For thirteen days, the United States held its breath, fearing the ultimate destruction
of the nation by nuclear weapons. This was the Cuban missile crisis, a struggle fought
between the world's two largest superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union,
which nearly provoked a nuclear catastrophe on both sides from October 16, to October
28, in 1962. This crisis had been brewing for many years and was sparked by previous
issues between the two nations. The United States had been at odds with Communist
ideals for many years beginning with the onset of the Cold War. The direct stimulant for
the Cuban missile crisis, however, was due to the emergence of the Communist led regime
of Cuba, by Fidel Castro. Wanting to prevent Castro from gaining too much power,
President Kennedy, aided by the CIA, attempted to take control of Cuba. This failure,
known as the Bay of Pigs, only secured Castro's as well as Cuba's power. For fear of
further attacks, the Soviet Union provided protection by way of nuclear weapons, for
Cuba. This was the premises for the Cuban missile crisis during 1962. The United States
reached near destruction due to President Kennedy's persistent refusal to tolerate
Communism, and therefore, he can not be lauded for his success in ending the crisis which
he himself started.
Cuba had been a large assent for the United States throughout the 1950s, prior to
President Eisenhower severing diplomatic relations with Cuba in the 1960s.1 After Fidel
Castro and his Revolutionaries took control of Cuba, they began to gain mass popularity
and power which upset Government officials in the United States. Eisenhower developed
a plan which the Kennedy Administration later followed through on, to overthr...
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...ities.
The crisis never would have escalated to the level that it did, had Kennedy been more
tolerant of outside powers. The Bay of Pigs disaster could have been prevented all
together if Kennedy had not issued it, and caused Castro to seek Soviet aid. Even with
the Bay of Pigs mission launched, it could have been a success if Kennedy had provided
sufficient support, again preventing the Cuban Missile Crisis from ever taking place. Due
to Kennedy's stubbornness, he was reluctant to see the obvious signs that an attack was
brewing so close to home. He was too concerned with his image to admit he was wrong
and only wanted to look good in the eyes of the American public. He was able to end the
horrible debacle in the end, but it came after major Governmental spending and could have
been prevented all together had Kennedy backed down early on in the 1960s.
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Show MoreThis evidence shows how Kennedy looked into the crisis and spoke to Soviet Foreign Minister Gromyko. Only to discovered that his statement was false. Kennedy got Soviet Foreign Minister Gromyko to give his input on the missile, but it turned out to be false. This was quite alarming. Not as alarming as this. “New missile sites… 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.” This quote gives information about out how far this missile would go will cause such a panic because that range could/ will destroy the nations and all around it. Which is some shocking things He made the choice to believe that the world will be safe and will understand. Though his tone was informative and worried. Also, the soviets agree that they have been wrong and should fix or least try to compromise to make sure everything was okay. “ (Kennedy, Cuban Missile
...urprise, they assumed many Cubans would defect from Castro, and help the U.S. fight. The undisputed fact is that the U.S. lost the battle at the Bay of Pigs. Nothing was gained, and nearly brought the U.S. into war with Cuba and its ally, Russia. After nearly 40 years, the Bay of Pigs remains the largest mistake made by United States officials.
Cuba was recovering from the Bay of Pigs invasion. They held off the American forces and were able to avoid the invasion. They weren’t sure if the United States would attack again. Cuba’s dictator (Castro) wanted to convert Cuba into communism. In doing this they allied themselves with the USSR while being dangerously close to the “enemy,” the USA. Cuba was now in the middle of the Cold War. Although they believed getting involved with the USSR would protect them, at the same time it put them in more danger. Castro did not think it would get Cuba tangled into the Cold War. In an interview he said, “Our problem is above all of national sovereignty. Cuba does not mean to get involved in the Cold War.”(Beck 551)
The U.S. had just elected President Kennedy two years prior to this very threatening occasion, and every nation thought he was a weak leader who just craved attention. During this time, the Soviets and the U.S. were right in the middle of the Cold War (1947-1991): the period of time when both nations were trying to spread their type of government and become superior, making us enemies. Just a year before the Cuban Missile Crisis, the U.S. had made a failed attempt at invading Cuba at the Bay of Pigs to overthrow their communist dictator, Fidel Castro. Once Russia caught wind of this failed invasion, they quickly jumped at their chance at becoming allies with Castro, and started building nuclear bombs in Cuba. Kennedy had recently placed bombs in Turkey, Russia’s neighbor probably leading the soviets to place some of theirs in Cuba, because of how close it was to America; one nuclear bomb could reach Washington D.C. in 30 minutes.
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.
The United States embargo of Cuba has its roots planted in 1960, 53 years ago, when “the United States Congress authorized President Eisenhower to cut off the yearly quota of sugar to be imported from Cuba under the Sugar act of 1948… by 95 percent” (Hass 1998, 37). This was done in response to a growing number of anti-American developments during the height of the cold war, including the “expropriation of United States-owned properties on the island… [and] the Soviet Union [agreeing] to purchase sugar from Cuba and to supply Cuba with crude oil” (Hass 1998, 37). Bad sentiments continued to pile up as Cuba imposed restrictions on the United States Embassy and especially when, after the United States “officially broke off diplomatic ties with Cuba, and travel by United States citizens to Cuba was forbidden ... Castro openly proclaimed his revolution to be ‘socialist’” (Hass 1998, 38). The day after this, the Bay of Pigs invasion occurred, but it failed in its job to topple Castro (Hass 1998, 38). Left with no diplomatic options and a failed military attempt, the United States decided that the only way to end Castro’s socialist regime was to sever all ties, and from 1961 to 1996, a series of acts were passed prohibiting the majority of trade and interaction with Cuba. (Hass 1998, 38).
Cuban President Fidel Castro was looking for a way to defend his nation from an attack by the U.S. Eve...
...he Cuban missiles in exchange for a promise by U.S. leaders not to invade Cuba. The
The story of the invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs is one of overconfidence, and lack of thinking. The blame for the failure of the operation falls directly on the Central Intelligence Agency and a new president. The invasion caused a rise in tension between the two great superpowers and 34 years after the event, the person that the invasion meant to overthrow, Fidel Castro, is still in power. The Bay of Pigs Invasion was on April 17th in the year of 1961, was an attempt by the US government to take Fidel Castro, new communist leader of Cuba, out of power in order to install a non-communist government that favored the US’s practices. This attempt failed and the United States involvement was revealed shortly after. This lead to internal accusations, loss of credibility towards the United States, and public blame of the CIA.
John F. Kennedy had several goals for his speech, to calm and reassure the America people, to relieve tensions with the soviets, and to not repeat some of his same mistakes. Just over a year before the speech John F. Kennedy had made his worst mistake as president, the Bay of Pigs Invasion. JFK was pressured into signing off on an attack that turned into one of the worst and most embarrassing American attacks in history. He would not let that happen again; his speech was thoroughly planed and carefully executed. The Cuban Missile Crisis was in part because Cuba’s leader Fidel Castro felt threatened after he learned the U.S. tried to overthrow him. This along with the threat that Soviet Union felt from the U.S. having missiles positioned just over 100 miles outside their border led the two countries to form an alliance. With the Soviet Union’s resources and Cuba’s positioning they formed an alliance that could have done substantial damage to the U.S. before they could even react.
President Kennedy didn’t want the Soviet Union to know that he had discovered the missile build sites before he could take some form of action. A secret meeting with nine members of the Nationa...
In his letter to Khrushchev, he pleaded that the Soviet Union will act accordingly and try to fix the situation. He stated “I repeat my regret that these events should cause a deterioration in our relations. I hope that your Government will take the necessary action to permit a restoration of the earlier situation.” Kennedy understood that the events that occurred were deteriorating their relationship with the Soviet Union, and hoped that the issue of the missiles would be resolved so that a war would not be
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a major event in U.S History that almost led to nuclear destruction. It was over a period of thirteen days in which diplomats from the U.S and the Soviet Union were trying to reach a peaceful resolution so that they wouldn’t have to engage in physical warfare. The crisis was the hallmark of the Cold War era which lasted from the 1950’s to the late 1980’s. The Cold War was a power struggle between the U.S and Soviet Union in which the two nations had a massive arms race to become the strongest military force. The U.S considered Communism to be an opposing political entity, and therefore branded them as enemies. Khrushchev’s antagonistic view of Americans also played a big role in the conflict. The Cold War tensions, coupled with a political shift in Cuba eventually lead to the military struggle known as the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Cuban Missile Crisis was the point of most tension and near collapse causing the Cold War to almost shift from a passive and underground struggle to a violent and catastrophic one.
After World War II, nationalistic and communist ideas and ways of government inspired many Latin American countries. Dwight D Eisenhower stated, “By the middle of 1954 Latin America was free, for the time being at least, of any fixed outpost of Communism.” In Cuba, Fidel Castro leads a revolution and the communist and him took control of Cuba. Shortly after, he nationalized the sugar plantations, and in response the US placed an embargo on Cuba. In a speech that was heard over the radio and was televised, Castro states, “If they blockade our country they will exalt our nation, because we will resist… We are part of humanity and we run the necessary risks, yet, we are not afraid.” He was willing to do anything in his power in order to continue the spread of communism. The Bay of Pigs was an attempt made by the US to overthrow Castro’s communism, but it failed. The citizens of Cuba desperately wanted to be set free from his communist ways. Some even went as far as making precarious voyages in hopes of reaching the Florida coast. The United States also caught the Soviets building Silos for missiles in Cuba. Because of this, the US and Soviets came near to war, possibly starting World War Three. Everyone thought that once the Berlin Wall fell and the Iron Curtain was lifted, that countries, including Latin American countries, under communist control would soon rise above communism. But instead, communism began to violently spread throughout the region. With all of the desperate attempts of the United States to cease the spread of communism, they were not competent
This analysis explained the Cuban rebels in the Bay of Pigs invasion, the importance of the great leaders of the United States, the important decision making by the U.S. leaders, and the crazy leaders of the Soviet Union and Cuba. The Cuban missile crisis was a very dangerous episode, bringing the world’s major military powers to the brink of nuclear war. This event was important to world history and to all the main leaders involved. President Kennedy was assassinated shortly after that, but is still regarded as one of the best Presidents in U.S. history mainly because of how he dealt with that event. Fidel Castro and the country of Cuba are not recognized by the U.S. to this day and are still banned from trade. The Soviet Union has collapsed since the Cuban Missile Crisis and is now known as Russia. The Soviet Union is no longer a communist government and now gets along well with the United States. The bottom line is that this one event prevented a possibly world wide tragic nuclear war and has greatly affected the way the world is shaped today.