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Evolution of an Embargo

Apr 13 2009
Castro
Eisenhower
Kennedy
Carter
Reagan
Clinton
Bush
Barack Obama
1 of 12
The Evolution of an Embargo
U.S. policy toward Cuba has been a work in progress for nearly five decades. The result is a thicket of restrictions against Fidel Castro and his regime erected by Republicans and Democrats alike.
Dwight Eisenhower
Institutes an embargo on U.S.-Cuban trade (except for agricultural products and medicine) after Castro's new regime nationalizes Cuban businesses in 1960.
John Kennedy
Signs the Foreign Assistance Act, which codifies Ike's embargo and expands it to cover goods made in other countries that include Cuban products.
Jimmy Carter
Drops the ban on Americans traveling to Cuba and vice versa. But Castro sets back relations by sending prisoners to the U.S. in the Mariel boatlift of 1980.
Ronald Reagan
Reinstates the travel ban, tightens the embargo, and begins the broadcast of anti-Castro Radio Martí into Cuba.
Bill Clinton
Loosens travel restrictions but also signs the Helms-Burton Act, which imposes penalties on foreign companies doing business in Cuba and permits U.S. citizens to sue foreign investors who make use of American-owned property seized by the Cuban government.
George W. Bush
Cracks down further on trade with the island, canceling many medical sales and barring virtually all travel to Cuba.
Barack Obama
Loosens restrictions on travel and remittances to Cuba for Cuban-Americans, but keeps prohibition on Americans sending gifts or other items to high-ranking Cuban government officials and Communist Party members.

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