Cuban Missile Crisis

In the summer of 1962, the Soviet Union started shipping missiles to Cuba in order to progress on their goal of world domination. Sounds kind of rediculous, but the U.S.S.R. had already taken control of Eastern Europe and were moving on to the other side of the Atlantic. I believe the Cuban Missile Crisis was put in place by the Soviets to put the world into chaos.

President John F. Kennedy was in power and he had very difficult choices to make. Either let the Soviet Union do what they wanted to do, or get the missiles removed by any means. He couldn't act to hastily however for it could of led to a world holocaust. (Longman 1999) That fall, Kennedy announced to the world that the U.S.S.R. had put bases in Cuba to initiate nuclear strike capability against the western hemisphere of the world. The Soviets were outraged with Kennedy's remarks and vowed that they weren't true. Several days later, photos were released of missile silos in Cuba and the Soviets were caught "red handed." As days went by, agreements between the two countries were hard to come by and threats kept coming up. By October 30, Kennedy believed that if a resolution was not found, then the Soviets would strike from Cuba. He was most likely right in this observation even though it can't be proven because why else would Soviet Russia place nuclear missiles on Cuba.

Kennedy was already planning an armed invasion of Cuba after October 30 hoping the Soviets would back down before anything actually took place. Finally, after the Soviets learned of America's impending strike, they backed down and ordered the destruction of Cuban missile sites. (Blight 2002) After this Soviet failure, the U.S.S.R. lost not only prestige, but millions of dollars in a crisis that did not get them anywhere. Nikita Khrushchev was the premier of the Soviet Union at the time and he made all the calls for the communist country. I believe his goal from the beginning was to cause panic in the world so he could gain more control and power because other countries were afraid since he had missile outposts as far away as Cuba. I also think Kennedy retaliated in the right manner and didn't do anything too seriously and didn't make any rash moves. Kennedy also saw Khrushchev's blatant bluff when he ensured the U.S. that he did not place missiles on Cuba.

In 1997 however, tapes were released of Kennedy speaking with his cabinet members releasing information that there were U.S. nuclear missile bases in Turkey, only 100 miles away from the Soviet border at the time. This gives us the new facts that the U.S.S.R. actually had more of a reason to place their missile bases in Cuba. This just reassures my opinion that the Cold War was all about threats and who had the bigger weapons. When one country would do something such as make a treaty like N.A.T.O., the other side would come back with their own such as the Warsaw pact. The Cuban Missile Crisis was just another example for the red scare and how much fear the world lived in.

Allison, Graham, and Philip Zelikow, Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis, 2d ed. (Longman 1999).

Blight, James G., et al., Cuba on the Brink: Castro, the Missile Crisis, and the Soviet Collapse, rev. ed. (2002).

Dobbs, Michael, One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War (2008).