Jeff Bezos' father fled Cuba at 16 with three shirts — then invested $245,573 in life savings to help launch Amazon

If Miguel Bezos could have chosen, he would have stayed in Santiago de Cuba during his teens. History had other plans.

After the Cuban Revolution, Bezos's parents didn't see much of a future for Miguel under the new Fidel Castro regime. They were also concerned for their own well-being.

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​So, when they heard about Operation Pedro Pan — where the U.S. State Department and Catholic Charities of Miami brought in thousands of unaccompanied Cuban children — they saw an opportunity.

​As he recalled in a 2016 interview with the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History , Miguel "had no desire of leaving Cuba" and "never thought of coming to the United States." However, his parents saw sending Miguel to America as the way to open doors for his future.

​Miguel explained their thinking: "If you leave then we can figure out whether we can leave or not or you come back so, it was… it was a little bit of logic to it in terms of allowing them to have a little more flexibility in what options their family would have if I were able to be out of the country."

​His parents also didn't plan for the separation to last forever. As Miguel said, "This was a very temporary decision. It was just going to be for a few months or a few years and then you'll be able to come back and we'll be reunited."

​Over 60 years later, Miguel still hasn't moved back to his Cuban hometown.

​ On July 21, 1962, Miguel arrived in Miami with no English skills and only a "little suitcase" containing a jacket made by his mom and sister, three shirts, three pairs of pants and one pair of shoes. He was 16.

​From Miami, Miguel was sent with 17 other Cuban children to a Catholic high school in Wilmington, Delaware, under the care of a priest. He later moved to Washington, D.C. and eventually got his first jobs at a bank and McDonald's.

​But Miguel wanted more. So, he began searching for colleges offering scholarships to Cuban refugees and got accepted to the University of Albuquerque. Besides studying and working, Miguel added family life to his already hectic schedule. It was here that he met Jackie, who had a son from her previous marriage: Jeff.