This news report from 1961 will show you why today’s Cuba news is such a big deal (VIDEO)

It's looking like Dec. 17, 2014 will be a huge moment in the history of US-Cuban relations.

First, the United States and Cuba agreed to a prisoner swap that removes a major impediment to restoring relations.

On Wednesday morning, Cuba released Alan Gross, 65, an American who was accused of spying against the Cuban state while working as a contractor for the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and imprisoned in 2009.

The United States, for its part, agreed to free three Cubans who've been imprisoned in the US since 2001. They were part of a five-man team called the "Wasp Network," a group of Cuban agents who traveled to Florida to spy on behalf of Fidel Castro's regime.

Then, later in the day, President Barack Obama announced a plan to renormalize diplomatic relations between the two countries — a plan that would involve opening a new US embassy in Havana.

The US and Cuba haven't had normal diplomatic relations since 1961, after a series of escalating trade disputes and Fidel Castro's turn toward the Soviet Union. After that, it was all trade embargos and crazy assasination plots. When the countries need to talk to each other, they have to talk through Switzerland.

So a normalization of diplomatic relations and the opening of brand new embassies is an absolutely huge, historic deal. (Find out more of the details by reading our live blog, which followed the story all day Wednesday.)

As a reminder of what a big deal this moment is: Check out this video news report from 1961 announcing that US and Cuba were going their separate ways.

Follow this news. Could be something you tell the grandkids about.

This is a developing story that has been updated to reflect the latest news.