Cuban Missile Crisis Dbq

The Cuban Missile Crisis was perhaps the closest that humankind had ever become to experiencing a thermonuclear war. In October 1962, the world watched perilously, as U.S. president John F. Kennedy warned his people of the amalgamation of Soviet arms in Cuba. John F. Kennedy refused to accept “offensive” Soviet artillery in such close proximity to the U.S., but Soviet chairman Nikita Khrushchev had already planned a stealthily

The Cuban Missile Crisis was similar to a game of chess, one miscalculated move could have ended up costing entire game. There were two main players within this conflict, the United States and the Soviet Union. Although the Soviets were the ones to have placed the missiles in Cuba, both the United States and the Soviet Union both sought a common goal, which was to avert war and make diplomatically resolve the crisis at hand. Each player took different and contentious moves so that in the end, they were able to gain as much as they were able to while avoiding war. Throughout the conflict, deception and decision making were extremely important to the outcome of the crisis. If there happened to be any sorts of leaked plans, or faulty decisions, there would have been an imminent war.

By 1962, the Soviet Union was considerably behind the United States in the nuclear arms race. The Soviet Union had limited range missiles that were only capable of being launched against Europe, but the United States possessed missiles that were capable of striking anywhere within the entire Soviet Union. As it is often said, when it comes to national security, leaders sometimes make irrational decisions. In an effort to restore the balance of power Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev devised the idea of placing intermediate-range missiles in Cuba (14 days in October). This deployment of weapons in Cuba would double the Soviet strategic arsenal and provide a credible deterrent to a potential U.S. attack against the

People on both sides wondered if this would cause World War III. On October 22, 1962, President Kennedy appeared on national television to speak about the crisis; the people need to know what was going on directly (Edwards, 9). President Kennedy said the missiles stationed in Cuba could strike Washington, DC, or the Panama Canal. They could also strike Cape Canaveral, Florida, or Mexico City; nowhere in the US was safe. He explicated that he warned Cuba not to strike any American cities; this meant cities in Central American and South America, too (Edwards, 9). President Kennedy also shared with the American people his plan of surrounding Cuba with the US Navy. Now, it was just a matter a

Following World War II, Cuba experienced a communist revolution with the takeover of Fidel Castro. To make matters worse, America discovered the soviets had been supplying cuba with missiles. This meant that the USSR could bomb the US with nuclear power at any given moment. Document D illustrates the danger as it shows that the missiles range all the way from New York and Washington D.C. to Houston and Miami. The US proceeded cautiously by initiating a quarantine which stopped the flow of soviet ships to Cuba. This hindered the process and allowed the U.S. to eliminate a chance of communistic

People knew that if another World War broke out it would result in nuclear weapons used that could end the world. Even countries who had nuclear bombs but didn’t threaten to use them were considered a very possible threat. Between the USSR and the USA it was like walking on very thin ice. The nuclear buildup was called the balance of terror (Doc. #7). Having an abundance of nuclear weapons insured that the balance of terror was kept. The Cuban Missile Crisis contributed to this fear. When the Cuban Missile Crisis progressed the USA began to make demands. The USA demanded that they must secure the withdrawal of the missiles (Doc. #8). Cuba persisted that they were just for defensive. They promised they would remove them if the USA swore not to attack (Doc. #9).

The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation between the United States, the USSR, and Cuba in October 1962, during the Cold War. The Cuban and Soviet governments placed nuclear missiles in Cuba. When her military intelligence discovered the weapons, America sought to do all it could to ensure the removal of the missiles. This incident became closest to a nuclear war.1 The incident has caused a lot of commotion and raised tensions between the three countries.

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 began in October of 1962. During a dismaying 13 day standoff, people were on the tip of their toes not knowing if they would see their children again as they dropped them off for school. They wandered when they laid down at night to go to sleep, if they would wake up to see another day. They did not know if they would wake to see a country obliterated by an atomic bomb. As the United States was on the brink of a nuclear war with the Soviet Union and Cuba, nobody was certain what laid around the corner, in five minutes the world could be devastated and millions of people could be dead.

The Cuban Missile Crisis began when the United States had a spy plane fly over Cuba and noticed that on the island were Nuclear tipped missiles owned by the Soviet Union. The Cuban dictator known as Fidel Castro, became close to the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union leader, Nikita Khrushchev and the President of the United States John F. Kennedy both agreed that if the United States does not invade Cuba, the missiles would be removed from both Cuba and from the country of Turkey. “There is one point on which I want to give you new information right away, I have refrained from doing this until now; but today an attempt is being made to frighten all mankind by propagating the idea that Cuba, and in particular I, might provoke a nuclear war, so I feel the world should know the true story of the missile emplacement” (Castro). During this crisis, Fidel Castro and the Soviet Union almost started a nuclear war at one of the most important parts in history. But way before the crisis happened, Castro said that there were warnings coming of an invasion. “Six months before these missiles were installed in Cuba, we had received an accumulation of information warning us that a new invasion of the island has being prepared under sponsorship of the Central Intelligence Agency, whose administrators were humiliated by the Bay of Pigs disaster and by the spectacle of being ridiculed in the eyes of

The first seven days the information is kept between Kennedy and his advisors. Those thirteen days that encompassed the Cuban Missile Crisis stand out as a particularly terrifying moment in American history. However, Kennedy did everything he could to stop this crisis from turning into something worse. On day one, (October 16) Kennedy and his advisors began to discuss how they would respond to this challenge. Two possible strategies were an air strike or naval quarantine. He wanted to avoid arousing public concern so he kept this information between him and his advisors. On day two, the American military began moving to bases in the Southeastern and U-2 flight shows images of more missiles being installed. On day three, President Kennedy was visited by Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko, who asserted the Soviet aid to Cuba was purely defensive and does not represent a threat to the United States. However, JFK did not reveal his information on the existing missiles in Cuba. On day four in Washington, JFK's advisers continued the debate over the necessary and appropriate course of the action. Day five, Kennedy decided on a quarantine. He also planned a speech to notify the American people of the crisis. On day six Kennedy met with General Walter Sweeney of the tactical Air Command who tells him that an air strike could not guarantee complete destruction of the missiles. Kennedy continues to determine the

The fear of nuclear war between the nations of the United States, the Soviet Union, and Cuba only intensified the Cold War. Cuba, who was already struggling with the huge transition of becoming communist, was not at all prepared for the possible war. Along with, the United States who were still dealing with controlling the spread of communism. The events of the Cuban Missile was the closest the world has ever gotten to a nuclear war. Its aftermath resulted in measures to make sure these events were not repeated.

The US and Moscow were taking place in nuclear discussions but ended up making a deal where if Russia took the missiles out of Cuba in exchange for the US taking missiles out of Turkey on October of 1962. The Soviet missiles were taken out of Cuba and the American missiles were taken out of Turkey lower the scare of a global thermonuclear war. The Cuban Missile Crisis affected John F. Kennedy and the United States’s long-term legacy by making them seem like a heroic and strong while preventing global thermonuclear war and stopping the total destruction of the

Not only was the Soviet Union viewed as a threat with their space program being more advance, but they also had nuclear missile sites being built. An American spy plane secretly photographed evidence that both Cuba and the Soviet Union were building nuclear missile sites. President Kennedy remained collected and directed that a naval blockade was placed around Cuba which would prevent the Soviets from obtaining more military supplies. On the brink of what could have been a nuclear war, there was an agreement made, the Soviets agreed to dismantle their weapons sites in exchange for a pledge from the United States not to invade Cuba. Tension slowly began to lessen as time passed and the agreement remained respected.

The United States and its allies had bases and nuclear weapons literally on the doorstep of the Soviet Union, surrounding it and keeping it on a state of alert that any nation would find uncomfortable. The Politburo in Moscow believed it needed to take a dramatic step. After the failed invasion of Cuban exiles at the Bay of Pigs, Khrushchev saw President Kennedy and his administration as weak, and believed he could put nuclear weapons on America’s doorstep without notice, and reveal them to the world when completed. The invasion of the Bay of Pigs also gave the Soviet’s pause and consider that the United States might even consider an invasion of the Motherland as well. Putting these weapons into Cuba would therefore put pressure onto Washington to accept the Soviet Union’s place in the sphere of world politics, and let America have a taste of what it is like to have nuclear weapons pointed at them from such a close location, as the Soviet Union have felt for years in Europe. Having these weapons so close to America would hopefully deter these American actions that worried the Soviet