The Cuban Missile Crisis: Days of Fear and Confusion
Introduction
One of the scariest moments in United States history is the day Soviet Missiles were found in Cuba. For thirteen days President Kennedy and Americans sat in fear of what the Soviets and Cuba would do next.
The Cuban Missile Crisis is probably the most dangerous and lesson filled conflict in American history.
After the days of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the United States had new ways of thinking and new ideas to make sure that never happened again; as a result new relationships and treaties were formed.
The Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was one of the biggest results of the Cold War.
The Cold War was a time of tension between the United States and the Soviet
…show more content…
The Air Force ordered Major Richard Heyser and Major Rudolf Anderson to fly above Cuban to gain information on the operation of possible Soviet Missiles; they came back with photo evidence of missile installation.
The U.S. issue a naval quarantine on Cuba, making it so that Cuban would not receive military supplies.
On October 28, 1962 Khrushchev accepted Kennedy’s offer not to invade Cuba in exchange for the removal of Soviet Missiles on the island.
Forgien Relationships
Since the early 1960s the United States and Cuba have had a very tense relationship.
After the Crisis, Kennedy issued a ban on Cuban Travel to and from America.
Expectations have been made, due to the Obama Administration, for Cuban-Americans with relatives on the island to enter Cuba.
Diplomatic offices were established in each other’s country but diplomatic relations were not developed.
To prevent another world wide panic such as this, the U.S. and Russia have come together in civility.
Less than seven months after the crisis a the Washington-Moscow “hotline’ was established for communication between the leaders of each country, to make sure misunderstandings to not
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 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
With President Kennedy’s advisers, he opted on a naval blockade to stop Russian ships from conveying the missiles for the sites in Cuba. Khrushchev cautioned that Russia would view the blockade as an act of war. The Russian militaries were put on vigilant and the US bombers were placed in the air sustaining nuclear bombs (Blight., et al 24). The arrangements were made to attack Cuba. There was enormous tension in both Moscow and Washington. The US secretly proposed an exchange of missile bases that is the Russian bases in Cuba and the US bases in
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a warning to all the countries in the world. The US and the Soviet Union both knew the world had come too close to a nuclear war; both super powers knew there had to be better communication. After eight months, a hotline was installed. The phoneline linked the Soviet government, the Kremlin, and the White House. As a backup, a teletypewriter linked Washington, DC to Moscow. In addition, in 1963, the US, the Soviet Unions, and other countries signed the Limited Test Ban
The Cuban Missile Crisis and how it was a turning point in the Cold War
Castro turned to Khrushchev, the leader of the Soviet Union, for assistance in warding off the United States (Trueman, 2015). Khrushchev started sending missiles and military aid to Cuba. The United States was at a severe disadvantage because their radar was unable to detect if Cuba launched any missiles in their direction until they were over US airspace (The Bay of Pigs Invasion and its Aftermath, 2016). Using geostrategic positioning, Kennedy surrounded Cuba with a Naval blockade and searched ships entering Cuba to intercept any weapons entering the country. The US demanded the removal of missiles from Cuba and Khrushchev agreed as long as the United States promised not to retaliate against Cuba and removed any missiles from Turkey aimed at the USSR (Boston University Student Researchers, n.d.). By creating the naval blockade, Kennedy was able to assert power over Cuba and use geostrategic positioning and the power of negotiation to end the Cuban Missile
The United States has had a long history with Cuba. Within that long history came many arguments and accusations, such as the demand that Castro request that the U.S. embassy staff be reduced. Following that request came an outrageous accusation stating that the embassy was being used as a foundation for spies. This made U.S. officials think that Castro’s government was too anti-American to be trusted. Castro started nationalizing foreign property and companies as a response to the U.S., so the United States decided to cutback trades with Cuba. America tried to resolve the differences with Castro’s government through diplomacy. Seeing that they could not come to an agreement the united states decide to embargo trade with Cuba. Two months later, President John F. Kennedy unleashed the Cuban exile force which caused Castro’s military to kill or capture the exile troops.
The Cuban Missile Crisis forever marked 1962 as the year the world almost witnessed a nuclear war. The Soviet Union, Cuba, and the United States were all teetering on the edge of a cliff that was crumbling from the weight of fear, tension, and secrecy. It also marked the official end of Americans innocent belief that they were safe in the glow of Lady Liberty’s torch. Yet amidst the dark shadow of nuclear threat one American president rose to this challenge and proved that peace through strength is the best strategy.
The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October crisis was a political and military standoff that lasted 13 days between the United States and the Soviet Union in regard to the nuclear weapons that were being housed in Cuba for potential launch to the United States. It is often noted as one of the most important “what if” or situations of rhetoric in United States history. It marked a climax in the Cold War, a diplomatic feud between the two world superpowers: The United States and the Soviet Union.
The Cuban Missile Crisis had a huge impact on society even years after it was resolved because the incident had brought our nation and the world so close to the brink of nuclear war. Before the Cuban Missile Crisis had occurred, many other factors had been piling up and building undesirable tensions between many countries. Along the way new allies and enemies were made causing more stress to the Cold War. The new bonds that formed after Cuba was taken over by Fidel Castro pushed nuclear war to the very edge.
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a dangerous Cold War event because of the nuclear armed missiles the Soviet Union had placed in Cuba. The Soviet Union and Cuba had recently strengthened relations when Cuba became a Communist nation and the Soviets knew the United States wanted to invade Cuba to try and overthrow the government a second time. Concerned Cubans enlisted the help of the Soviet Union to help protect them with nuclear arms in case the need arose. At first, the Soviets thought that the United States would do nothing to stop the nuclear arms trade, though they were very wrong. Once it was reported to the White House, that the Soviet Union gave the Cubans missiles, action was taken. The action was decided by the Executive Committee
The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 was the closest the world has ever come to nuclear war. The crisis was a major confrontation between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The confrontation was caused by the Soviets putting missiles in Cuba, just 90 miles off the coast of the United States of America. The world was in the hands of President John F. Kennedy and Premier Nikita Khruchchev. These two men would have to reach a compromise or else the results would be fatal.
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
Tense and threatening, the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 was period of time that forever changed the modern world. The thirteen day confrontation occurred between the United States of America, led by President John F Kennedy and the Soviet Union, lead by Nikita Khrushchev after the discovery of nuclear missiles in Cuba. The crisis was the closest the world had ever come to nuclear war, establishing it as the pinnacle event of the Cold War.
When speaking about the Cuban Missile Crisis, President Kennedy said, "It is insane that two men, sitting on opposite sides of the world, should be able to decide to bring an end to civilization” (“Nuclear Test Ban Treaty” 1). the Cuban Missile Crisis was a time where these two men, Kennedy and Khrushchev, had the power in their hands to end civilization. In order to understand the importance of the Cuban Missile Crisis one must understand, the Cold war drama; the dangerous crisis; and its importance today.