The Cuban Missile Crisis In The US

Introduction 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

The Cuban Missile Crisis 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.

The Cuban Missile Crisis is one of the most impactful events in the Cold War due to the effect that it had after it happened. The effect of the Cuban Missile Crisis created many changes on the direct and indirect relations between the United States and Soviet Union. The Cuban Missile Crisis spanned 13 days in October 1962 that almost brought the world into a nuclear war. This all began when a United States U-2 spy plane Cuba took photos of Soviet SS-4 medium range ballistic missiles getting setup for the ability to launch.This caused the U.S leaders to be thrown into a panic because the Cuban Government had very strong ties with the Soviet Union who are the United States biggest enemies at the time. Another reason the United States was very fearful is because the coast of Cuba is only 90 miles of the coast of Florida. When President John F Kennedy was told of the missile threat in Cuba he immediately called a meeting with his closest advisors on how to react. There were many ideas on how to react to the missiles, some of Kennedy’s advisors wanted to invade Cuba, others wanted to send a warning to the Soviet Union. JFK finally decided to send a naval blockade to cuba for the purpose of stopping more supplies reaching the Cuban military from Russia. The blockade even though the blockade did not include attacking anyone, it was still seen as an act of aggression by the Soviet Union. The U.S was

People knew that if another World War broke out it would result in nuclear weapons used that could end the world. Even countries who had nuclear bombs but didn’t threaten to use them were considered a very possible threat. Between the USSR and the USA it was like walking on very thin ice. The nuclear buildup was called the balance of terror (Doc. #7). Having an abundance of nuclear weapons insured that the balance of terror was kept. The Cuban Missile Crisis contributed to this fear. When the Cuban Missile Crisis progressed the USA began to make demands. The USA demanded that they must secure the withdrawal of the missiles (Doc. #8). Cuba persisted that they were just for defensive. They promised they would remove them if the USA swore not to attack (Doc. #9).

The idea both countries having hold of nuclear weapons, specifically Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs), made each other frightened to advance and develop more weapons, faster and better than the other nation. This led to the creation of the first nuclear missile by the Soviets, and the first hydrogen by the Americans. The Soviet Union was more effective than the United States in producing weapons including submarine ICBMs, long range bombers, and land ICBMs (Doc 7). The sheer fact that each country possessed nuclear weapons was enough to hold back in hot combat, as both countries feared nuclear demise. The weapon that was used to fight in the war was more fear, rather than actual weapons. Another threat of nuclear war was coming from Cuba, another communist nation that was led by Fidel Castro. The Cuban Missile Crisis lasted thirteen days and was started because the United States invaded Cuba to stop nuclear missiles that were aimed at America, which were discovered by Operation Mongoose. Cuba and the Soviet Union were angered that America had discovered the missiles, and the United States was fearful that they would be launched. United States President was now John F. Kennedy, the year was 1962, and the Cold War had been going on for fifteen years, yet there was still not hot war, only the threat of it. In order to

In his article, “The Influence of Nuclear Weapons in the Cuban Missile Crisis,” Marc Trachtenberg considers three historical approaches to the role that nuclear arms played during the 1962 conflict: first, the view that nuclear arms played no role at all, with U.S. and Soviet weapons cancelling each other out, second, the interpretation that the risk involved with nuclear warfare heavily influenced policy making, and finally the view that the strategic imbalance of nuclear force, characterized by a substantial American advantage, significantly impacted the outcome of the crisis. In weighing the three interpretations, Trachtenberg dismisses the first in supporting the existence of the second, using a variety of primary sources to identify instances when decision-makers were influenced by the risk of nuclear warfare. The focus of the article, however, is on advancing and complicating the third approach, which Trachtenberg claims is congruous with the second. In this third section, Trachtenberg advances the approach that the imbalance of nuclear capabilities impacted Soviet strategy but not American decision making. Accordingly, Trachtenberg’s article is characterized by two central claims: that risk of nuclear war influenced policy during the Cuban Missile Crisis and that American nuclear superiority disproportionately affected Soviet decision-making.

President Kennedy came to office with warnings of a missile gap. The Soviets had achieved or were achieving a significant advantage in strategic nuclear weapons. Though tensions ran even higher, "Eisenhower’s strategy of massive retaliation made little sense and did not account for the rapidly growing Soviet nuclear arsenal4. Kennedy's nuclear strategy became known as flexible response. The idea was to acquire the military forces that could deal flexibility with varying levels of Soviet Aggression3. The most serious confrontation between Russia and the US was the Cuban Missile Crisis. (Link to Stephanie's page) Soviet leader Khrushchev attempted to place intermediate range missiles in Cuba. Kennedy responded by imposing a quarantine on Cuba. This resulted in the removal of the Soviet missiles and led to Kennedy making the decision to dismantle U.S. missiles based in Turkey. Some analysts argue that the successful outcome was due to the United States’ nuclear superiority, which proved that strategic superiority offered important political advantages5.

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 Cuban missile crisis of 1962 brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. What was at stake in the crisis, and how do you assess President Kennedy’s response to Khrushchev’s provocation? Was Kennedy prudent or rash, suitably tough or needlessly belligerent?

The Cuban Missile Crisis was a dangerous and direct confrontation in the year 1962 between the Soviet Union and the United States over the existence of missile sites in Cuba. Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet premier positioned Soviet military missile in Cuba that had come under the Soviet power since the victory of the Cuban Revolution (Lockwood, Lockwood and Lockwood 15). This crisis occurred during the cold war and was the instant when the two superior powers came nearer to the nuclear conflict. The crisis was distinct in a number of ways featuring miscalculations and calculations as well as secret and direct miscommunications and communications among the two sides. The dramatic catastrophe was also featured by the fact that it was mainly played out at the Kremlin level and the white house with relatively diminutive input from the respective bureaucracies normally included in the foreign policy process (Blight., et al 64). This essay will discuss the Cuban Missile Crisis and the impact of the United States and Russia.

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

Instead of the U.S. and the Soviet Union fighting head on, they competed by controlling and influencing other countries(Jeffery, Riley, 4). The U.S. affiliated themselves with West Berlin just like the Soviets associated themselves with Cuba. It escalated to nuclear tension when the U.S. placed weapons in Turkey and Italy(The Choices Program). The U.S had many more missiles than the Soviets had at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. They also produced missiles much faster than the Soviets. The Soviet Union knew these disadvantages and were very aware of what the U.S. could do(Schwarz).

Paul Toutloff Mr. Heffernan CHC-2D1-03 18 December 2017 The Cuban Missile Crisis 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

Running head: JFK HANDLES THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS President JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis Contemporary History June 12, 2010 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.

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.