Examples Of Altercations In Thirteen Days

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.

In the early days of the crisis, JFK made a formal declaration to both the nation and to the U.S.S.R that any nuclear weapons launched from Cuba onto any target in the Western Hemisphere would be considered an attack on the US and would warrant a full retaliatory response (“The Cuban Missile Crisis, October 1962”). He followed up that statement by blocking the transfer of all offensive weapons in route to Cuba (Freidel and Sidey). Kennedy showed the people that he wasn’t going to sit idly by while there was such a large threat to the nation’s safety, he was going to act boldly. After many more stressful days passed, JFK, in an attempt to ensure that the situation didn’t escalate any further, agreed to not attack Cuba if the Soviet Union withdrew all weapons from the island nation (Swift). After 13 grueling days of diplomatic actions, the Soviet Union’s ships left Cuba with their hatches open in order to show the Americans that they were carrying the missiles with them (Swift). Kennedy’s choice to pursue a peaceful end to the Cuban Missile Crisis, despite intense Soviet aggression, may have saved countless American lives. John F. Kennedy’s actions during the Cuban Missile Crisis boosted his reputation considerably and steered America away from a war with the

In 1962, Cuba was convinced that the USA was planning to attack them and asked the Soviet Union for military assistance. The USSR sent Cuba materials to build missile bases and launch sites. When President Kennedy realized that Cuba could launch missiles into America, he demanded that the USSR remove its weapons and troops. The Americans formed a naval blockade as the world stood nervously on the edge of a nuclear war. The USSR removed its weapons despite protests from Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

President Kennedy came to office with warnings of a missile gap. The Soviets had achieved or were achieving a significant advantage in strategic nuclear weapons. Though tensions ran even higher, "Eisenhower’s strategy of massive retaliation made little sense and did not account for the rapidly growing Soviet nuclear arsenal4. Kennedy's nuclear strategy became known as flexible response. The idea was to acquire the military forces that could deal flexibility with varying levels of Soviet Aggression3. The most serious confrontation between Russia and the US was the Cuban Missile Crisis. (Link to Stephanie's page) Soviet leader Khrushchev attempted to place intermediate range missiles in Cuba. Kennedy responded by imposing a quarantine on Cuba. This resulted in the removal of the Soviet missiles and led to Kennedy making the decision to dismantle U.S. missiles based in Turkey. Some analysts argue that the successful outcome was due to the United States’ nuclear superiority, which proved that strategic superiority offered important political advantages5.

On October 22, 1962, President John F. Kennedy “informed the world” that the Soviets were building secretive missile bases in Cuba, very close to Florida. President Kennedy decided to take the peaceful route in handling is major crisis. As

Kennedy for the democratic United States. Negotiations were very tough, because the two countries often opposed each other on most views. Nikita Khrushchev, being an older political leader, thought he was going to be able to push around the young president Kennedy with no problem, which didn’t really happen. You can see it came to a point where President Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev where at each others throats once the missiles were in Cuba. As the United States and other countries around the world are starting to get frantic, Max Frankel talks about how both leaders were perfectly giving and taking, knowing when to be aggressive and when to hold back because both knew they didn’t want to bring the rest of the world to its first nuclear war. They also wanted to avoid a ground war at all possible means, but if there disagreement were to be handled in any way both nations would prefer the war to be fought by men and not nuclear weapons. Tensions got to their highest, after Kennedy went on air and told the world that they were establishing a blockade for the sole purpose to keep the soviets from supplying Cuba. After this charade, Nikita Khrushchev avoided the Q line and kept away from the U.S. When this incident was finally disputed the United States then dropped there nuclear weapons in turkey as did the Russians in Cuba leaving it as both sides were victorious and avoided a whole entire war with each other. Moreover the nations realized that no good would come from any type of war that was

Kennedy had given a speech to the American people where he has said “We have unmistakable evidence that a series of offensive missile sites is now being built on that island … Cuba has been made into an important strategic base by the presence of these long-range offensive weapons of sudden mass destruction… Our objective must be to prevent the use of these missiles against this or any other country. We must secure their withdrawal from the Western Hemisphere” (Doc 6). President Kennedy was trying to calm the society by explaining they will be prevent the use of the missiles by withdrawing the Western Hemisphere. During the year of 1962, October 27 Premier Khrushchev stated in a message “Mr. President, the Soviet government decided to help Cuba with means of defense against outside attack. These weapons were only meant for defensive purposes. We have supplied them to prevent aggression against Cuba … With respect and confidence I accept the statement you set forth in your message of October 27, 1962. You said then that Cuba will not be attacked or invaded by any country of the Western Hemisphere … We have given the order to discontinue building the installations. We shall dismantle them and withdraw them to the Soviet Union” (Doc 8). This message was sent to the U.S after ordering a blockade of all offensive military equipment being sent into

This was a problem for Kennedy because Cuba was within a 90 mile radius from the United States, easy sticking distance. The United States had missiles in Turkey, which were in striking distance from the Soviet Union, which Khrushchev used as a weighing option when deciding to place missiles in Cuba. Kennedy saw the missiles that were being held in Cuba as almost an act of war from the Soviet Union. Khrushchev assured President Kennedy that the missiles were not an act of war, but yet only a defense for Cuba, who was feeling Having Soviet Union missiles this close to the mainland was a problem for the United States. Kennedy decided that the only way to stop the Soviet Union from fully equipping Cuba with enough missiles to destroy the United States, was to stop the missiles from getting to Cuba. To stop them Kennedy dispatched U.S. warships into the Atlantic, which was able to prevent the Soviet missile fleet from reaching Cuba. Unfortunately there were already missiles in Cuba from earlier fleets and they were

This led castro to invite the soviet union to install short-and intermediate-range missiles in cuba to prevent further US intrusions. Kennedy responded by ordering a blockade to stop Soviet ships from supplying the missiles, if the blockade was unsuccessful then the United States would order air Strikes all across Cuba. The world was on the verge of nuclear war but the United States and the Soviet Union were able to reach a compromise. The soviets agreed to remove the deadly missiles, while Kennedy agreed to not invade cuba any further and promised to dismantle missiles that were pointed at the soviet Union in Turkey. The two countries also signed a Partial Nuclear TEst Ban Treaty, this treaty prevented both countries from testing nuclear weapons in the atmosphere

Most missile sites consisted of SA-2 SAMs and MRBMs; most of which were in North Cuba close to the U.S. Kennedy saw this as a threatening act and called in for a naval "quarantine" line of ships to block shipments of missiles. Kennedy did not call it a blockade as that sounded more or less like a term used in war. Kennedy then ordered for Krushchev to dismantle the sites and return all offense weapons. Krushchev did not stop but most ships either turned back or had nothing dangerous. On October 26, close to the missile sites being operational, Krushchev finally considered a deal with Kennedy to dismantle the sites, for he too feared nuclear confrontation. The deal was that if the U.S. did not invade Cuba and that they took their Jupiter missiles in Turkey back, the Soviets would take their missiles(Office of the Historian). A few days later the deal was made and nuclear war was averted. Through the whole solution, however, Castro was never regared and left as a pawn. Nevertheless, the world changing events of the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis brought three nations into conflict that ultimately Castro would see to wage war on one and ally with the

The quarantine put in place made sure that no new Soviet ships could go into Cuba and drop off missiles. Quaranting Cuba was all that the United States could handle at the time because it had no support towards entering into any war that could end very badly for many American civilians. This missile crisis was the Soviets way of showing America that if they could put missiles into Turkey on their side of the world than there was nothing stopping them from putting missiles in America's backyard,Cuba. "While this was a more peaceful solution, Kennedy made it clear that he would attack Cuba if the missiles already on the island were not removed"(Showalter 73). Kennedy shows that although he desires a peaceful resolution he will be assertive when it is necessary and will only relieve Cuba and the Soviets of the pressure if all of his demands were met.

The events that took place in October of 1962 had correlated a cease of movement due to what the Americans believed that a possible missile crisis was arising amongst the Soviet Union and Cuba. All three countries had undergone a change of leadership, opposing American ideals, making matters that even more difficult to come to a compromise between the three states. Ultimately, this had led to a blockade on part of the American government a few days on retrieving evidence of the accumulation of missiles within Cuba and resulted in immediate, carefully thought out action on part of President Kennedy. It is arguable that Castro and Khrushchev had reasonable action to work together, but this cooperation of the two led to a near nuclear crisis possibly leaving the US on warzone territory. Despite the circumstances, President Kennedy was valiant in his efforts in upholding actions where matters can

Conflicts between the two nations was inevitable. Kennedy issued a public warning against the introduction of offensive weapons into Cuba, he also considered options that would resolve the crisis. Some of the options they were invading Cuba and taking down their missiles with air strikes, some of the other non-aggressive options they gave away were giving warnings to Cuba and the Soviet Union –“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”- ---John F. Kennedy-. President Kennedy and Khrushchev struggled to understand each other’s intentions. On May 1955 the united nations brought together the USA, U.K, Canada, France, Soviet Union to negotiate on ending nuclear weapons

During the cold war John F. Kennedy and the Soviet premier met to discuss the was between the east and west but they resolved nothing and Khrushchev left thinking that Kennedy was a weak leader. The Soviets

It is evident that the US had been flagrantly deceived. Then Kennedy called for a naval blockade of Cuba. Kennedy used political negotiations with Khrushchev to come to an agreement in the removal of the weapons. Throughout negotiations, there were incidents that occurred which amplified tensions. Such as on the noon of October 27th, a U-2 reconnaissance plane was shot down over Cuba. In those moments, both the US and the Soviet Union assumed that it was Castro who commanded the fire of low-flying U.S. planes on October 27th. Although Castro had certainly commanded Cuban antiaircraft artillery to fire, there is no indication that he had also ordered Soviet artillery to fire. Another occurrence is Castro’s letter to Khrushchev insisting that the Soviet Union should launch a first-strike nuclear attack on the United States.