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.
Of these captured rebels most of the leaders were put on show trials in Havana and executed and the rest were returned for $53 million in food and drugs from the United States (1). On December 29, 1962 a ceremony was held at the Orange Bowl for the returned exiles in which Kennedy promised that the exiles flag would someday fly over Havana and so far 48 years later it hasn’t happened (1). This disaster instead of destroying Kennedy led to his greatest triumph for which he is remembered: the Cuban Missile Crisis. After the failed invasion, the Soviet Union decided to protect Castro it would park intermediate range nuclear missile in Castro backyard within range of any US city. After the US discovered the presence of the missiles the US issued a naval quarantine of Cuba.
U2 Spy Plane U2 Spy Plane What was the U2 spy plane incident, how did it increase tension andwhat were the results of this? Throughout the 1950's, the United States was gravely concerned about the Soviet Union, and was anxious to keep a close eye on the Soviet military and the capabilities that they held. In 1957, President Eisenhower, with the help of the Pakistani government, set up a secret intelligence facility in north-western Pakistan to monitor the Soviets. Nearness was significant in intelligence gathering because there were no satellites to survey other countries in the 1950's. The U-2 spy plane was a technological masterpiece created by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
The Cuban missile crisis was one of the most tense periods of the cold war, with World War 3 threatening to break out some very tough decision needed to be made by the USA and the USSR. With the USSR setting up nuclear weapons in Cuba that could reach the white house in 5 minutes created a huge threat to the USA, of which were left to make some choices that have the nations fate in their hands. They originally set out to create a blockade of all Russian ships coming into Cuba. From there negotiations were made that the USSR would agree to remove their weapons. This is all said to have gone down in thirteen days of which a dramatised movie was created title “thirteen days”, which tries to recreate the tension of the Cuba Missile crisis.
The arms race began in 1945 when the US dropped their atomic bomb on Japan. Not only did this demonstrate the power of the USA but was the catalyst for an age of rapid weapon development, the arms race. This ended with the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1963, an event that bought the superpowers dangerously close nuclear war. A number of factors other than the accumulating advancements in weaponry lead to the Cuban missile crisis, the personalities of the leaders and the national interests of each country all effected how the arms race developed, leading to the inevitable situation where the USA and USSR were left hovering over the trigger. The main aspect that lead to the Cuban missile crisis was the arms development between 1945-1963.
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.
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.
U.S. trained Cuban insurgents were to invade Cuba and instigate an uprising among the Cuban people in hopes of removing Castro from power. On April 17, 1961, Kennedy ordered the previously planned invasion of Cuba to proceed. With support from the CIA, in what is known as the Bay of Pigs Invasion, 1,500 U.S. trained Cuban exiles, called “Brigade 2506,” returned to the island in the hope of deposing Castro. However, Kennedy ordered the invasion to take place without U.S. Air support. By April 19, 1961, the Cuban government had captured or killed the invading exiles, and Kennedy was forced to negotiate for the release of the 1,189 survivors.
It was publicised widely that America and USSR “were eyeball to eyeball”, with “the other fellow (USSR) blink(ing)”. However, this was not the case, as the Soviet missile-carrying ships were already turning back when American Secretary of State Dean Rusk made the statement, and the ships were at least 500 nautical miles away from the closest American warship. Furthermore, President Kennedy was not as firm as thought, for he was prepared to make significant concessions, including a public trade of Soviet missiles in Cuba for American missiles in Turkey, and possibly the surrender of the American naval base at Guantanamo Bay. What this means was that as a result of the Cuban Missile Crisis, it produced a myth of American might, that the Americans were too powerful and they could not be successfully challenged, no matter what the circumstances were and no matter where in the world. Policy makers bought into this idea too, and it led to the increased American involvement of the Vietnam War, as they thought