Cuban Missile Crisis Research Paper

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 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.

This Cuban Missile Crisis was one of the biggest events in American history. After World War II, much of Europe was left in ruins. Europe had been divided into two sections: eastern and western by the Iron Curtain. The Soviet Union and many new governments in Eastern Europe were communists, controlling everything from businesses to schools and people. As a result, the Cold War began with the Soviet Union and the United States became rivals competing to recruit other countries to their side.

The Cuban Missile Crisis is one of the most impactful events in the Cold War due to the effect that it had after it happened. The effect of the Cuban Missile Crisis created many changes on the direct and indirect relations between the United States and Soviet Union. The Cuban Missile Crisis spanned 13 days in October 1962 that almost brought the world into a nuclear war. This all began when a United States U-2 spy plane Cuba took photos of Soviet SS-4 medium range ballistic missiles getting setup for the ability to launch.This caused the U.S leaders to be thrown into a panic because the Cuban Government had very strong ties with the Soviet Union who are the United States biggest enemies at the time. Another reason the United States was very fearful is because the coast of Cuba is only 90 miles of the coast of Florida. When President John F Kennedy was told of the missile threat in Cuba he immediately called a meeting with his closest advisors on how to react. There were many ideas on how to react to the missiles, some of Kennedy’s advisors wanted to invade Cuba, others wanted to send a warning to the Soviet Union. JFK finally decided to send a naval blockade to cuba for the purpose of stopping more supplies reaching the Cuban military from Russia. The blockade even though the blockade did not include attacking anyone, it was still seen as an act of aggression by the Soviet Union. The U.S was

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 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

During that time of banned trade with the U.S the Cuban’s made “a secret agreement allowing the Soviet Union to build a missile base on the island” (“Council on Foreign Relations”) In October of 1962 the United States found out about the deal that the Cubans had made with the Soviet Union. The U.S. set off a fourteen-day standoff, and urged that the U.S. ships quarantine around the island. Kennedy demanded that the missiles be destroyed, so they came into an agreement with Cuba that stated that the U.S. will not invade Cuba and that the U.S. will remove their nuclear missiles from Turkey. After that was solved

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 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.

Kennedy was informed the the missiles that very same day and his advisors told him that they wanted an air strike followed by an invasion put up in Cuba. Kennedy knew that if the US invaded the Soviets would use their missiles.

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.

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 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.

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.