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.

John F Kennedy begins his speech to the american people with an appeal to logic. He uses Logos to convince his audience by using facts or statistics. He tells his audience that there has been solid proof that the cubans had missiles that “include medium range ballistic missiles, capable of carrying a nuclear warhead for a distance of more than 1,000 nautical miles. Each of these missiles, in short, is capable of striking Washington, D. C., the Panama Canal, Cape Canaveral, Mexico City, or any other city in the southeastern part of the United States, in Central America, or in the Caribbean area.” Kennedy continues his speech by using an ethical appeal to convince the cuban leader of his character. “We have no wish to war with the Soviet Union -- for we are a peaceful people who desire to live in peace with all other peoples.” Kennedy tries to peacefully end this situation by telling the cuban leader that he is a man of his word, he has no plans of using those missiles to attack the soviets and wants to peacefully end this. Finally by the latter half of his speech, Kennedy uses pathos to persuade, the cuban leader, Fidel Castro, by appealing to his emotions. “I have watched and the American people have watched with deep sorrow how your nationalist revolution was betrayed -- and how your fatherland fell under foreign domination.” Once again Kennedy tries to find ways to end this crisis peacefully while at the same time showing his character

"The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been” (Henry). This quote from Henry Kissinger is a representation of the Kennedy term in office. President Kennedy took the world to a whole new level; he succeeded in many tasks in his short time as president. John F. Kennedy was great president because of his involvements in the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Space Race, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Peace Corps.

Benjamin Svetkey asked Kevin Costner about John F. Kennedy’s first words were when he heard about the missiles in Cuba apparently he said were “F---ed again” and Costner explained that not everything could be one hundred percentage historically accurate due to age ratings of the film. This makes less historical and more entertainment, this shows that the film is being made for entertainment purposes because they are changing the film to increase the audience size.

In the Fog of War, Former Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara recounted his experiences when serving for both the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Throughout the film he shared eleven lessons that he learned as a result of the war and politics. The lessons range from empathizing with one 's enemy to the fact we cannot change human nature. This essay will discuss some of McNamara’s lessons and how they illustrated institutions, bargaining, cooperation, power and sovereignty.

Thirteen days was all it took to bring down a world power to its most vulnerable stages. Fear consumed John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, as he was notified on October 16, 1962, that the Intelligence Community had become convinced that Russia was placing missiles and atomic weapons in Cuba. According to a U-2 that had finished a photographic mission, these missiles were pointed to the United States and capable of striking most of the major cities in the Western Hemisphere. Not only was the peace and freedom of the American people compromised, but so was the rest of the world’s fate. And the decisions of one man could essentially save the people or result in a never ending ballistic war. President John F. Kennedy was not

Robert Dallek's book, John F. Kennedy, covers the valiant life of JFK from 1917 to 1963. Personally, I found the book to be an interesting read. The book openly illustrates the highs and lows, as well as the short tenured life of the 35th president of the United States. Overall, I felt that this book assembled some of the most relevant information about the life and political career of JFK, presented in a unified and thoughtfully written description. This analysis will describe some of my take-a-ways from the book.

While it may be true that Fidel Castro had a strong impact on the uprising of the crisis, it is crucial to consider John F. Kennedy as the person most at fault for the Cuban Missile Crisis. Kennedy, America's president at the time, is often been called the most to blame because he overreacted to the missiles in Cuba. The question is if it was an overreaction or just a precaution for the safety and security of the American people. After the CIA spotted the missiles in Cuba, they informed Kennedy and he immediately called for a “quarantine” on Cuba’s eastern coast, setting up a blockade of ships along the coastline. Although many perceive this as an act of safety and protection, it is also easy to say that it was in fact “an act of aggression”

39 United States, Congress, Guided Missile and Astronautics Intelligence Committee. “Supplement 8 to Joint Evaluation of Soviet Missile Threat in Cuba” (CIA, 28 Oct. 1962). 40 Carter 34. 41 John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum, “Day 13: Oct. 28.” (Cuban Missile Crisis - John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum). 42 Frederick A. O. Schwarz, Democracy in the Dark: the Seduction of Government Secrecy. (The New Press, 2015). 43 Carter 35.

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

In order to understand the importance of the Cuban Missile Crisis in American history one must first understand the Cold War drama, Castro’s rise to power, and the American operations that set up the crisis. “The term Cold War refers

“The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962: A National Security Archive Documents Reader” edited by Laurence Chang and

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.

For this reason, I would like to investigate the extent to which John F. Kennedy’s decision-making process changed from the Bay of Pigs Invasion to the Cuban Missile crisis during his presidency. I chose the Bay of Pigs Invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis because the first is an event in John. F. Kennedy’s presidency before he gained experience from this job and the latter is an event from after he was acquainted with the presidential role.