The Short-term Significance of the Cuban Missile Crisis between the US and the USSR

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

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.

The relationship between Castro and Khrushchev was cemented between 1959-1962 as the Soviets gained Castro’s trust by buying Cuban sugar crops two years in advance, as well as accepting trade and economic assistance (Nathan 38). The Soviet surface to air missiles (SAMs) began being shipped to Cuba in the spring of 1962, in response to the U.S. Jupiter missiles placed in Turkey (Nathan 75). Eventually, the two nations would sign the Russia-Cuba Pact in August, 1962, and the shipment of Soviet medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBMs) began (Nathan xxiv). “Fidel Castro accepted the Russian arguments that Cuba needed to accept missiles for its self-defense. Castro did not accept the logic but, as a member of the Soviet Bloc, felt Cuba had a duty to sustain socialism….(Nathan 76).”

This was the time period of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Soviet Union had placed nuclear missiles in Cuba, which had recently become communist in February of 1959 (Taylor). President Kennedy had ordered the Soviet Union to remove them and placed a “quarantine” around Cuba to prevent any more from entering (Library of Congress). There were even threats of the United States invading Cuba to destroy the weapons (The Cuban Missile Crisis, October 1962). This standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union became known as the Cuban Missile Crisis and is said to be the closest point during the Cold War to an actual war and the use of nuclear weapons.

The Cuban Missile Crisis began October 16, 1962. It was at the height of the Cold War that this potentially lethal confrontation arose between the United States and the Soviet Union. A United States reconnaissance plane discovered a military stockpile of Soviet nuclear missiles and bombers in Cuba. Some historians point out that Khrushchev's real intention in deploying the missiles into Cuba was to control West Berlin. They would be used in this context as a sufficient reason for the Western powers (The USA, UK, and France) to allow him to achieve his plan. However, The government of Washington, along with President John F. Kennedy at its head, believed this to be a threat and was not willing to tolerate such a threat so close to home.

In 1962 the cuban missile crisis was a confrontation between america and the soviet union. In 1962 the cuban missile crisis was a confrontation between america and the soviet union. This was the closest we have came to nuclear war which scared people all around the world.This resulted in a agreement to end nuclear testing in the sea and above ground.This resulted in a agreement to end nuclear testing in the sea and above ground.This made people feel safe and also protected the environment from the testing of nuclear bombs.

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 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.

Nikita Khrushchev and the Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 was the closest the world ever came to full-scale nuclear war. When the Soviet Union placed offensive nuclear missiles in Cuba, President Kennedy interpreted the act as one of hostility that would not be tolerated. However, the situation was blown way out or proportion by the president, American media, and ultimately the citizens of the United States. The Soviet Premier, Nikita Khrushchev, was reacting to the Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba, US Missile installations along the Turkey/Soviet border, and the clear anti-Communist policy of the United States. Khrushchev was born in Kalinovka in southwestern Russia. He was raised in a poor

The Cuban missile crisis was a big event during the “Cold War” that almost brought the world into a nuclear catastrophe. In this event the Soviet Union deployed around 100 tactical nuclear weapons to Cuba aiming to land in U.S. territory. The possibilities of a nuclear war was predicted by the president of the United States John F. Kennedy to be around a 33% chances of actually happening. The local Soviet commander in Cuba could have launched these weapons that were sent without additional codes or commands from Moscow. There was also a scheduled U.S. air strike that could have triggered a nuclear response against American ships and troops. If the Cuban missile crisis were fulfilled, over 200 million people around the world could have died in the resulting war. It was because of the American foreign policy that the crisis was diverted and resolved without war.

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 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.

In the fall of 1962, the world sat on edge for thirteen days as the prospect of a nuclear war between the United States and The Soviet Union became more and more legitimate. In October of 1962, an American spy plane discovered nuclear missile launch sites being built by the Soviet Union in Cuba, which rests only ninety miles south of Florida. The US went on to impose a naval blockade of Cuba, making sure that no more nuclear weapons were imported into Havana (Lebow 2000). President John F. Kennedy was tasked with the duty to remove the nuclear missiles from Cuba while preventing a catastrophic and deadly nuclear war. Nikita Khrushchev, the leader of the Soviet Union, longed to be seen as the powerful and authoritative figure that would be able bring the Soviet Union to equal levels of political, military, and social prominence as the United States. Ultimately, Khrushchev sought to maintain his political and military power and influence, and not backing down from the all-powerful United States and John F. Kennedy demonstrated to his colleagues that he meant business.