Summary: The Great Missile Crisis

The Cuban Missile Crisis as a Turning Point in USA and USSR The Cuban Missile Crisis was indeed a turning point in USA and Soviet relations during the Cold War. The event stands in history as one that nearly brought humanity to the brink of destruction and is known as perhaps the single greatest political battle between the two superpowers, the world has ever seen. It also started a détente that which instigated an end to the arms race between the two nations. Following the Cuban Missile Crisis the two leaders, Kennedy and Khrushchev, found a new respect for each other, and this laid the foundations for a strengthened understanding between the two countries.

Kennedy did his best to avoid an invasion of Cuba, like the CIA’s failed Bay of Pigs invasion which occurred only 1 year earlier and attempted to take over the Castro-led government. Because of Kennedy’s strong dislike for any sort of military action, he encouraged the members of the Executive Committee to devise different routes of handling the Crisis in Cuba. While Kennedy did not want to take action, he understood that he needed to protect the U.S. Several air units became positioned on the southern coast of the United States, to remain for 12 months unless changed (“PENTAGON LISTS AIR UNITS CALLED: Action Lasts for 12 Months Unless It Is Changed” 17). The President exchanged letters with Premier Khrushchev, usually daily, and often several pages in length (Kennedy 1). These letters between the two leaders ultimately determined the solution to the Crisis in Cuba, and could have even strengthened the diplomatic ties between the two countries (Finney 1). When the Executive Committee realized how well the daily letters between the American president and Khrushchev were going, they chose to not take drastic actions against Cuba, but to instead take a more calm role and negotiate with the Soviet Union. This more peaceful decision ended up being the best decision to make, and earned Kennedy a lot of respect and praise for his actions (“CAPITAL PRAISES KENNEDY'S STAND: Some Congressmen Caution on Khrushchev

The crisis began when the United States discovered the existence of offensive Soviet Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs), nuclear capable, barely 90 miles from the southern coast of Florida, in Cuba. U-2 spy plane reconnaissance missions over Cuba captured the

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.

During President John F Kennedy’s term in office, there was the Cuban missile crisis. This occurred in 1962 and had America not decided on the course of actions that it

On October 22 JFK announced that the Soviets had long range missiles in Cuba, which posed a dangerous threat to the United States. Kennedy ordered a naval blockade to stop Soviets from delivering more missiles. The Soviets on the other hand were heading right for the blockade and Americans prepared for war. Kennedy and the Soviets had secret negotiations were at the end the Soviets offered a deal. The deal was the Soviets would remove missiles from Cuba if the US promised to not invade Cuba and they had to remove their missiles from Turkey. On October 28 both Kennedy and Khrushchev came to an agreement because neither one wanted nuclear war. Kennedy’s quick thinking and his willingness to negotiate with the Soviets was the only reason the US was able to avoid going to nuclear war. Kennedy after the Cuban missile crisis had many ideas that he wished to implicate but sadly he was assassinated before he could do

Kennedy became the youngest man and the first Roman Catholic to hold that office. He was born into one of America’s wealthiest families and parlayed an elite education and a reputation as a military hero into a successful run for Congress in 1946 and for the Senate in 1952. As president, Kennedy confronted mounting Cold War tensions in Cuba, Vietnam and elsewhere. He also led a renewed drive for public service and eventually provided federal support for the growing civil rights movements. Meanwhile, Fidel Castro was looking for a way to defend his nation from an attack by the U.S. After the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, he was convinced another attack was inevitable.

Russia was not the only country Kennedy had to deal with, there was also Castro in Cuba. When Kennedy came into office the C.I.A. had been planning an attack on Cuba in order take over the island. This need to deal with Castro was made more urgent with his hatred towards America and his ties with soviets in Russia. Instead of an all out attack Kennedy instead wanted to recruit and train the anti-castro group, with the help of the CIA, in order to help them overthrow Castro. In 1961, this group began their attack on cuba at the Bay of Pigs and were quickly eliminated by Castro's army, the CIA had underestimated the army’s ability. The CIA’s involvement was immediately exposed, this was shown as another failure and proof of weakness for the United States. Following the events at the Bay of Pigs came the building of the Berlin Wall. Kennedy had met with Khrushchev, the leader of the Soviet Union, in order to easy some of the tension from of the Cold War. Unfortunately when Kennedy was unwilling to budge on the topic of West Berlin, which had been separate from east berlin as part of the World War, Khrushchev ordered the creation of the berlin wall to seal in West Berlin and to stop anyone from East Berlin from getting in. In 1962 began the Cuban Missile Crisis, when american spy planes flying over Cuba got photographic proof that there were missiles being stored in Cuba. In order to avoid immediately going into a nuclear war, Kennedy opted to blockade cuba in order to stop Soviet Union ships from passing, instead of simply bombing Cuba. As the Soviet ships were approaching the blockade it seemed like it was inevitable to go into an all out attack until at the last minute the Soviets turned around. The Cuban Missile Crisis was a big win for the United States because they had finally stood up to Soviets and the missiles were removed from

First off, Kennedy was under a lot of pressure during the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. After the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion, the

As the Soviets had advanced much faster than the U.S. in this period of time, Kennedy pushed to excel past their advancements. The space race represented the promise of the New Frontier, inspiring the coming generations of Americans to pursue dreams that had once seemed unattainable. Citizens of the United States were revitalized by Kennedy’s goal, giving the U.S. a refreshing sense of motivation and unity to land a man on the moon before the decade was over. Later on in his presidency, the U.S. had also gone through the Cuban Missile Crisis. Many thought an all-out war was imminent, but Kennedy prevented any sequential conflicts: “…in October 1962, Kennedy imposed a quarantine on all offensive weapons bound for Cuba. While the world trembled on the brink of nuclear war, the Russians backed down and agreed to take the missiles away. The American response to the Cuban crisis evidently persuaded Moscow of the futility of nuclear blackmail” (Beschloss). Kennedy reasoned with Russia and Cuba during times of distress and anxiety, making conservative choices as to not provoke nuclear war. Learning from his mistakes made in the Bay of Pigs invasion, Kennedy did not wish to engage in war with military powerhouses Cuba and Russia. As a Senator,

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.

Two sides emerged: one side wanted to remove missiles from other countries to lower the tension that was arising and the others wanted an air strike and an invasion. Kennedy sided with with not doing an attack knowing that had the potential to become a full out war. The conflict continued with statements from America and The Soviet Union that the other needed to remove their missiles from the areas near their countries. The crisis finally came to a close without a major blowout but did scare the world leader of what could possibly happen in the future.

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

The whole reason why the soviets had begun installing missiles in Cuba was because they wanted the Americans to feel the threat they did with the American missiles that were installed in Turkey prior. Questions began to arise among both nations whether they should attack one another or to negotiate a truce.("The Cuban Missile Crisis") "The Cuban missile crisis showed that neither the United States nor the Soviet Union were ready to use nuclear weapons for fear of the others retaliation"("The Cold War") As a result, "a second letter from Kremlin...stated that in order for Russia to remove the weapons from Cuba, the United States had to remove its missiles in Turkey. Though not everyone in the Kennedy administration agreed to this proposal, it was ultimately the compromise that saved the world from nuclear war." ("Cuban Missile Crisis") Finally both sides met "at the existing battle line...[and] the two sides signed an armistice ending the war. At best, the agreement was a stalemate." (McDougal, 615) In association to the Cold War, similar significant events took place in the Butter

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.