The Cold War and US Diplomacy

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.

On October 22, 1962, President John F. Kennedy “informed the world” that the Soviets were building secretive missile bases in Cuba, very close to Florida. President Kennedy decided to take the peaceful route in handling is major crisis. As

“I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.” This declaration, made by former President Harry S. Truman on March 12, 1947, is part of the Truman Doctrine, and was the basis for U.S. involvement in Western Europe throughout the Cold War. Although the North Atlantic Treaty, and the resulting North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), was established during the Cold War “to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down,” NATO has persisted since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990. This essay will seek to examine the U.S. decision to create and participate in NATO. It will begin by providing a history of NATO and the U.S. decision to participate in NATO before considering how this decision is both an instance of continuity and change in U.S. foreign policy since former President George Washington’s Farewell Address. The essay will conclude by considering the legacy of this decision and its impact on U.S. foreign policy. While this essay will consider the period of time leading up to the formation of NATO and will briefly touch on the present day, greatest consideration will be paid to the time period immediately preceding and following the formation of NATO in 1949.

Kennedy had given a speech to the American people where he has said “We have unmistakable evidence that a series of offensive missile sites is now being built on that island … Cuba has been made into an important strategic base by the presence of these long-range offensive weapons of sudden mass destruction… Our objective must be to prevent the use of these missiles against this or any other country. We must secure their withdrawal from the Western Hemisphere” (Doc 6). President Kennedy was trying to calm the society by explaining they will be prevent the use of the missiles by withdrawing the Western Hemisphere. During the year of 1962, October 27 Premier Khrushchev stated in a message “Mr. President, the Soviet government decided to help Cuba with means of defense against outside attack. These weapons were only meant for defensive purposes. We have supplied them to prevent aggression against Cuba … With respect and confidence I accept the statement you set forth in your message of October 27, 1962. You said then that Cuba will not be attacked or invaded by any country of the Western Hemisphere … We have given the order to discontinue building the installations. We shall dismantle them and withdraw them to the Soviet Union” (Doc 8). This message was sent to the U.S after ordering a blockade of all offensive military equipment being sent into

The Cold War was a significant time for the United States and the Soviet Union, while the rest of the world watched intently. Although no actual war took place, both of these powerful countries did their best to promote their political and ideological ideas while trying to gain some ground in the seemingly never ending arms race. This war was driven by both fear and the strive to become the strongest and most powerful country. During the time of the Cold War, the United States proved to be a strong influence over Canada. Given its location, it was obvious as to which side Canada was on. While Canada believed in the same ideologies as the US, this nation was still reluctant to fully emerge themselves into the hysteria that had been emerging in the US. However, even though Canada had just received world recognition for its contribution during the Second World War, this large yet acutely populated country had much still to prove. During this time, Canada just recently became a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). But while Canada was making huge steps in their peacekeeping and military growth, there were still rumours of espionage circling the country.

This was a problem for Kennedy because Cuba was within a 90 mile radius from the United States, easy sticking distance. The United States had missiles in Turkey, which were in striking distance from the Soviet Union, which Khrushchev used as a weighing option when deciding to place missiles in Cuba. Kennedy saw the missiles that were being held in Cuba as almost an act of war from the Soviet Union. Khrushchev assured President Kennedy that the missiles were not an act of war, but yet only a defense for Cuba, who was feeling Having Soviet Union missiles this close to the mainland was a problem for the United States. Kennedy decided that the only way to stop the Soviet Union from fully equipping Cuba with enough missiles to destroy the United States, was to stop the missiles from getting to Cuba. To stop them Kennedy dispatched U.S. warships into the Atlantic, which was able to prevent the Soviet missile fleet from reaching Cuba. Unfortunately there were already missiles in Cuba from earlier fleets and they were

Beschloss, M. R., & Talbott, S. (1993). The inside story of the end of the Cold War: At the highest levels. Canada: Little, Brown and Company.

Ronald Reagan is now one of the most controversial presidents of the past fifty years. Although all have their defenders and detractors, Reagan, though not necessarily a polarizing figure, was engaged in some behavior that has caused questions as people examine his decisions. He is probably best known for his ability to communicate his conservative ideals to the public, and had an innate ability to get people to follow him. Some would say though that his strong arm tactics began the alienation of the United States from the rest of the world, and has led to this moment in time in which the US is reviled by many countries. His chief objective seemed to be to stop the Cold War and end communism as it had stood for the better seven decades, and he did accomplish his task. However, he lacked the delicate diplomatic touch that many wished he would have used. But, he was strong in his convictions ad was not afraid to voice them to any country or individual leader he believed needed to be told how to act properly. This paper looks at the situation with Libya in 1986, examines Reagan's diplomatic doctrine as it applies to this situation, and then determines the immediate and eventual impact of Reagan-led US actions.

Did not submit or incompletely described the effects of these diplomatic efforts for the U.S. and other countries.

The Cuban Missile Crisis began when the United States had a spy plane fly over Cuba and noticed that on the island were Nuclear tipped missiles owned by the Soviet Union. The Cuban dictator known as Fidel Castro, became close to the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union leader, Nikita Khrushchev and the President of the United States John F. Kennedy both agreed that if the United States does not invade Cuba, the missiles would be removed from both Cuba and from the country of Turkey. “There is one point on which I want to give you new information right away, I have refrained from doing this until now; but today an attempt is being made to frighten all mankind by propagating the idea that Cuba, and in particular I, might provoke a nuclear war, so I feel the world should know the true story of the missile emplacement” (Castro). During this crisis, Fidel Castro and the Soviet Union almost started a nuclear war at one of the most important parts in history. But way before the crisis happened, Castro said that there were warnings coming of an invasion. “Six months before these missiles were installed in Cuba, we had received an accumulation of information warning us that a new invasion of the island has being prepared under sponsorship of the Central Intelligence Agency, whose administrators were humiliated by the Bay of Pigs disaster and by the spectacle of being ridiculed in the eyes of

Only a few months after the United States’ sponsored Cuban invasion at the Bay of Pigs, Fidel Castro had declared himself to be Marxist-Leninist, obligating the Soviet Union to protect his vulnerable communist nation. After Fidel asked the Soviet Union for weapons, trade alliances, and even Soviet soldiers, the Soviets suggested a different approach - medium-range ballistic missiles. Castro agreed, and in 1962, Cuba was the center of world focus when the United States discovered the construction sites of Soviet nuclear missiles on Cuban soil. Posing an obvious threat to American safety, the Cuban Missile Crisis, brought the world the closest it ever came to nuclear war. As the tensions of the Missile Crisis grew, Castro wrote Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev urging him to use the missiles and to sacrifice Cuba if necessary. Being only 90 miles from the US mainland, President Kennedy urged a need for the missiles to be dismantled. The Soviet Union finally agreed to remove the missiles on the condition that the United States dismantles its nuclear weapons deployed in Turkey and that they sign a pledge not to invade Cuba. Significantly,

The Soviet Union had been storing missile in Cuba to have closer access to North America and Canada. This became known as the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. During a routine flight, a pilot was taking photographs and noticed the piles upon piles of missiles, fuel tanks, etc in Cuba. President Kennedy feared these were nuclear missiles. He took action and ordered a naval quarantine on Cuba to keep the Russians from bringing in more missiles. Soviet ships headed towards this blockade and were enraged. The world was on the brink of a disaster as they feared this would be the break out of actual war between Russia and the United States. Eventually, Khrushchev in Russia called his ships back and stated he would clear the missiles out of Cuba if the United States agreed to leave

The Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev risked the missile bases for the goal of being in range for a nuclear strike. Khrushchev was apprehensive about the number of nuclear weapons that were targeted at The Soviet Union from countries in Europe and Turkey, so he needed to find away to even out the playing field (Cuban Missile Crisis. History.com). The finding of the missile bases imposed a sense of urgency on the situation. The base unit in Cuba was only ninety miles away from the southern coast of Florida. This information was alarming because the communist were finally capable of reaching the eastern United States. From that moment, President Kennedy knew something that had to be done about the medium-ranged missile sites in Cuba. Both superpowers were aware of the others aggressiveness and assertiveness. This means that once one missile goes off, there will be massive havoc; both sides will strike until they are defeated. If a nuclear missile went off, there could have easily been an end to a civilization. President Kennedy immediately formed a group of advisors and officials. Eventually this group was called the executive committee, or the Excom. From the beginning, the executive committee and Kennedy agreed the missiles in Cuba had to go. The Excom had many different choices of ways they could approach the situation. From bombing the missile bases or a full invasion of Cuba, but their ultimatum was to remove the missile bases from Cuba without stirring up

“It was under these circumstances that [Cuban officials] informed the Soviet Union that [they] were concerned about a direct invasion of Cuba by the United States and that [they] were thinking about how to step up [their] country’s ability to resist an attack”. Khrushchev retorted by bearing in mind the proposal of defending Cuba by “installing missile with nuclear warheads in Cuba without letting the United States find out until it was too late do anything about them.” Fidel Castro accepted the offer; Soviet Union thus began to install the nuclear missiles. The Crisis began in October 1962 when American had gotten some information about the nuclear missile the Soviet Union had placed in Cuba. Internationally, the Crisis started on October 22nd, 1962 when President John F. Kennedy publicized in a televised broadcast that the U.S. had

The Cold War as you mentioned, did create a lot of hostility, conflicts and tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union. It also created communism throughout Europe which was the result of a strong leader (Stalin), military and power of the Soviet Union. Later on, The Soviet Union did not want to have any diplomatic relations whatsoever with the United States and vice versa. Since we know this, why did the U.S decided to have formal diplomatic relations in 1933 and not decide to have this done at a much earlier time? It could have been they were ironing out their differences and trying to negotiate peace talks. Rukaya, Is this want also could have been the start of foreign policies with the Soviet Union and other countries?