The Cuban Missile Crisis Of 1962

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 Bay of Pigs was a failed invasion by the United States to overthrow the communist government in Cuba run by the infamous Fidel Castro. The CIA-operated campaign attempted to use Cuban exiles as a Guerilla army in hopes of conducting a secret invasion. The objective was to remove the Cuban leader and establish a non-communist government that would benefit the United States. President John F. Kennedy, Commander in Chief during this time, wanted to prove to China, Russia, and even pessimistic Americans that he was determined to win the Cold War. Unfortunately, the campaign was extremely underprepared, which led to a disastrous outcome with Castro’s troops having the aggressors pinned on the beach under heavy fire. Soon after, the exiles surrendered in less than a single day of fighting, making the assault widely known as the CIA’s “perfect failure”. This topic was selected because the Cold War era intrigues me greatly; there is an abundance of covert operations, heightened tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union, as well as technological competitions such as the space race. The Bay of Pigs ties into all of this, which led to the Cuban missile crisis, causing one of the closest calls in history in regards to nuclear war. The information found for this paper is from sources including the History Chanel website, the JFK Library, the CIA website, and the United States History website.

“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.

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

Many agree that the Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest the world ever came to nuclear war; but exactly how close did it come? The Crisis was ultimately a showdown between the United States and the Soviet Union from October 16 to October 28, 1962. During those thirteen stressful days, the world’s two biggest superpowers stood on the brink of a nuclear catastrophe. The Crisis started as a result of both the Soviet Union’s fear of losing the arms race, and Cuba’s fear of US invasion. The Soviet Premier, Nikita Khrushchev, thought that both problems could easily be solved by placing Soviet medium range missiles in Cuba. This deployment would double the Soviet arsenal and protect Cuba from US invasion. Khrushchev

When I learned that Thirteen Days, the new movie dramatizing the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, would follow events through the eyes of Kenneth O 'Donnell, John F. Kennedy 's appointments secretary--who would be played by the movie 's headliner, Kevin Costner--I had strong misgivings. In 1997 I had transcribed and edited (with Philip Zelikow of the University of Virginia) some of the tape recordings made secretly by JFK--and nothing in these tapes, in other documents, or in the recollections of Kennedy 's key advisers gives O 'Donnell an important or even conspicuous role in the crisis.

The Cuban Missile Crisis was a key part of the Cold War, and one which major scholars and historians see as the closest the world has come to thermonuclear war. This has made it one of the most documented events of the Cold War, with journal entries, books and films being made about the defining thirteen day period, each giving a unique perspective and overview of the crisis. The fact that both the United States and the Soviet Union managed to avoid the use of nuclear weapons is seen by many as a victory in itself; President Kennedy claiming afterward that the chances of a calamity were ‘somewhere between one out of three and even’. Proposing therefore the idea it was a form of Russian roulette, nuclear weapons playing the role of the revolver. This fascination with how adjacent the two superpowers seemingly were, plus the consequences that could have prevailed has kept the public and academics captivated for the last 50 years.

Not many events in United States history have ever been as stressful as the Cuban Missile Crisis. The nuclear standoff occurred in October of 1962, and has been remembered by many throughout the past few decades. During this crisis, which lasted nearly two weeks, adults and children alike were taught how to protect themselves and find shelter in the case of an attack, while members of the National Security Council dealt with the possibility of one. Now that the threat has since disappeared, many historians are looking back and researching the event, why it happened, and the logic behind all the decisions made. Arthur Schlesinger Jr., a historian who graduated from Harvard College, gave some great insight to the crisis in his foreword in the

“We’re eyeball to eyeball, and I think the other fellow just blinked” (Dean Rusk). The Cuban Missile Crisis put the world on the edge of its seat, and was the closest humanity has ever gotten to full-scale nuclear war. Even though the event lasted a mere two weeks (from October 14-24, 1962), it played a significant role in international politics, and its effects can still be seen today. The Cuban Missile Crisis is significant to current international relations because it proved the importance of the need for information, and the importance of taking risks.

The United States was already weary of the Soviets and mistrusted the intentions of the USSR. A well-honed policy of maskirovka (the Russian word for what the CIA calls denial and deception tactics, or D&D) ensures that the Soviet intentions and strategies are well cloaked. This was true during the Cuban Missile Crisis. By the time Kennedy got the intelligence reports showing the reconnaissance photographs from the Soviet installations in Cuba, the President publically "proclaimed that any nuclear missile attack from Cuba would be regarded as an attack by the Soviet Union and would be responded to accordingly," ("Revelations from the Russian Archives," 2010). The threat was taken seriously.

A one-party socialist state was then established, and Castro became the leader. The new regime executed hundreds of people involved with the ousted government. Later, Castro formed an alliance with Russia. Cuba, a little Caribbean Island, almost caused a nuclear war. Under Castro’s request, Russian president Nikita Khrushchev agreed to deploy nuclear missiles to Cuba. The Cuban Missile Crisis, a crucial event in the Cold War, was resolved with an agreement between Khrushchev and

On October 15, American pilots photographed evidence that Soviet ballistic missiles were being installed in Cuba. Although the Soviet Union did not have any intentions of attacking the United States, they wanted the weapons on hand in case there is a nuclear war. Kennedy immediately tapped their missiles and presented them to the UN to show the world the Soviet Union’s bad intentions. For thirteen days in October 1962, the whole world stood by waiting for peaceful actions to be taken regarding the crisis. On October 22 of the same year, John F. Kennedy gave a compelling speech by responding to the Soviet Union, Cuba, America, and its allies. The purpose of president Kennedy’s methods of crisis communication with the public during Cuban missile crisis and also to Cuban and Soviet Union leader. President Kennedy’s purpose was to inform the American people about the crisis and the situation by delivering this speech and he wanted to gain American people trust by explaining the whole crisis.

By the 20th century world conflict had claimed the lives millions of innocent lives displacing families and destroying homelands. In the in midst of the Cold War, tension grew between the United States and the Soviet Union and led to a stand-off between both nations over nuclear armed missiles placed in Cuba, Italy, and Turkey. The world was on the brink of catastrophe as two super powers were engaged in a competition to show military superiority. For decades, historians have debated that the Cuban Missile crisis was the most dangerous time in history. Within this 16 day span the world would be on edge, as the possibility of nuclear warfare was as close as it has ever been.

Only since the 1990’s, have we have understood the immense threat that presented itself over the course of two weeks in October of 1962. The Cuban Missile Crisis, which is arguably the closest we have come to nuclear war in our history, was the result of five key entities and events. The five entities and events are the Manhattan Engineering District, Strategic Air Command, Mutually Assured Destruction, the missile gap, and the Bay of Pigs invasion. Without each of these individual components, the Cuban Missile Crisis would never have occurred or been the danger to the world that it was. This paper will examine the role MED played in the development of nuclear weapons, SAC’s presence in promoting a stronger stance on the Soviet Union, and the missile gap that created a situation in which the abundant need for missiles skyrocketed on both sides of the Cold War. It will also examine MAD’s ability to involve the entire Northern hemisphere in nuclear war, and the Bay of Pigs’ impact on Cuba’s relationship with the Soviet Union.

Castro intended on helping Cuba’s high poverty, but Castro did not turn Cuba into a democracy like he said he would (“Cuban missile Crisis”2). In 1960 the soviet premier attempted to convince Castro to become communist, soon after this castro became communist, probably influenced by the soviet premier (“Cuban missile Crisis”3). A new american president, that could probably change the war, was coming into office around this time, President Kennedy. The new president would take on the problem of this new cuban leader (International Encyclopedia of the… 1). Before him, Eisenhower trained about 1,500 Cuban Exiles in secret to try to take over Cuba, Kennedy allowed this to go on. On april 17, the exils attempted to invade Cuba(“Cuban missile Crisis”3). Since Castro had found out about the invasion, he was ready and defeated the the incoming force easily(“Cuban missile Crisis”3-4). The failed invasion seemed to help the Cuban opinion of Castro. He was now an obvious threat and so the U.S. decided to start operation Mongoose. Operation Mongoose was a secret operation to get rid of Castro, it was an operation where the U.S. would try to sabotage Cuba, but Operation Mongoose never ended up happening. The U.S.S.R. did not want to lose Cuba so they decided to secretly send weapons into Cuba, including nuclear weapons (“Cuban missile Crisis”4). These arm shipments would lead to one of the