Khrushchev thought that by moving nuclear missiles to Cuba, he would not only help close the missile gay with the U.S but that it would also prevent another American invasion of Cuba. Kennedy thought that he was left with only two options. One was to attack Cuba. The second was that they would call for a Navy blockade to keep soviet ships from sending in any more missiles to Cuba. Kennedy decided to the blockade.
Cuban Missile Crisis compared to the Cold War- History John F. Kennedy, president of the United States from January 20, 1961 to November 22, 1963 is confronted to a major issue in 1962 involving Cuba, The USSR and the USA. This text will evaluate this issue which they call : The 'gravest issues’ and compare it to the Cold War. For some time, the Soviets had been sending weaponry and war aircrafts to Cuba that was at the time leaded by Fidel Castro in a communist government. Therefore, because the United States were very busy with their November Congregassion Elections, Kennedy did not take action on the situation but sent warning to the Soviets asking them to stop sending missilery. On October 16, 1962, the US received photos of Cuba taken from planes that showed soviets working with nuclear missiles in Cuba.
Following the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961, Fidel Castro sought even more support from the USSR to prevent any further attempts to overthrow him. This security came in the form of Soviet nuclear missiles. From an orthodox point of view this has been viewed as an act of aggression by the USSR as it brought Soviet missiles in range of continental America, however from a revisionist perspective this can be seen as a reaction to the USA's deployment of nuclear weapons throughout Europe, particularly of Jupiter missile installations based in Turkey1. Soviet aims in Cuba were defined as bridging the missile gap between the USA and USSR, defending socialism were it was threatened and to use the missiles as a bargaining tool in international politics2. On October 15th 1962 American U-2 planes obtained photographic evidence of Soviet medium range missiles on Cuban territory.
Furthermore Cuba was only 90 miles off the coast of America, which meant these missiles, particularly the long-ranged weapons could reach major American cities. This greatly worried the USA and suggests the Cuban Missile Crisis was the point of highest tension during the Cold War as the threat to America was now so physically close and for the first time Cuba and the USSR were working well as one. Moreover placing missiles in Cuba was a power move from Khrushchev as he looked to test the USA and get an upper hand in arms race, which in turn increased tensions as it provoked a quick response from Kennedy. Within four days of learning about the missiles, on the 20th October Kennedy decided on a blockade of Cuba. Khrushchev placed missiles in Cuba to see if Kennedy would back off or face up to aggression and the blockade was certainly an aggressive move.
Stalin’s view is supported by Admiral D Leahy, who in his memoirs writes ‘we had adopted an ethical standard common to the barbarians of the Dark Ages’ This quote holds a substantial amount of weight to my argument due to Admiral D Leahy’s position as Roosevelt and Truman’s chief of staff, it would be expected for a man of such status to hold a view in support of America’s actions. Nevertheless, it is apparent that while Leahy may have condoned the dropping of the bomb to shorten the war, he would make no attempt to justify his country’s and his President’s actions. The moral implications were made apparent on the British mission to Hiroshima. Not only did the bombs claim the lives of over 200,000 civilians, the
It focuses on the diplomatic and legal efforts of the Kennedy brothers in resolving the issue of Soviet nuclear missiles inside Cuba. They strived to get some type of legal approval for any actions they took. This was done through the United Nations and the Organization of American States, or OAS. This memoir highlights the access and influence that Robert Kennedy had in the Kennedy administration. Thirteen Days takes a rational actor approach1 to the problem and tends to give less weight to organizational pressures2.
Chiefs of Staff and CIA’s stance: to use coercion (launch of pre-emptive airstrikes) and implement a threat strategy against the Russians. Challenging the legitimate power of a suspected-lukewarm President, they tried to influence him, by using negative framing effects and implicit threat: Kennedy would be made accountable for the death of million US citizens if he implemented a naval blockade that would cause annihilation of strategic surprise and first nuclear strikes by cornered Russians. However, having read “the guns of August” book, Kennedy was aware of the escalation risks of a threat strategy with low probabilities that: a. the airstrikes would remain “surgical” b. all USSR missiles could be 100% destroyed making the consequent retaliation risk insufferable. 2. Tusk and McNamara’s position: the implementation of quarantine.
The main reason I think the negative side won the debate is because the atomic bombs saved lives through preventing the invasion and conventional bombing of Japan. Also, by not allowing a conditional surrender, the United States helped Japan keep a stable society with their emperor without ruining national identity. An additional bonus to the success of the bombs was that the atomic bombs also asserted the United States as the dominant hegemonic power in the world. During the debate, the affirmative side argued that the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was not necessary to end the war because the United States used the bombs only to assert its global hegemonic dominance, and there were alternative options to ending the war such as negotiating with Japan to establish a conditional surrender, which Japan wanted, and using conventional bombs to invade Japan if the surrender failed. They stated that the United States only used the atomic bomb to show its power to the USSR.
attack on Cuba the equivalent of a world war, and claims to be receiving lots of aid from the USSR. But once the USSR and Cuban governments began building missile bases in Cuba, it became an immediate threat to the United States. The bases being built for these IRBM missiles were capable of launching them to practically any area of the continental United States. We responded by transporting 100 US missiles to Turkey and Italy, which were in striking distance of Moscow. By mid October, a U-2 photoreconnaissance plane retrieved pictures of missile sites in Cuba, giving Kennedy hard evidence that they existed.
1. During Kennedy’s administration; which was more effective, The Bay of Pigs ,The Cuban Missile Crises and the Berlin Wall? • During Kennedy’s administration the most effective was, The Cuban Missile Crises. The united states deliberated and came to an agreement with The Soviet Union, to take away this missiles stations in Cuba and moved them back to Russia. The Bay of Pigs was not effective because it was not planned through.