In 1962 nuclear war seemed inevitable to the world, it was the first time nuclear war was hanging on a thread. The Cuban Missile Crisis presented a threat to the world, in which the USSR planted nuclear missiles on Cuba. America’s response was to threaten launching nuclear missiles at the Russians. This incident launched the world into a new time, which presented nuclear weapons as a source of power.
The incident of the Cuban Missile Crisis still connects with us today because the power nuclear weapons present, which provides incentives for countries to want them. Although nuclear technology was around prior to this incident, the power they represented didn’t fully develop till this time. Since the crisis five new countries have attained nuclear weapons, the lack of concern for the proliferation of the club is worrying. If a nuclear war broke out between India and Pakistan (both of whom have nuclear weapons) over a billion deaths would result. The burning cities would create enough smoke and ash to choke off the sun, leading to worldwide famine. Another way the Cuban incident applies to today is the possibility of nuclear terrorism. Republican Senator Richard Lugar conducted a survey of 85 national security experts which reached a similarly alarming conclusion. Although nuclear weapons were around prior to the Missile Crisis, we were never as close to the horror of nuclear war. "This Government, as promised, has maintained the closest surveillance of the Soviet military buildup on the island of Cuba," President John F. Kennedy began in what has to be counted as the scariest presidential address of the Cold War.
When looking back at the crisis that happened in Cuba, many things can be blamed. A stance that could be ...
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The Cold War was a period of dark and melancholic times when the entire world lived in fear that the boiling pot may spill. The protectionist measures taken by Eisenhower kept the communists in check to suspend the progression of USSR’s radical ambitions and programs. From the suspenseful delirium from the Cold War, the United States often engaged in a dangerous policy of brinksmanship through the mid-1950s. Fortunately, these actions did not lead to a global nuclear disaster as both the US and USSR fully understood what the weapons of mass destruction were capable of.
On October 22, 1962, President John F. Kennedy reached out to America and the Cubans with his Cuban Missile Crisis Address to the Nation. During this time, the Cold War had occupied several countries of world. This war resulted from tensions, military and political, between Russia and its allies and America, its allies, and the Western Hemisphere. When President Kennedy gave his speech, Russia had occupied Cuba and began building military bases that contained nuclear warheads and other deadly missiles. People of America saw this as a threat to the freedom of the U.S. and the Western Hemisphere. In a time of great tension and fear, President Kennedy delivered his spectacular and reassuring speech that appealed to the citizens of American in several ways.
The U.S.’s relationship with Cuba has been arduous and stained with mutual suspicion and obstinateness, and the repeated U.S. interventions. The Platt agreement and Castro’s rise to power, served to introduce the years of difficulty to come, while, the embargo the U.S. placed on Cuba, enforced the harsh feelings. The two major events that caused the most problems were the Bays of Pigs and Cuban Missile Crisis.
The Soviet Union and the United States were very distant during three decades of a nuclear arms race. Even though the two nations never directly had a battle, the Cuban Missile Crisis, amongst other things, was a result of the tension. The missile crisis began in October of 1962, when an American spy plane secretly photographed nuclear missile sites being built by the Soviet Union in Cuba. JFK did not want the Soviet Union and Cuba to know that he had discovered the missiles, so he made his decisions very secretly. Eventually, Kennedy decided to place a ring of ships around Cuba and place missiles in Turkey. Eventually, both leaders superpowers realized the possibility of a nuclear war and agreed to a deal in which the Soviets would remove the missiles from Cuba if the US didn't invade Cuba. Even though the Soviets removed took their missiles out of Cuba and the US eventually taking their missiles out of Turkey, they (the Soviets) continued to build a more advanced military; the missile crisis was over, but the arms race was not.
In October 1962, the United States and the Soviet Union faced off in what could be considered the most dangerous moment in the Cold War. The United States realized that the Soviet Union was holding medium-range missiles armed with nuclear weapons that could hit every major city in the U.S. At the time President John F. Kennedy was in office. Kennedy took much time and thought when putting a naval quarantine and negotiating a deal that led the Soviets to remove the missiles that were being held in Cuba, in exchange for this we made a promise to not invade Cuba and a secret promise to remove our nuclear-tipped missiles from Turkey. Although this tension only lasted 13 days, a lot was both gained and lost by the U.S. and the Soviets.
Robert F. Kennedy's chilling account of his experiences with his brother, President John F. Kennedy over thirteen days in October of 1962 give an idea to the reader of just how alarmingly close our country came to nuclear war. Kennedy sums up the Cuban Missile Crisis as "a confrontation between two atomic nations...which brought the world to the abyss of nuclear destruction and the end of mankind."1 The author's purpose for writing this memoir seems to be to give readers an idea of the danger confronted during the Cuban Missile Crisis and to reflect on the lessons we should learn from it as a country, and for future members of government.
When President Truman authorized the use of two nuclear weapons in 1945 against the Japanese in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end World War II, the nature of international security was changed irreversibly. At that time, the United States had what was said to have a monopoly of atomic bombs. Soon thereafter, the Soviet Union began working on atomic weaponry. In 1949, it had already detonated it first atomic bomb and tensions began to heat up between the two countries. With the information that the Soviets had tested their first bomb, the United States began work on more powerful weapons1, and a fight for nuclear superiority had begun.
Perhaps the most critical moment that had occurred to the United States and the world of the last century is the Cuban Missile Crisis. The significance of this event was that it had brought the world to the closest it could ever be to a nuclear war. Millions of lives, cultures and infrastructure would have been lost if it was not splendidly dealt with. Yet, a man was able to prevent this devastation, and he was none other than President John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK) of the United States. How was he significant to the event? This research paper will discuss it with the points that are based on JFK’s characteristics. Hence, to provide an overview of this paper; the outbreak of nuclear warfare was prevented in the Cuban Missile Crisis specifically by John F. Kennedy’s many distinguished characteristics.
Let’s look back at what happened in the 1960s. The world was on the brink of a nuclear war, the United States Armed Forces were readied for action and the Soviet Commanders, stationed on the island of Cuba, were prepared to defend the island with nuclear weapons, if necessary.
On October 16, 1962, a United States spy plane discovered nuclear missiles on the island of Cuba, ninety miles from the tip of Florida, and the Cuban Missile Crisis had begun. A week earlier, the CIA had gathered intelligence of suspicious activity on the island. That’s when the United States sent in the spy plane to gather more intelligence of the situation. What they found was very frightening for the whole entire United States. The Crisis began because of rising tensions of nuclear warfare between superpowers and a need for protection from a smaller country. The United States of America was the world’s leading superpower. The United States had the best of everything, military, technology, education, and most of all, nuclear capability. We
...e Soviet Union, United States went into a panic of fear. This critical event was the peak of the war; it was the most tensed and anxious moment as both sides prepared to implement their weapons that they have been producing. For thirteen days, the United States and the Soviet Union were on high alert; the Cold War almost turned “hot”. Perhaps the fear stems from the fact that there is no defense against nuclear attacks. If the missiles placed in Cuba were to be fired, Florida would have had no defense. There is nothing that could stop a powerful missile launching its attack on a set destination. Eventually, diplomatic figures made negotiations and agreed to the 1963 Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (Blight). Despite this treaty however, the world came into fear once again when another communist nation, China, entered the scene before the imminent fall of the Soviet Union.
The Cuban missile crisis led to the end of a period of nuclear 'brinkmanship' as both sides became very aware of how close they came to nuclear war. In 1963 the US and the USSR made important agreements that contributed to arms control. In June a direct 'hot line' was established between Washington and Moscow. This communication link between the head of states was established to reduce the risk of a nuclear war arising from accident, misunderstanding, miscalculation, or surprise attack. And in August, after an offer made by Kennedy to come to terms with the USSR about testing nuclear weapons in the atmosphere, th...
However, the US played a much larger role in Cuba’s past and present than the building of casinos and the introduction of the first taints of corruption. In the past, even before Batista, Americans were resented by Cubans because the Americans made a lot of Cuba’s decisions. Under Batista, 80% of Cuban imports came from the US, and the US controlled at least 50% of sugar, utilities, phones and railroads. If Cuba was a business in the stock markets, then the US would have been close to owning 50% of its shares. When combined with a long history of US-backed leaders, and US involvement, it is understandable that Cubans begrudged the Americans....
To understand the Cuban missile Crisis, the prior encounters with the Cubans and the Soviet Union in regard to America must be exposed. A conflict between the U.S. and the Soviet Union known as The Cold War was the first taste of bad blood between the two world superpowers. This conflict arose in 1919 upon the creation of The Comintern, “an international organization of Communist parties headquartered in Moscow whose stated purpose was to undermine capitalist societies from within.” The purpose of Comintern directly violated the U.S foreign policy goal of promoting regional stability and threatened our national security. U.S politicians naturally disagreed with the organization which led to “animosity and distrust between the west and the Soviet Union. From that point on, both nations were in a competition for power, control, and superiority in anything and everything. These games were played for decades. Both teams felt victories and defeats. But these preliminary events all lead up to the championship game, the Cuban missile Crisis. This event was the product of the ongoing fundamental dispute between two competing nations. The cold war was the first step on the road to the Cuban missile Crisis but the straw that bro...
The Cuban Missile Crisis lasted two weeks in the midst of the Cold War, and brought the world closer to nuclear war than ever before. In October of 1962 multiple nuclear missiles of the Soviet Union’ s were discovered in Cuba, a mere 90 miles south of the United States. Given the communist ties between Cuba and the USSR, this poised a considerable threat to our national security. Throughout the 14 days the two leaders, John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev struggled to clearly understand each others‘ genuine intentions. Actions taken by each state during this crisis demonstrates the realist point of view, in a variety of ways. The fundamentals of Realism will be explored and explained along with actions taken during this crisis from a realist point of view.