--- title: Fidel Castro and Cuba: How TIME Covered the Revolution description: Castro was on the cover of the magazine three weeks after he seized control of Cuba canonical: https://time.com/3641168/cuba-1959/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-19T00:04:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T03:00:11.592Z article:section: History og:title: How TIME Covered Fidel Castro's Rise to Power og:description: Castro was on the cover of the magazine three weeks after he seized control of Cuba og:url: https://time.com/3641168/cuba-1959/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc3211fa6e3ee4d99/69876f7d8e0601fd214594a0/1101590126_400-1.jpg?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: The Jan. 26, 1959, cover of TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How TIME Covered Fidel Castro's Rise to Power twitter:description: Castro was on the cover of the magazine three weeks after he seized control of Cuba twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc3211fa6e3ee4d99/69876f7d8e0601fd214594a0/1101590126_400-1.jpg?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # When Fidel Castro Took Power: How TIME Covered the News  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Dec 19, 2014 12:04 AM UTC  Fidel Castro on the Jan. 26, 1959, cover of TIME Fidel Castro on the Jan. 26, 1959, cover of TIMECover Credit: BORIS CHALIAPIN  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Dec 19, 2014 12:04 AM UTC When Fidel Castro first ousted Fulgencio Batista at the turn of 1959, there weren’t many non-Cuban journalists there to see it happen — but TIME’s Bruce Henderson was there, and he was soon joined by Bernard Diederich, who would later cover the Caribbean for the magazine. Their presence meant that, throughout that January, TIME’s “Hemispheres” section carried up-to-the-minute news about the changes on the island. As Diederich recalls in his book _1959: The Year That Changed Our World_, the assignment was an unusual one: --- > “” --- Though those “female fighters” were the subject of [a story in the Jan. 19, 1959, issue](http://time.com/vault/issue/1959-01-19/page/38/), Castro’s pajamas did not. (Actually, his blue cotton PJs did get their moment, but it wasn’t until that May.) However, Castro got even more focus from TIME the following week, when he was featured on the cover of the magazine, in a story that focused on matters a lot more important than his sleepwear choices. Rather, the article opened with Castro pushing for the executions of those who had abetted the Batista regime: --- > “” --- **_Read the full 1959 cover story, free of charge, here in the TIME archives:_** [The Vengeful Visionary](http://time.com/3641153/the-vengeful-visionary/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3641168/cuba-1959/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3641168/cuba-1959/"},"headline":"When Fidel Castro Took Power: How TIME Covered the News","datePublished":"2014-12-19T00:04:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:00:11.592Z","description":"Castro was on the cover of the magazine three weeks after he seized control of Cuba","url":"https://time.com/3641168/cuba-1959/","keywords":["Revolution","politics","conflict","Cuba topic","Castro"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc3211fa6e3ee4d99/69876f7d8e0601fd214594a0/1101590126_400-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc3211fa6e3ee4d99/69876f7d8e0601fd214594a0/1101590126_400-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Jan. 26, 1959, cover of TIME","caption":"The Jan. 26, 1959, cover of TIME","creditText":"Cover Credit: BORIS CHALIAPIN","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/revolution/","name":"Revolution"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3641168/cuba-1959/","name":"When Fidel Castro Took Power: How TIME Covered the News"}}]}] ```