Cuban Missile Crisis Research Paper

Identification and Evaluation of Sources “How real was the threat of nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis?” That is to say would either country actually have turned the key and pushed the button, sinking the world into nuclear warfare or was the threat of Mutually Assured Destruction too great to have allowed for such catastrophe to occur? All of the sources used were found on the internet but were all found from highly reputable sources. One online source came from the Library of Congress’s website.

World War III is an alarming event to ponder on right? Especially if that war would be nuclear. This event almost happened on multiple occasions, but this is going to be about a nerve-racking time in 1962. What happened in 1962 you may ask? The Cuban Missile Crisis. Just as the year was coming to an end an American spy plane took pictures of missiles in an island 103 miles off the coast of Florida, Cuba. Can theorize who put the missiles there? The USSR put them there because Cuba was a neighboring communist country to the US, so if the US were to do something the USSR could shoot the missiles. Mind you, these weapons are nuclear and as we should all know that is never excellent. After this very stressful time for the US and the USSR how did

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.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy, also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States and the youngest person ever to be elected president. He was also the first Roman Catholic president and the first president to be born in the 20th century. Young people especially liked him. No other president was so popular. Kennedy was assassinated before he completed his third year as president; therefore, his achievements were limited. Nevertheless, his influence was worldwide, and his handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis may have prevented war. The thirteen days Kennedy spent fighting for the safety of this country back in mid-October of 1962, were probably one of the most difficult times faced by Kennedy during his presidency.

Throughout the course of history, Americans have changed the ways in which they derived the powers of the government from the consent of the governed, have changed their understanding of social and political practices concerning “rights”, changed “forms” of government, which have all led to a change in Americans’ “safety and happiness”.

The crisis over the installation of Soviet missiles in Cuba is, in all likelihood, the turning point of the Kennedy presidency, and the counterpart to the humiliation at the Bay of Pigs. Its development and outcome would provide the US president a historic victory and an unprecedented international prestige. His personal and political stature would reach peaks that never come to pass.

History is imperative to John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev during the Cuban missile crisis of 1962.

35 Nikita Khrushchev, “Department of State Telegram Transmitting Letter From Chairman Khrushchev to President Kennedy, October 26, 1962” (Moscow: 26 Oct. 1962). 36 “Black Saturday: Cuban Missile Crisis.” (The Historical Association, 27 Apr. 2010). 37 Nikita Khrushchev, “Letter From Chairman Khrushchev to President Kennedy, October 27, 1962” (Moscow: 27 Oct. 1962). 38 Carter 33.

How did the world become so close to full-blown nuclear war? It all started with a deep routed conflict between the United States and Soviet Union. The U.S and the Soviet Union had different views on political and economic systems. The United States believed in Democracy, which means the people have say in what the government does. While the Soviet Union believed in Communism which means the government controls everything and ultimately leads to a dictatorship. After World War II the superpowers need to talk about post war goals. July, 1945 Churchill Brittan’s (Prime Minister), Truman (the President of the United States) and Stalin (the Soviet Union’s Dictator) all met at what is known as the Potsdam Conference. Truman and Churchill are determined to preserve Democratic government. After losing 20 million men and suffering widespread destruction. Stalin wanted to punish Germany, impose Communism on his entire nation and pay reparation for war damage. He would do this by establishing satellite nations. This meant that Germany could still be their own country, but the Soviet Union would have control over their decisions. Truman, on the other hand, believed that they should not punish Germany’s people for what Hitler had done and that Germany’s industry was critical to Europe’s recovery. Paralyzing Germany would only hurt Europe as a whole. Nearly three decades later the Potsdam Conference did nothing to bridge the divide. These two competing ideas caused tremendous conflict

“The Cuban missile crisis was the most dangerous event in human history” (Munton and Welch 1). I felt that this quote summed up the book nicely. Even though the missiles were never launched the impact that they would have had on the United States would have been deadly. I found this book to be very interesting. Although I had learned about this before I read this book it gave me a lot of information that I did not know, but it also gave me a more in depth look at what I had already learned. Below I have listed some of the things that I liked about the book and somethings that I did not like. Overall I think that this book was a good read when it comes to obtaining history and insight about the Cuban missile crisis (Munton and Welch).

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.

In his article, “The Influence of Nuclear Weapons in the Cuban Missile Crisis,” Marc Trachtenberg considers three historical approaches to the role that nuclear arms played during the 1962 conflict: first, the view that nuclear arms played no role at all, with U.S. and Soviet weapons cancelling each other out, second, the interpretation that the risk involved with nuclear warfare heavily influenced policy making, and finally the view that the strategic imbalance of nuclear force, characterized by a substantial American advantage, significantly impacted the outcome of the crisis. In weighing the three interpretations, Trachtenberg dismisses the first in supporting the existence of the second, using a variety of primary sources to identify instances when decision-makers were influenced by the risk of nuclear warfare. The focus of the article, however, is on advancing and complicating the third approach, which Trachtenberg claims is congruous with the second. In this third section, Trachtenberg advances the approach that the imbalance of nuclear capabilities impacted Soviet strategy but not American decision making. Accordingly, Trachtenberg’s article is characterized by two central claims: that risk of nuclear war influenced policy during the Cuban Missile Crisis and that American nuclear superiority disproportionately affected Soviet decision-making.

Introduction: After the end of the Second World War, the United States of America took initiative against the Soviet Union by placing medium range ballistic missiles in the Soviet Union 's’ neighboring country, Turkey, in 1961. To counter this, the Soviet Union sent nuclear missiles of their own to Cuba, and once the United States of America discovered this, a standoff ensued called the Cuban Missile Crisis. Although it appears that the Cuban Missile Crisis further separated the United States and the Soviet Union, the years after the crisis showed a growth in trust between the two nations through the process of negotiations, removal of offensive warheads, and multiple treaties.

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

In order to understand the importance of the Cuban Missile Crisis in American history one must first understand the Cold War drama, Castro’s rise to power, and the American operations that set up the crisis. “The term Cold War refers