Che Guevara
His face became the universal emblem of armed rebellion, a Marxist doctor who helped ignite a revolution in Cuba and beyond.
1928–1967 (age 39)·Argentine revolutionary·Birthday: June 14·The Silent Generation
Biography
Ernesto Guevara was an Argentine medical student whose motorcycle journey across a poverty-stricken Latin America radicalized him. He met Fidel Castro in Mexico and became a pivotal, ruthless commander in the Cuban Revolution, known for his strategic brilliance and unyielding discipline. After the revolution's success, he served as a bank president and industrial minister, but his true calling was fomenting global insurrection. He vanished from Cuba to fight in the Congo and finally in Bolivia, where his capture and execution cemented his status as a martyr. More than a guerrilla, his writings on revolutionary theory and his appropriated image transformed him into a complex, enduring symbol of anti-establishment fervor.
The Silent Generation
1928–1945
Born between the Depression and the end of WWII. Too young to fight, old enough to remember. They became the conformist middle managers of the 1950s — and the civil rights leaders who quietly dismantled Jim Crow.
Che was born in 1928, placing them squarely in The Silent Generation. The events that shaped this generation — world wars, depression, and rapid industrialization — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Che Was Born
The biggest hits of 1928
#1 Movie
The Singing Fool
Best Picture
Wings
Che's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1928Born
Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin; Mickey Mouse debuts
President: Calvin Coolidge"Ol' Man River" — Paul WhitemanBest Picture: Wings
1933Started school
FDR's New Deal launches; Prohibition ends
Gas: $0.18/galPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"Stormy Weather" — Ethel WatersBest Picture: Cavalcade
1941Became a teenager
Pearl Harbor attack brings the US into WWII
Gas: $0.19/galHome: $3,060Min wage: $0.30/hrPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"Chattanooga Choo Choo" — Glenn MillerBest Picture: How Green Was My Valley
1944Could drive
D-Day: Allied forces land at Normandy
Gas: $0.21/galHome: $3,400Min wage: $0.30/hrPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"Swinging on a Star" — Bing CrosbyBest Picture: Going My Way
1946Could vote
United Nations holds its first General Assembly
Gas: $0.21/galHome: $5,150Min wage: $0.40/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Prisoner of Love" — Perry ComoBest Picture: The Best Years of Our Lives
1949Turned 21
NATO founded; Mao proclaims the People's Republic of China
Gas: $0.27/galHome: $7,450Min wage: $0.40/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Riders in the Sky" — Vaughn MonroeBest Picture: All the King's Men
1958Turned 30
NASA founded
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $11,050Min wage: $1.00/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"Volare" — Domenico ModugnoBest Picture: Gigi
1967Died at 39
Summer of Love in San Francisco; first Super Bowl
Gas: $0.33/galHome: $14,250Min wage: $1.40/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"To Sir, with Love" — LuluBest Picture: In the Heat of the Night
Key Achievements
- Played a decisive military role in the Cuban Revolution, leading guerrilla columns to key victories like the Battle of Santa Clara.
- Authored influential texts on guerrilla warfare and Marxist theory, including 'Guerrilla Warfare' and 'The Motorcycle Diaries'.
- Served as a key minister in post-revolutionary Cuba, helping to shape its early economic and political structures.
- Attempted to export revolutionary ideology through failed guerrilla campaigns in the Congo and Bolivia.
Did You Know?
He earned the nickname 'Che', a common Argentine interjection, from his Cuban comrades.
Before becoming a revolutionary, he was a passionate rugby player.
He was a qualified physician, often treating wounded soldiers and civilians during conflicts.
His stylized portrait, taken by Alberto Korda, is one of the most reproduced photographic images in history.
“The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall.”
