasi-colonial relationship to the United States, culminating in the revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power. Part two will pick up with the Cuban Missile Crisis, exploring its origins, consequences, and legacies, and will then provide a brief overview of U.S.-Cuban relations down to the present day.

Michelle Paranzino, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Strategy and Policy Department at the U.S. Naval War College, where she teaches and researches U.S. foreign policy, Soviet history, and Cold War Latin America. She earned her doctorate in history from the University of Texas at Austin and is the author of The Cuban Missile Crisis and the Cold War: A Short History with Documents (Cambridge: Hackett, 2018). Her work has appeared in numerous articles and book chapters, and she has held fellowships at the Kennan Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Dickey Center for International Understanding at Dartmouth College. She is currently researching and writing a book on the history of the war on drugs.