The Acheson-Lilienthal Report

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 was perhaps the closest that humankind had ever become to experiencing a thermonuclear war. In October 1962, the world watched perilously, as U.S. president John F. Kennedy warned his people of the amalgamation of Soviet arms in Cuba. John F. Kennedy refused to accept “offensive” Soviet artillery in such close proximity to the U.S., but Soviet chairman Nikita Khrushchev had already planned a stealthily

By 1962, the Soviet Union was considerably behind the United States in the nuclear arms race. The Soviet Union had limited range missiles that were only capable of being launched against Europe, but the United States possessed missiles that were capable of striking anywhere within the entire Soviet Union. As it is often said, when it comes to national security, leaders sometimes make irrational decisions. In an effort to restore the balance of power Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev devised the idea of placing intermediate-range missiles in Cuba (14 days in October). This deployment of weapons in Cuba would double the Soviet strategic arsenal and provide a credible deterrent to a potential U.S. attack against the

When President Truman authorized the use of two nuclear weapons in 1945 against the Japanese in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end World War II, the nature of international security was changed irreversibly. At that time, the United States had what was said to have a monopoly of atomic bombs. Soon thereafter, the Soviet Union began working on atomic weaponry. In 1949, it had already detonated it first atomic bomb and tensions began to heat up between the two countries. With the information that the Soviets had tested their first bomb, the United States began work on more powerful weapons1, and a fight for nuclear superiority had begun.

Since the invention of nuclear weapons, they have presented the world with a significant danger, one that was shown in reality during the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. However, nuclear weapons have not only served in combat, but they have also played a role in keeping the world peaceful by the concept of deterrence. The usage of nuclear weapons would lead to mutual destruction and during the Cold War, nuclear weapons were necessary to maintain international security, as a means of deterrence. However, by the end of the Cold War, reliance on nuclear weapons for maintaining peace became increasingly difficult and less effective (Shultz, et. al, 2007). The development of technology has also provided increasing opportunities for states

During the cold war, both nations built up massive stockpiles of nuclear weapons to achieve nuclear supremacy over the other. Both the soviets and the US hoped to use nuclear weapons as leverage against each other by assuring Mutually Assured Destruction, or MAD.

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

Conflicts between the two nations was inevitable. Kennedy issued a public warning against the introduction of offensive weapons into Cuba, he also considered options that would resolve the crisis. Some of the options they were invading Cuba and taking down their missiles with air strikes, some of the other non-aggressive options they gave away were giving warnings to Cuba and the Soviet Union –“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”- ---John F. Kennedy-. President Kennedy and Khrushchev struggled to understand each other’s intentions. On May 1955 the united nations brought together the USA, U.K, Canada, France, Soviet Union to negotiate on ending nuclear weapons

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

After the Cuban Missile Crisis it became clear how easy it would be to have a nuclear war, and eventually complete destruction of both countries. The Cuban Missile Crisis occurred after The USSR started sending ICBM’s to Cuba and aiming them at the United States. After a tense week or so in October, the crisis was solved with the conditions that Cuba would remove the missiles and the United States would remove some of their that they had strategically placed towards the USSR. With the formation of Mutually Assured Destruction in the Kennedy Administration it became painfully obvious to both citizens of the United States as well as the citizens of the Soviet Union how close and easy it would

It's hard to think that the press of a button by any world leader at any moment. You and everyone you knew would would disappear without any notice. Each country had their own nuclear weapons during the cold war and knew they could destroy each other but during the cuban missile crisis this was the closet both countries came to having an all out nuclear war. Destruction was feared the most for the 13 days it took place. After the failed attempt at attacking cuba known as the bay of pigs, cuba asked for help from the ussr and they happily agreed. They secretly set up nuclear missiles in cuba to protect cuba and the soviet union took it as an advantage.

The Cuban missile crisis in 1962 nearly brought a nuclear confrontation between the US and the Soviet Union. This is due to the fact that the Soviet Union put nuclear missile into Cuba and US installing missile in Turkey. The Soviet Union made friend with Cuba’s President, Fidel Castro because the US wanted to overthrow Castro. After coming to a compromise a nuclear war was averted between Cuba and the US. The sequence of events occurred during the Cuban Missile Crisis begins on August 31, 1962 which eventually came to an end on October 28, 1962. However, it was not until July 1963 that the Atmospheric Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was signed.

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 1962 nuclear war seemed inevitable to the world, it was the first time nuclear war was hanging on a thread. The Cuban Missile Crisis presented a threat to the world, in which the USSR planted nuclear missiles on Cuba. America’s response was to threaten launching nuclear missiles at the Russians. This incident launched the world into a new time, which presented nuclear weapons as a source of power.

For example, Congress turned down a cabinet-level Department of Urban Affairs and Kennedy’s plan for medical care for the elderly. Johnson, however, later had these passed. Kennedy changed around the United States’s national defense policies and increased conventional weapons. He wanted to prepare for a non-nuclear war and wanted to avoid a nuclear exchange. In his own words, “Now in the thermonuclear age any misjudgements on either side about the intentions of the other could rain more devastation in several hours than has been wrought in all the wars of human history” (Kennedy). In October of 1962, nuclear missiles were discovered in Cuba, as supplied by Russia. This, following the April 1961 Bay of Pigs failed invasion, were a recipe for an apocalypse. Kennedy ordered the US Navy to quarantine Cuba, turning away any ships carrying missiles. “For some days a handful of men, operating largely in secret, held our destinies in their hands” (Alsop 2). Thankfully, the nuclear war of our nightmares never came, as Khrushchev ordered all Soviet missiles to be removed from Cuba. This event became known as the Cuban Missile Crisis. In 1961, Kennedy held a conference with Khrushchev about easing up on military threats against West Berlin, but nothing was solved and the Berlin Wall was built, not to fall till 1989. Russia began testing nuclear bombs again in 1961, breaking an official test ban. The United States began testing their bombs soon after, but did it underground, so as not to create dangerous fallout. “In July, 1963, Russia, the United States, and Great Britain signed a treaty banning atomic testing in the atmosphere, outer space, and underwater. Testing was permitted underground” (World Book 212j). Kennedy said that he wanted an “Indispensable condition of disarmament - true inspection - and apply it in stages proportionate to the stage of disarmament”