President Kennedy Imposes Embargo on Trade With Cuba
President John Kennedy on this day imposed an embargo on all trade with Cuba. The embargo included imports from Cuba and the export of American goods to Cuba.
The embargo was an attempt to punish Cuba for its alleged pro-Communist activities. Kennedy’s embargo Proclamation explained that Cuba was “publicly aligned” with “the subversive offensive of Sino-Soviet communism.”
The embargo lasted for over 50 years, until President Barack Obama announced on December 17, 2014 that he would normalize relations with Cuba.
The Kennedy administration also banned travel to Cuba by private individuals. Small groups of people traveled t Cuba nonetheless, typically taking circuitous routes through Europe. On August 1, 1963, President Kennedy denounced a group of people who had gone to Cuba as “communists.” It was generally believed that he had received information about the political beliefs and associations of members of the group from J. Edgar Hoover, Direction of the FBI. The first unauthorized traveler to return to the U.S. on August 26, 1963 faced possible criminal charges. Another group traveled illegally to Cuba the following year and returned on August 19, 1964.
Get advice on traveling illegally to Cuba here
Read: Lawrence Freedman, Kennedy’s Wars: Berlin, Cuba, Laos, and Vietnam (2000)
View a timeline on U.S. – Cuba relations, 1959-2021 here
Read: Richard Gott, Cuba: A New History (2004)