CIA Beach Party: The Bay of Pigs By: Lee Mcginnis [pic] The United States Central Intelligence Agency spent its first two decades dealing with Communist incursions into western spheres of power in the same way: over throwing foreign governments from within. This response was the US golden standard until the CIA decided to try this against the great white whale of Communism in the western hemisphere: Castro’s Cuba. This doomed to fail from the start plan was executed in a series of errors that led several hundred Cuban exiles to slaughter against Cuba’s Military and bring the world to the brink of nuclear Armageddon and signal a falling out of favor of the CIA among American government for the next twenty years until the Soviet
The Cuban Missile Crisis started on October 14, 1962 and ended on October 28, 1962. C. The Cuban Missile Crisis occurred during the Cold War 1. Tensions between the Soviet Union and the United Stated were high 2. This marks the closest we have ever been to a nuclear war (Transition: Now that I have given you a little information on the Cuban Missile Crisis, I will now talk about President Kennedy’s announcement of the Cuban Missile Crisis. II.
Second, Castro was a charismatic communist and the US government feared that communism would spread. The United Stated wanted to create a new non-communist Cuba with a new leader and a new government that was friendly to them. Their goal was to overthrow Castro and his regime. The USSR and the US were the two super powers at the time and were competing in nearly everything during this period of time. The USSR was helping Cuba.
These developments changed the US policies of brinkmanship and massive retaliations, as these methods only worked while the USA remained militarily superior. The Cuban missile crisis showed how back dated these policies were, something Kennedy’s military advisors failed to notice, his understanding of the dangers and his controlled response helped save the USA from the most destructive war ever seen. However the military assured destruction that came with the power of the nuclear era forced the USA and USSR into the standoff of Cuba. This crisis was inevitable and the only way of bringing the arms race to the end. However the driving
In the early 1960’s the Soviet Union and Cuba had a very close relationship was during the Cold War where the Cuban Missile Crisis began. The Cuban Missile Crisis occurred when the Soviet Union offered Cuba protection if they gave them the ability of planting missiles there. The 35th president of the United States, John F. Kennedy, was in a breakdown when he discovered ballistic missiles in Cuba on October 16, 1962. By October 29 John F. Kennedy took action from the fear of the ballistic missiles striking Washington D.C. John F. Kennedy considered starting a naval blockade to halt Soviet missiles entering Cuba. The naval blockade became successful on October 29, 1962; Soviet missiles were interrupted from the regular schedule of importation.
Tensions between the USSR and the United States rocketed after it came to the American Government’s knowledge that the USSR were setting up weapons in Cuba, a communist state in the Americas. The Soviet Union’s actions came as a result of American Missiles – namely Jupiter -being placed in Turkey, although there is a suggestion that the Soviet Union’s leader Nikita Khrushchev –according to his claims- placed missiles in Cuba as a shield of protection of the smaller country after America’s failed Bay of Pigs attempt of 1961. The aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis could be seen as a highly significant turning point. The agreement that both sides came to meant that Missiles were removed from Turkey and Cuba, and that Fidel Castro’s leadership on Cuba was strengthened. As a result, a Moscow-Washington hotline was also created -enabling a direct means of contact between the USA and USSR- which to an extent could have been seen as ground breaking due to the Communist/Capitalist line of communication being created.
Although the USA had won the propaganda victory, Khrushchev had managed to defend Cuba against the might of the US. Khrushchev had always maintained that the sole reason he went ahead with Operation Anadyr (to put missiles on Cuba) was to defend Cuba. After Castro had overthrown Batista in 1959, he began nationalising business and seizing US assets, seizing $1billion worth of assets in 1960 alone. The US clearly wasn’t happy with this and decided to remove Castro. Their first attempt, the
Jordan Sell Mr. Hebert Modern American History 23 April 2012 Thirteen Days Assignment The United States and Russia had been locked in a bold stalemate until the Soviets decided that they would very much enjoy the first-strike capabilities that their satellite ally Cuba presented them. So, they shipped over some intermediate missiles and technicians over on some of their freighters and begun construction. The missiles would give the Soviets capability to destroy many American population centers that were key in running the nation. So if the Soviet leaders decided to put all of the major cities that they had the capability of hitting with their missiles on a dartboard and lets say, hit New York with a population of 7,781,984.
In order to understand the reasons for the invasion we must look at the fear and loathing the U.S. had for Communism. The “Red Scare” and the “Domino Theory” were dominating American Culture and America had an extreme paranoia against the Soviet Union and the spread of Communism. Cuba was a country that sat about 90 miles off the shores of Florida and had a fierce dictator in charge, Fulgencio Batista. Fidel Castro had overthrown the government of Batista and established a new government. A few weeks after the ousting of Batista, Castro is appointed premier.
The USSR didn't even have 100 military bases. * The USA interpreted the Soviet takeover of Eastern Europe as the start of an attempt to spread communism around the world * The USA’s immediate worry was that Greece and Turkey might be the next countries to fall to Stalin. When Britain said it could no longer afford to station troops in these countries, Truman decided to act. * On May 12 March 1947, Truman announced that the USA would give support to any free peoples