The Cuban Missile Crisis And Its Impact On American History

The Cuban Missile Crisis forever marked 1962 as the year the world almost witnessed a nuclear war. The Soviet Union, Cuba, and the United States were all teetering on the edge of a cliff that was crumbling from the weight of fear, tension, and secrecy. It also marked the official end of Americans innocent belief that they were safe in the glow of Lady Liberty’s torch. Yet amidst the dark shadow of nuclear threat one American president rose to this challenge and proved that peace through strength is the best strategy.

“I know there is a God--and I see a storm coming; If he has a place for me, I believe I am ready,” is the Abraham Lincoln quote, written on a slip of paper, that President John F. Kennedy kept in his pocket (Dobbs 14). And if ever there was a storm coming, it was evident to Kennedy the morning of October 16, 1962: the date Kennedy was made aware of Soviet missiles in Cuba. This was the testing ground, the closest the world has ever been to nuclear war, the Cuban Missile Crisis, 16-28 October, 1962. The future for millions of lives depended upon the ability of United States President John F. Kennedy and Russian Premier Nikita Khrushchev to reach an agreement in which both did not lose face, and more importantly, the world survived.

Thirteen days in October of 1962 changed the course of the World in the nuclear age forever. The Cuban Missile Crisis represents the closest brink of mutual nuclear destruction the World has ever been close to reaching. The leadership in place throughout the crisis is critical to the story of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Three men dominated the nations involved in the crisis and captivated citizens of all corners of the world. President John Fitzgerald Kennedy of the United States, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, and Cuban Dictator Fidel Castro dominated the airwaves and news circuits leading up to the infamous crisis, which put the three leaders and nations in a cold silence of misperceptions, miscommunications, and unprecedented

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

The Cuban Missile Crisis began in October of 1962. During a dismaying 13 day standoff, people were on the tip of their toes not knowing if they would see their children again as they dropped them off for school. They wandered when they laid down at night to go to sleep, if they would wake up to see another day. They did not know if they would wake to see a country obliterated by an atomic bomb. As the United States was on the brink of a nuclear war with the Soviet Union and Cuba, nobody was certain what laid around the corner, in five minutes the world could be devastated and millions of people could be dead.

“The most terrifying moment in my life was October 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis. I did not know all the facts we have learned only recently how close we were to war but I know enough to make me tremble” (Joseph Rotblat). During the Cuban missile crisis, leaders of the U.S. and the Soviet Union engaged in a tense, 13-day political and military standoff in October 1962 over the installation of nuclear-armed Soviet missiles on Cuba, just 90 miles from the U.S. shores. To keep news of the crisis from leaking, a concocted cold was blamed for President Kennedy’s cancellation of public events. Also president Kennedy notified all the

November 8, 1960 was a big day for America. It was the day John F. Kennedy was elected president of the United States. However, October 16, 1962 was the day JFK and his advisers got hold of information that completely stunned them. As president, there are many issues he would need to handle, but the fact America was on the brink of nuclear war was probably something that never crossed his mind. Nuclear war was a frightening thought and JFK had to tackle it to best of his ability. This scary time in America was known as the Cuban Missile Crisis. But through JFK’s smart and fast decision making he practically saved America from nuclear war and eased the tensions between the United States, Soviet Union and Cuba.

The world was at the edge of a third world war. This was the result of a variety of things: the Cuban Revolution, the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion, US anti-communism, insecurity of the Soviet Union, and Cuba's fear of invasion all made causes for war. However, war was not the result due to great cooperation from both President Kennedy and President Khrushchev and each of the decisions made by the leaders was crucial in the outcome of The Crisis. Kennedy's choice to take action by means of quarantine instead of air-strike and Khrushchev's decision to abide by the quarantines were perhaps the two most significant decisions made by the leaders in order to prevent war. The Cuban Missile Crisis showed the

The US and Moscow were taking place in nuclear discussions but ended up making a deal where if Russia took the missiles out of Cuba in exchange for the US taking missiles out of Turkey on October of 1962. The Soviet missiles were taken out of Cuba and the American missiles were taken out of Turkey lower the scare of a global thermonuclear war. The Cuban Missile Crisis affected John F. Kennedy and the United States’s long-term legacy by making them seem like a heroic and strong while preventing global thermonuclear war and stopping the total destruction of the

In 1962 United States intelligence discovers that the Soviet Union were building nuclear missile sites in Cuba. The american presidency believed that the soviets were protecting castro from an american invasion of Cuba. The challenge that the U.S. faced was how to force the soviets to withdraw the missiles from Cuba without starting a nuclear war. During this crisis several points will need to be discussed such as the U.S. and Soviets rationale for this crisis, the link to the “Bay of Pigs”, and the effect that the Cuban Missile Crisis had on President John F. Kennedy’s legacy as a president.

The Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban missile crisis was the most dangerous of the Cold War, but

The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 was the closest the world has ever come to nuclear war. The crisis was a major confrontation between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The confrontation was caused by the Soviets putting missiles in Cuba, just 90 miles off the coast of the United States of America. The world was in the hands of President John F. Kennedy and Premier Nikita Khruchchev. These two men would have to reach a compromise or else the results would be fatal.

When speaking about the Cuban Missile Crisis, President Kennedy said, "It is insane that two men, sitting on opposite sides of the world, should be able to decide to bring an end to civilization” (“Nuclear Test Ban Treaty” 1). the Cuban Missile Crisis was a time where these two men, Kennedy and Khrushchev, had the power in their hands to end civilization. In order to understand the importance of the Cuban Missile Crisis one must understand, the Cold war drama; the dangerous crisis; and its importance today.

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 Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 reflects possibly the most precarious moment in nuclear history. For the first time, the world’s two nuclear super powers, the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, were poised to destroy each other in a war of unprecedented proportion. On the brink of what may have escalated into a nuclear war, the leaders of two nations showed courageous restraint and diplomacy to avoid an exchange of brute force and unimaginable desolation. The situation was preempted by the Bay of Pigs, an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Fidel Castro, Prime Minister of the Republic of Cuba. Castro had gained authority through a rebellion against Fulgencio Batista, the previous Cuban dictator (Bay of Pigs). America was displeased with Castro, mainly because he was a Communist leader so close to American shores, so a plan to depose him was made, without official United States military support.