[custom_adv] Fidel Castro came to New York, hired a public relations firm, ate hot dogs, kissed ladies like a rock star, and held babies like a politician. Loved by some, hated by others, his trips to the Big Apple were galvanizing. [custom_adv] Fidel Castro has his beard touched during a visit to his hotel by youngsters who attended a Queens school with his son. The boy was secretly living here while his father led the Cuban revolution. [custom_adv] Looking like an American politician, Fidel Castro hugs Donna Friedman and Lisa Langer at the Bronx Zoo on April 22, 1959. [custom_adv] Fidel Castro is all smiles at Columbia University on April 22, 1959. [custom_adv] Castro’s visit and lengthy public denunciation marked the final breaking point in relations between the U.S. and Cuba. In January 1961, the Eisenhower administration severed all diplomatic relations with Cuba [custom_adv] Fidel Castro officially stepped down in February 2008. In 2015, relations between the U.S. and Cuba were finally normalized, with the opening of embassies and diplomatic missions in both countries and the easing of travel restrictions. Castro died on November 25, 2016, at 90 [custom_adv] He might have been an enemy of the state, but from a lengthy honeymoon to a midnight meeting with Malcolm X to the adulation of cheering crowds, Fidel Castro found plenty to savour on American soil. [custom_adv] He came, he saw, he conquered. In 1959, Fidel Castro came to New York, hired a public relations firm, ate hot dogs, kissed ladies like a rock star, and held babies like a politician. Loved by some, hated by others, his trips to the Big Apple were galvanizing. [custom_adv] Since taking power in January 1959, Castro had infuriated the American government with his policies of nationalizing U.S. companies and investments in Cuba [custom_adv] Castro’s visit stirred indignation and admiration from various sectors of American society, and was climaxed by his speech to the United Nations [custom_adv] Fidel's first trip to the United States (on April 15, 1959) demonstrated his intelligence. He neither requested nor accepted the classical official invitation; rather, he had himself invited by the press [custom_adv] Relations between the United States and Castro deteriorated rapidly following the April visit. In less than a year, President Eisenhower ordered the CIA to begin arming and training a group of Cuban exiles to attack Cuba