CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS REVISION

CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS

In 1958 Marxist Leninist Fidel Castro drove away the corrupt Cuban president Fulgencio
Batista. As a Marxist Castro quickly turned Cuba into a Cuban state. It was the first time
in history that a country in the west had fallen under the red hands of communism and
this feared their American neighbours. Castro had connections with the Soviets and
Nikita Kruschev insisted on there being Soviet Missiles to be planted on Cuba. US
airplanes quickly discovered these missile sites and from then on people feared that it
would have been the blink of a nuclear war.
BATISTA
Fulgencio Batista was the dictator that ruled
Cuba from 1952 to 1958. He ran under a rightwing dictatorship and dealt with opponents with
harsh punishments. Very little prospered under
his regime which made him an unpopular
person in Cuba, however the Americans
supported him regardless because he was
strongly anticommunist. Many Cubans were

CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS REVISION

tired of his ruling and this was the main factor that triggered the Cuban revolution lead
by Fidel Castro.

FIDEL CASTRO
Cuban underwent a lot of changes under Castros rule. Unlike Batista,
Castro was interested in Marxism and turned Cuba into a communist
state. This contradicted with the Truman doctrine of containment, having a
communist country that is near America (Cuba is at least 90 miles away
from Florida) feared many Americans.Before Castros rule, America and
Castro were good trade partners, Castro changed this and traded sugar
with the Soviets in exchange for oil, machines and money. This outraged
the Americans and in 1960 they refused to trade with Cuba. Castro
responded with swift action and nationalised all Americanowned
companies in Cuba.

BAY OF PIGS INVASION

On April 17 1961, an army of 1,500 cuban exiles, supported
by the U.S government, went to the Baha de Cochinos (Bay
of Pigs) on the south of Cuba in an attempt to overthrow
Castro. Trained since June 1960 by the CIA, with the
approval of president Eisenhower, these Cuban exiles were
supplied with ammunition and trained by the US government
in Guatemala. The objective of this was to form an uprising
in Cuba and overthrow Castro. The result of the invasion was
dreadful, the exiles were either executed or kept in
imprisonment. The failure of the invasion served as a burden
on Kennedy as it showed that he was weak. It also made
Castro
suspicious of US policy.

Missiles in Cuba
In July 1962, Khrushchev and Castro met in private to discuss on there being
Soviet missiles to be planted on Cuba to prevent any future invasions. Castro
had agreed with the placement of Soviet missiles on Cuba. An American U2
plane had caught sight of these missiles being developed, and on the 16th of
October, brought them to the presidents attention. President Kennedy had
met with Khrushchev the previous year in an attempt to perform a truce.
However Khrushchev saw no purpose in compromising with America but

promised instead not to place offensive weapons in Cuba. It was evident from the government
documents that he broke his promise.

Why did Khrushchev put missiles on Cuba?

There are a number of different reasons as to why Khrushchev
wanted to put missiles in Cuba. Some of which were:
1) Khrushchev knew that America had missile bases
across the world, one of which was in Turkey and
Khrushchev felt vulnerable as the Soviet Union could be
hit under military threat and it was clear that America
that they were winning the arms race. Having missile
bases in Cuba would balance out the odds.
2) Kruschev received criticism from politicians with the
soviet Union and he needed to demonstrate to them his
power. Placing Missiles in Cuba was a good way of
doing this.
3) Khrushchev wanted to protect Cuba as it was the only communist state in the Western
Hemisphere. The Bay of Pigs invasion made it certain to the Soviets that Cuba clearly
needed protection from the USA.

Kennedys Actions
Kennedy didn't know what to do so he assembled a group of advisors (called ExComm) to
give him make solutions to the discovery of the missiles.
Kennedy now had to take action on this and they were to:
1)

To do nothing

The US was a stronger nuclear power than the Soviets so doing nothing is not a bad idea, however
the Soviets did lie about the Cuban Missiles so doing nothing would be a sign of weakness.

2)

Promote an air strike

The Missiles would be destroyed before they were even used, however the attack may kill soviet
soldiers and this would surely trigger a response. Also it was immoral to attack without advanced
warning.

3)

Invade Cuba

The American army had enough experience in military welfare to invade Cuba. The invasion of Cuba
would get rid of the missiles and Castro himself. However the USSR would respond to this by either
protecting Cuba or within the soviet sphere of influence. Invading Berlin for example.

4)

Diplomatic Pressures

Getting the United Nations involved in the situation would avoid conflict but if the US was forced to
back down then it would be a sign of weakness.

5)

Blockade Cuba

A blockade would demonstrate to the world how serious the US was without harming Cuba or the
Soviets.. This would force Kruschev to decide what to do next. This wouldn't solve the main problem
as the missiles could be activated at anytime, the soviets might retaliate by blockading Berlin like it
did in 1948

On the 20th of October, Kennedy had instituted a blockade around Cuba (or a naval
quarantine as he coined it) to prevent any military supplies from reaching Cuba. On the 22nd
Kennedy had publicly announced to the American public about the blockade. In a letter from
the 23rd of October, Kruschev accused America of piracy, and of trying to provoke a war
which would annihilate humankind . He warned that Russia would get ready a fitting reply to
the aggressor. 20 Russian ships were heading for Cuba. On October 24 the first Russian
ship reached the blockade and was allowed through. The other ships turned ships.
On 26 October, Khrushchev sent a telegram to Kennedy, offering to dismantle the missile sites
in Cuba if Kennedy would lift the naval blockade and agree to not invade Cuba. Then on the
27th October, Khrushchev sent another telegram demanding Kennedy to dismantle the missile
sites on Turkey. On that day, a U2 plane was shot in Cuba. This was the crisis point, people
feared that this was an unlucky sign of war. Kennedy ignored both the incident and the
telegram and instead met with Khrushchev privately issuing the dismantle of the American
missile bases in Turkey.
On the 28th, Khrushchev agreed to dismantle the sites in Cuba and on the 20th November
Russian bombers left Cuba and Kennedy lifted the naval blockade.