Nikita Khrushchev's Solution To The Cuban Missile Crisis

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.

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

The Missile Crisis developed in 1962 because Fidel Castro believed that America would soon try again to invade his country. He asked the Soviet Union for help in defending his island nation. The Soviet Union replied by sending small arms, tanks, and infantry units to Cuba, as well as secretly transferring nuclear missiles to missile silos that were under construction in Cuba. The Americans were shocked when one of their U-2 spy planes discovered the nuclear silos under construction in Cuba because it meant that for the first time the Soviet missiles were within range of most major U.S. cities, including Washington, D.C. This created a very difficult problem for American President John F. Kennedy for which he needed to find a solution. He could not allow the missile silos to finish being constructed because that would place the United States in danger. That meant that either he would have to try diplomatic means to attempt to negotiate the removal of the weapons, or he would have to use the might of the American military to remove the weapons by force. Neither option looked particularly favourable. The Joint Chiefs of Staff (the President's military advisors) urged a swift and strong military invasion to destroy the silos before the Soviets could react. Kennedy was concerned, however, of the possibility of Soviet nuclear retaliation for the invasion because invasion was clearly an act of war. Up until that point, neither side had been willing to risk direct

armed forces, Castro felt a second attack was inevitable. Although he was reluctant to accept the missiles at the beginning, he was finally persuaded. It could be argued that Castro pursued closer relations with the Soviet Union mainly for the protection of Cuba, and therefore was more open to Soviet suggestions such as placing nuclear weapons in Cuba to ensure its security. Che Guevara, a major figure to play a central role in training the military forces for the Bays of Pigs invasion and in bringing the Soviet nuclear weapons to Cuba, stated that "all the Cuban people must become a guerrilla army, each and every Cuban must learn to handle and if necessary use firearms in defence of the nation.1" Guevara's statement suggests that if the Cuban people had to fight, they were willing to fight, which shows the Cuban enthusiasm towards protection and, therefore, towards the Soviets. The Soviets, seeing an opportunity to make their international position feel close to the one of the US, rushed to aid Castro in order to double their military strength. Having said that, it could be argued that the Cuban-Soviet relationship was inevitable due to the poor U.S.-Cuban relationship. Placing the missiles in Cuba was a huge military step for the Soviets as it could enable them to reach and destroy most of the continental U.S. And, for that reason, the Cuban Missile Crisis was an event of a very high international importance.

There was a suspicious report that there was a nuclear threat from Soviet that might've been based on Cuba with missiles aiming to bomb America. On 29 August President John F. Kennedy ordered periodic flights over to Cuba by high-speed, high-altitude U-2 spy planes. A quote that relates and explains more about this is "Although U-2 flights through 7 October showed Soviet antiaircraft missile (SAM) sites under construction and the introduction of Soviet-built patrol boats, they turned up no hard evidence of offensive missile sites or introduction of such missiles" (The Cold War Continued: The Cuban Missile Crisis). The evidence shows that the prior statement confirms Kennedy's swift action to protect the safety of the American people. This led Kennedy to send forces to examine if Cuba actually had missiles; which they didn't. He always made sure that this country was protected. His priorities was straight and he knew exactly what had to be

Khrushchev thought of placing missiles in Cuba, which would serve as a real deterrent to a potential U.S. attack against the Soviet Union. At the same time, Fidel Castro was looking for a way to defend his nation from another attack by the US, after the ¡¥Bay of Pigs¡¦, where John F. Kennedy was unsuccessful in his invasion Cuba. Fidel Castro consequently, approved of Khrushchev¡¦s plan to place missiles on the island. When the US discovered Khrushchev¡¦s plan via reconnaissance photographs, Kennedy announced the soviets plan to the public and most of the world thought that

In an effort to end Castro's government once and for all, President Kennedy gave the approval for the Bay of Pigs invasion, which seemed like a surefire way to defeat Castro’s government. In this invasion, Kennedy covertly hired 1,400 Cuban exiles from the United States to wage an all-out war against Castro. However, this plan utterly failed, with Castro defeating the Cuban exiles and Kennedy being exposed for ordering such an attack. This failed invasion also spurred the Cuban government to allow the Soviet Union to place nuclear missiles in Cuba, playing right into Soviet interests. Premier Khrushchev, the leader of the Soviet Union during this time, quickly seized this opportunity to stealthily send more than 40 nuclear missiles to Cuba, which gave them the capability of accurately hitting vital American targets, such as Washington, D.C., and New York City, while also protecting their fellow communists in

President Kennedy asked General Walter C. Sweeney, Commander in Chief of the Tactical Air Command if they could destroy all other missile sites and nuclear weapons in Cuba with an invasion. General Sweeney said they could take out all of the missiles they knew about but there may be one - five they would miss. President Kennedy knew that even one missile could kill millions of Americans and he could not accept the risk of that happening. Because of that he endorsed the naval quarantine. Following the blatant lie by Gromyko and newly acquired information from recent surveillance film confirming the shipment of missiles and the building of bases in Cuba, President Kennedy felt it was necessary to make this information available to the people of the United States and world on Monday, October 22, 1961 (14 days in October, Day 6 & 7).

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.

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

JFK spent several days discussing the Cuban Missle crisis with his advisors. After long and difficult meetings, JFK placed a naval blockade around Cuba. He called this a quarantine to prevent Soviets from bringing in more military supplies. JFK demanded that the missiles be removed and destroyed. No one was sure how the Soviets would react to this blockade and demands made by him. So a deal was made with the Soviets to dismantle the weapon sites in exchange for a pledge from the US not to invade

On January of 1959, a young guerilla leader named Fidel Castro initiated a coup to overthrow the American-backed head of Cuba and start his own military dictatorship. From that day forward for the next two years, U.S. officials tried to oust Castro out of power. Eventually, in April of 1961, the United States launched a full-scale invasion of Cuba that ultimately failed. The Cuban government was absolutely certain that the U.S. would launch another attack towards them. Plus, the United States had caches of Jupiter missiles in both Italy and Turkey. As a result, Castro obtained a meeting with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev to install nuclear missiles in Cuba. The two forces agreed, and by 1962, the USSR secretly delivered three MRBM and two IRBM regiments to Cuba – a total of about 80 missiles in all. The U.S. soon found out the presence of the missiles in August from aerial pictures taken from a U-2 Spy Plane. The missiles posed a huge threat to the country, as they could easily wipe out a large portion of North America and easily kill tens of millions of people. John F. Kennedy, the U.S. president at the time, had to act swiftly, for

On one of the following days, Kennedy asked if the Air Force could take out all of the missiles in Cuba. The Air Force then told the President that with that process there would be 10-20,000 civilian casualties. Kennedy then decided to set up a blockade around Cuba. US ships prepared for a quarantine. The press then learned about the nuclear missles and questioned them about it, the President asked the reporters not to reveal the news so he could announce it to the American people on TV. The Soviets had instrustion to launch the missiles within minutes of Kennedy’s speech. After Castro listened to the President’s speech he moblized all of Cuba’s military forces.

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.

“Good evening my fellow citizens…This Government, as promised, has maintained the closest surveillance of the Soviet Military buildup on the island of Cuba. Within the past week, unmistakable evidence has established the fact that a series of offensive missile sites is now in preparation on that imprisoned island. The purpose of these bases can be none other than to provide a nuclear strike capability against the Western Hemisphere.” These are the exact words spoken by John F. Kennedy in his address to the nation on October 22, 1962. The president had finally told the American people what was happening with the crisis in Cuba and what that government was determined to do about it.