The Immense Threat of the Cuban Missile Crisis

“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.

This Cuban Missile Crisis was one of the biggest events in American history. After World War II, much of Europe was left in ruins. Europe had been divided into two sections: eastern and western by the Iron Curtain. The Soviet Union and many new governments in Eastern Europe were communists, controlling everything from businesses to schools and people. As a result, the Cold War began with the Soviet Union and the United States became rivals competing to recruit other countries to their side.

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.

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 Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis, the Caribbean Crisis or the Missile Scare was a battle between the United States and the Soviet Union concerning the deployment in Italy and Turkey. The Soviet Union had secretly positioned nuclear weapons on the island of Cuba. As soon as the U.S government found out what the Soviets we doing, they immediately demanded their withdrawal there would be major consequences . As a results the leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union engaged in a strained 13-day political and military standoff in October 1962 over the installment of nuclear-armed Soviet missiles on Cuba only 90 miles away from the U.S shores. The Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest the United States and the Soviet

Explanation: Like what it is said. North Korea can and will be a threat, and we need to keep a close watch on them before it is too late. Everybody needs to be ready. Kim Jong Un looks like an innocent man but behind closed doors, that is where he is most dangerous. He can be planning and preparing an attack that nobody even know.

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

“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” The words of the 35th president John F. Kennedy. During the 1960’s the Soviets were looking to have world power. So they decided to expand their power towards the America’s. while in Vietnam they always had trouble keeping independence and now communism is splitting the North and South and causing a civil war. Both the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam War illustrate the United States attempt to combat communism. The Cuban Missile Crisis in the prevention of a nuclear war. Whereas the Vietnam War ultimately curtailed the spread of communism.

How did the world become so close to full-blown nuclear war? It all started with a deep routed conflict between the United States and Soviet Union. The U.S and the Soviet Union had different views on political and economic systems. The United States believed in Democracy, which means the people have say in what the government does. While the Soviet Union believed in Communism which means the government controls everything and ultimately leads to a dictatorship. After World War II the superpowers need to talk about post war goals. July, 1945 Churchill Brittan’s (Prime Minister), Truman (the President of the United States) and Stalin (the Soviet Union’s Dictator) all met at what is known as the Potsdam Conference. Truman and Churchill are determined to preserve Democratic government. After losing 20 million men and suffering widespread destruction. Stalin wanted to punish Germany, impose Communism on his entire nation and pay reparation for war damage. He would do this by establishing satellite nations. This meant that Germany could still be their own country, but the Soviet Union would have control over their decisions. Truman, on the other hand, believed that they should not punish Germany’s people for what Hitler had done and that Germany’s industry was critical to Europe’s recovery. Paralyzing Germany would only hurt Europe as a whole. Nearly three decades later the Potsdam Conference did nothing to bridge the divide. These two competing ideas caused tremendous conflict

The Cuban Missile Crisis was a thirteen day confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union in October of 1962. The stand off was over Soviet ballistic missiles deployed in Cuba. The Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest the Cold War ever came to a full out nuclear war. The event was broadcasted on television for the world to see causing a global panic, especially in America. John F. Kennedy announced that the U.S. would use a naval blockade to eliminate the Cuban threat, showing that America was prepared to use military force to preserve their national security. The Cuban Missile Crisis escalated very quickly and nearly ended consequentially in nuclear destruction across the U.S. and Russia.

The Cuban Missile Crisis was a crucial moment in American history. As tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union rose, so did the risk of nuclear war. The Soviets, under the leadership of Nikita Khrushchev, were in a position to strike the United States with nuclear missiles based in Cuba. This uncertain time caused much concern for the citizens of the United States and its President, John F. Kennedy (Brubaker, 2001).

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

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 had a huge impact on society even years after it was resolved because the incident had brought our nation and the world so close to the brink of nuclear war. Before the Cuban Missile Crisis had occurred, many other factors had been piling up and building undesirable tensions between many countries. Along the way new allies and enemies were made causing more stress to the Cold War. The new bonds that formed after Cuba was taken over by Fidel Castro pushed nuclear war to the very edge.