Both Presidents had done pretty well in the years that they were able to serve but like everyone else who had ever existed, a mistake or bad move was bound to surface sooner or later most of which were during Kennedy’s Presidency. One of the most famous blunders created throughout the early 60s was named The bay of Pigs invasion. This disaster took place in Cuba, an island 90 miles off the Florida coast. The United States was always troubled about this place since 1959 when Fidel Castro overthrew a US backed dictator. Once Castro was sure of power, The United States terminated diplomatic relations with Cuba. The outcome to this was Cuba developing ties with the Soviet Union creating the idea that if this got any worse, Cuba could become a representation …show more content…
The third crisis that took place was The Great Missile Crisis of 1962 which was described to be a confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union over Soviet ballistic missiles deployed in Cuba. This happened over the span of a couple days and was the closest to ever drive The United States and the Soviet Union into total war. Installing missiles so close by the United States worried them into thinking for the …show more content…
When Khrushchev became aware of this his response was a letter that suggested to Kennedy that if United States removed the quarantine and stayed out of Cuba he would remove the missiles in return following with the second letter demanding that the United states remove the missiles in Turkey. He publicly agreed to the first letter and later on met the second letters agreement through negotiation. Since this event, the two countries signed a nuclear war treaty and created a personal hotline between each other for better and quicker communication. The western hemisphere being asked to join, The Alliance for Progress was also formed which was a vast cooperate effort to satisfy the basic needs of people in North, Central, and South America for work, land. homes, health, and schools. Although this act never lived up to President Kennedy's full expectations because of the doubt Latin America had over the benefits of the alliance, this was a kind gesture of peace that showed Kennedy's willingness to move forward. Kennedys desires for a world with nations working together at peace did not stop
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
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
The events that took place in October of 1962 had correlated a cease of movement due to what the Americans believed that a possible missile crisis was arising amongst the Soviet Union and Cuba. All three countries had undergone a change of leadership, opposing American ideals, making matters that even more difficult to come to a compromise between the three states. Ultimately, this had led to a blockade on part of the American government a few days on retrieving evidence of the accumulation of missiles within Cuba and resulted in immediate, carefully thought out action on part of President Kennedy. It is arguable that Castro and Khrushchev had reasonable action to work together, but this cooperation of the two led to a near nuclear crisis possibly leaving the US on warzone territory. Despite the circumstances, President Kennedy was valiant in his efforts in upholding actions where matters can
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.
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
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,
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
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
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 the most dangerous of the Cold War, but
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.
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 Kennedy Doctrine, which was to “Respond flexibly to communist expansion, especially guerrilla warfare” (Roskin & Berry, 2010, p. 58), was executed in this history-making event to the letter. Kennedy could have, and had the power to cease the unfolding events with an all out air strike on the Soviet Union. Some say it is due to bureaucratic politics and the accessibility of information that was provided to the National Security Council by the CIA and air force that this did not occur. In responding flexibly to what The Soviet Union and Cuba were planning, America assessed the volatile situation, forethought possible outcomes and negated all their options albeit under a tight time constraint. America’s forces were mobilized and ready to strike, had word been given nuclear war was on the cards. Kennedy wanted to give The Soviet Union an out and put a halt to a possible war, rethink the situation and allow an alternative to occur. Due to this diplomacy, The Soviet Union entered into negotiations “the Kremlin offered a deal: no Soviet missiles in Cuba if Washington promised not to invade” (Roskin & Berry, 2010, p. 87). By using the flexible response tactic, Kennedy was
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