--- description: See how LIFE Magazine covered the rise of the long-time Cuban leader—who has died at 90—in the late 1950s and early 1960s title: See Early Photos of Fidel Castro From the LIFE Magazine Archives image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta13b5055d108cd7a/69877932428a9e32cacc67d9/150109-fidel-castro-10.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # LIFE With Fidel Castro: See Early Photos of the Cuban Leader by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/) and [Liz Ronk](/author/liz-ronk/) Nov 26, 2016 3:11 PM CUT  Fidel Castro, Cuban "victory tour," 1959. Fidel Castro, Cuban "victory tour," 1959.Grey Villet—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/) and [Liz Ronk](/author/liz-ronk/) Nov 26, 2016 3:11 PM CUT When Fidel Castro—the Cuban leader who has [died](http://time.com/4582503/fidel-castro-dies-dead-cuba-obituary "undefined") at 90—first [took that position ](http://time.com/3641168/cuba-1959 "undefined")in 1959, he drove himself 650 miles around his country, delivering speeches to the people he would rule. As crowds lined the route of his victory tour, LIFE was on the scene, capturing the excitement of a nation that hoped it had found a way to a better future, and the excitement of the man who promised to bring them there. LIFE [noted](https://books.google.com/books?id=Wz8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA28&dq=fidel+castro&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjDrYXyw8bQAhWETCYKHZE5Dy04ChDoAQgaMAA#v=onepage&q=fidel%20castro&f=false "undefined") somewhat breathlessly in the caption to the image that appears in the second slide above that Castro wore two wristwatches so he would not have to turn over his arm to see what time it was. He seemed, the magazine reported, unique in that he had taken power but seemed to want so little for himself. “Down from the eastern hills where he had forged his big victory, Fidel Castro last week marched in tumultuous triumph through the towns and villages of post-Batista Cuba,” LIFE [reported](https://books.google.com/books?id=Wz8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA28&dq=fidel+castro&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjDrYXyw8bQAhWETCYKHZE5Dy04ChDoAQgaMAA#v=onepage&q=fidel%20castro&f=false "undefined"). “He came not as a dutifully honored conqueror but as a man ecstatically acclaimed by the people he had liberated.” Quickly, however, the magazine’s tone of coverage [changed](https://books.google.com/books?id=NUgEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA19&dq=fidel+castro&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiD-dWlw8bQAhXBSiYKHbQZA6EQ6AEIKTAD#v=onepage&q=fidel%20castro&f=false "undefined"), as trials began for those who had opposed Castro’s revolution. The energy mustered by Castro, it was clear, was more complicated than the adulation might have made it seem. By 1963, the same year that LIFE photographers watched Castro on the trip to the USSR seen in the images above, the magazine was also covering his homeland as, in [the words of photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson](https://books.google.com/books?id=F08EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA5&dq=fidel+castro+1963&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjvjLTpzcbQAhXHOyYKHZ8qCOgQ6AEIMTAF#v=onepage&q=fidel%20castro%201963&f=false "undefined"), an “island of pleasure gone adrift.” It was in the editor’s [note](https://books.google.com/books?id=F08EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA5&dq=fidel+castro+1963&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjvjLTpzcbQAhXHOyYKHZ8qCOgQ6AEIMTAF#v=onepage&q=fidel%20castro%201963&f=false "undefined") in a March 1963 issue that Cartier-Bresson summed up his own view of the relationship between Castro and Cuba: to photograph the nation without photographing its leader was like painting a portrait with no head. For better or for worse, Castro—as is already clear in the early photographs here—was, for decades, the personality behind the politics.  Fidel Castro celebrates his rebel victory, Cuba, 1959. Joe Scherschel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Fidel Castro cheered by crowds on victorious march to Havana after ousting Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, 1959. Grey Villet—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Fidel Castro cheered by crowds on victorious march to Havana after ousting Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, 1959. Grey Villet—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Fidel Castro talks to a nun during his victorious march to Havana, 1959. Grey Villet—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Fidel Castro with friends on a balcony of the Havana Hilton Hotel after his triumphal entry into the city, 1959. Joe Scherschel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Fidel Castro watches a baseball game, Cuba, 1959. Joe Scherschel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Fidel Castro at an exhibition baseball game, Cuba, 1959. Joe Scherschel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Fidel Castro, Cuba, 1959. Grey Villet—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Fidel Castro in the midst of a speech, Havana, Cuba, 1959. Joe Scherschel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Fidel Castro, Cuban "victory tour," 1959. Grey Villet—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Cuban leader Fidel Castro and Nikita Khrushchev, May Day celebration, Moscow, 1963. Stan Wayman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Fidel Castro, Nikita S. Khrushchev and Emilio Aragonés Navarro at the Bolshoi Ballet, Moscow, 1963. Stan Wayman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3662292/fidel-castro-early-photos-life/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3662292/fidel-castro-early-photos-life/"},"headline":"LIFE With Fidel Castro: See Early Photos of the Cuban Leader","datePublished":"2016-11-26T15:11:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:50:45.071Z","description":"Some of these photos were unpublished by the magazine","url":"https://time.com/3662292/fidel-castro-early-photos-life/","keywords":["History","photography","Cuba topic","Fidel Castro","LIFE Magazine"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta13b5055d108cd7a/69877932428a9e32cacc67d9/150109-fidel-castro-10.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/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Liz Ronk","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta13b5055d108cd7a/69877932428a9e32cacc67d9/150109-fidel-castro-10.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Fidel Castro on cross-Cuba victory tour, 1959","caption":"Fidel Castro, Cuban \"victory tour,\" 1959.","creditText":"Grey Villet—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images","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":"https://time.com/3662292/fidel-castro-early-photos-life/","name":"LIFE With Fidel Castro: See Early Photos of the Cuban Leader"}}]}] ```