The Cuban Missile Crisis was a military and political confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union lasting thirteen days. It began on October 16 and ended on October 28, 1962. Throughout the entirety of the Cold War, no event brought these two super powered nations closer to nuclear war than the events that transpired during these thirteen days. During this time, William Roof was stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina as a soldier in the United States Army. The constant pressure by both nations on each other caused high tension for everyone involved, which affected even the soldiers going about their everyday lives.
The first nation to make a move in this particular war was the United States. In order to place pressure
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On April 17, 1961 the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency’s paramilitary group, Brigade 2506, along with a group of U.S. funded Cuban rebels, called the Democratic Revolutionary Front, attacked the Cuban beach “Playa Grión” in the Bay of Pigs. When asked about the Bay of Pigs William stated, “I didn't really get to hear much about the bay of pigs. It was more of a secret thing that nobody heard about until it was over.” Brigade 2506 and the D.R.F. intended to assassinate Fidel Castro to return the previously ousted Cuban President, Carlos Prio, who was an ally to the United States, to power. Prio was the last president to be elected by his nation's people and was nicknamed “El presidente cordial” (“The Cordial President”) by the people. He was committed to a rule with the cornerstones of civility, and freedom of expression. Castro, however was the figurehead of a one party communist Cuba, gaining his power only through a revolution against the government. He took what he thought he deserved and he did it with force. The invasion of the Bay of Pigs was originally to include heavy air and naval support when Former President Eisenhower first suggested the plan but with the whole world becoming aware of the United States’ involvement in the invasion. The current Commander and Chief, …show more content…
The high tension, life threatening, and nearly war starting negotiations between the two leaders showed the clear flaws between the two nation’s communications with each other. This was shortly amended by the creation of the Moscow-Washington hotline, allowing for quick and frequent communication between the two nations. This hotline allowed the relations between the two superpowers to vastly improve over the course of the rest of the Cold War and prevented such an event as the Cuban Missile Crisis from ever occurring again. Bill summed up the Cuban Missile Crisis in an excellent way by stating, “It was almost the dumbest way to blow up all of humanity. The Soviets and us just pointed big guns at each other till everyone got scared, and if either country would have shot those big guns the world wouldn't have ever been the same again. You can't get two super powered countries firing nukes at each other and expect the world not to change, and I think both Khrushchev and Kennedy realized that and did everything they could to stop it, and thank God they
The Cuban Missile Crisis all started in October, 1962, when an American spy plane spotted and secretly photographed missile sites being built on the island of Cuba by the Soviet Union. President Kennedy did not tell the Soviet Union right away that we had found their nuclear missile site. But days later, President Kennedy meet secretly with his advisors to discuss the situation. President Kennedy and his advisors though long and hard about what to do and the finally came up with an idea. Kennedy decided to put a naval blockade around the island of Cuba. The purpose of this was so Cuba could not get anymore military supplies for the Soviet Union. President Kennedy demanded that the missiles that were already there be disabled and that the sit be destroyed. Later on, Kennedy told America what was happening on a televised address. Everyone was anxious about what the Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, would say about the naval blockade. But both President Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev recognized that the devastation that a nuclear war will bring is too much.
The crisis began when the United States discovered the existence of offensive Soviet Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs), nuclear capable, barely 90 miles from the southern coast of Florida, in Cuba. U-2 spy plane reconnaissance missions over Cuba captured the
The Cuban Missile Crisis and how it was a turning point in the Cold War
The idea both countries having hold of nuclear weapons, specifically Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs), made each other frightened to advance and develop more weapons, faster and better than the other nation. This led to the creation of the first nuclear missile by the Soviets, and the first hydrogen by the Americans. The Soviet Union was more effective than the United States in producing weapons including submarine ICBMs, long range bombers, and land ICBMs (Doc 7). The sheer fact that each country possessed nuclear weapons was enough to hold back in hot combat, as both countries feared nuclear demise. The weapon that was used to fight in the war was more fear, rather than actual weapons. Another threat of nuclear war was coming from Cuba, another communist nation that was led by Fidel Castro. The Cuban Missile Crisis lasted thirteen days and was started because the United States invaded Cuba to stop nuclear missiles that were aimed at America, which were discovered by Operation Mongoose. Cuba and the Soviet Union were angered that America had discovered the missiles, and the United States was fearful that they would be launched. United States President was now John F. Kennedy, the year was 1962, and the Cold War had been going on for fifteen years, yet there was still not hot war, only the threat of it. In order to
Thirteen days in October of 1962 changed the course of the World in the nuclear age forever. The Cuban Missile Crisis represents the closest brink of mutual nuclear destruction the World has ever been close to reaching. The leadership in place throughout the crisis is critical to the story of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Three men dominated the nations involved in the crisis and captivated citizens of all corners of the world. President John Fitzgerald Kennedy of the United States, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, and Cuban Dictator Fidel Castro dominated the airwaves and news circuits leading up to the infamous crisis, which put the three leaders and nations in a cold silence of misperceptions, miscommunications, and unprecedented
The Cuban Missile Crisis began October 16, 1962. It was at the height of the Cold War that this potentially lethal confrontation arose between the United States and the Soviet Union. A United States reconnaissance plane discovered a military stockpile of Soviet nuclear missiles and bombers in Cuba. Some historians point out that Khrushchev's real intention in deploying the missiles into Cuba was to control West Berlin. They would be used in this context as a sufficient reason for the Western powers (The USA, UK, and France) to allow him to achieve his plan. However, The government of Washington, along with President John F. Kennedy at its head, believed this to be a threat and was not willing to tolerate such a threat so close to home.
One of the scarcest events in American history happened during the month of October 1962. The world was about to enter a new phase of world warfare, using nuclear weapons to destroy the oppositions. This event affected everyone in the world, it was the possibility of nuclear death. It affected American citizens like my uncle, Walter Neal Woodruff. He was a solider working in the Administrate branch of the Army, stationed at Fort Huachuca, Arizona on call during this moment in American history. This event was called the Cuban Missile Crisis and it was the closest the world had ever been to WW3. Looking back on history now, knowing the crisis was resolved, it would have never been possible without President Kennedy’s nationally televised speech on October 22, 1962. The presidential speech was a key moment in ending the Cuban Missile Crisis and leading to actions taken by both, Soviet and American government to de-escalate tensions of the Cold War.
The event of the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 was the closest the world has ever come to nuclear war. Fifteen years into the cold war, the two superpowers continued the fierce competition to increase their military strength. In 1962, the Soviet Union was desperately behind the United States in the nuclear arms race. Soviet missiles were only powerful enough to be launched against Europe, whereas the US missiles were capable of striking the entire Soviet Union. In late April 1962, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev conceived the idea of placing intermediate-range missiles in Cuba which would double the Soviet strategic arsenal and provide a real deterrent to a potential U.S. attack against the Soviet Union. The fate of millions
The Cuban Missile Crisis started on October 16, 1962. At the time the dictator Fidel Castro was developing a relationship with the Soviet Union. Previously, Castro visited the United States to help establish a foreign relationship with the U.S only to be denied by the president. Vice President Richard Nixon had to step in to greet Castro at the White House. Cuba was in a deep economic turmoil and desperately needed foreign aid to help its people. The Soviet Union was willing to help out but not without a price; establishing a commercial and diplomatic relationship ( Walters) . The Soviet Union and its communism beliefs was inching closer to the United States until it was at their door step. In addition the Soviet Union developed 50 megaton nuclear
“The most terrifying moment in my life was October 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis. I did not know all the facts we have learned only recently how close we were to war but I know enough to make me tremble” (Joseph Rotblat). During the Cuban missile crisis, leaders of the U.S. and the Soviet Union engaged in a tense, 13-day political and military standoff in October 1962 over the installation of nuclear-armed Soviet missiles on Cuba, just 90 miles from the U.S. shores. To keep news of the crisis from leaking, a concocted cold was blamed for President Kennedy’s cancellation of public events. Also president Kennedy notified all the
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a thirteen-day confrontation from October 15 to October 28, 1962, between the United States and the Soviet Union over the positioning of nuclear missiles in Cuba. In 1962, the Soviet Union secretly placed nuclear-tipped missiles on the Communist-led island of Cuba.The resolution of the Cuban missile crisis involved more than transactional leadership, however. In the complex negotiations that followed the discovery of the missiles, President Kennedy and his team of advisors experienced an evolution in their thinking, while operating under intense
The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis, the Caribbean Crisis or the Missile Scare was a battle between the United States and the Soviet Union concerning the deployment in Italy and Turkey. The Soviet Union had secretly positioned nuclear weapons on the island of Cuba. As soon as the U.S government found out what the Soviets we doing, they immediately demanded their withdrawal there would be major consequences . As a results the leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union engaged in a strained 13-day political and military standoff in October 1962 over the installment of nuclear-armed Soviet missiles on Cuba only 90 miles away from the U.S shores. The Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest the United States and the Soviet
The world was at the edge of a third world war. This was the result of a variety of things: the Cuban Revolution, the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion, US anti-communism, insecurity of the Soviet Union, and Cuba's fear of invasion all made causes for war. However, war was not the result due to great cooperation from both President Kennedy and President Khrushchev and each of the decisions made by the leaders was crucial in the outcome of The Crisis. Kennedy's choice to take action by means of quarantine instead of air-strike and Khrushchev's decision to abide by the quarantines were perhaps the two most significant decisions made by the leaders in order to prevent war. The Cuban Missile Crisis showed the
During the Cuba missile crisis near every newspaper and radio station would talk about how the end of the world on the brink of destruction. Because of this many people around this time lived in fear and felt the world was going to end. The effects of the Cuba missile crisis didn’t just affect the two nations its effects also had major effects on the people of these nations, the world, and the countries themselves. These effects only truly made the world change when it was too late. The effects that the Cuba missile crisis left on the people of these nations consisted of fear, panic, and enough paranoia to scary the entire world. It also affected the world as other counties would do anything
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a frightening moment for the entire world. It started October 14th, 1962 after the Soviet Union planted nuclear missiles inn Cuba. The U.S. found out that these missiles were being planted without their knowledge, but the Soviet Union continued the construction of these nuclear missile sites, even after President Kennedy, the president of the U.S., sent out a warning against these weapons in Cuba. Even after this warning, Kennedy once again found out that the construction was still happening. Following the discovery of the ongoing construction, Kennedy wanted to meet with people at the White House to solve the problem that they were encountering. There were multiple sides during their talk about the missiles. Some of the people at the meeting wanted to take a more aggressive approach and destroy these missiles and then follow up with an attack. Kennedy eventually decided to quarantine Cuba. After Kennedy quarantined Cuba, there were many messages sent between the White House and the Kremlin to try and solve the problem. The Cuban Missile Crisis lasted for thirteen extremely tense days. At the end of these thirteen days, the Cuban Missile Crisis ended with an agreement between the United States and Soviet Union. The Cuban Missile Crisis greatly impacted history. It strengthened the bond between the United States and Soviet Union, showed people how to come to a