Missile Crisis

A detailed Summary of Missile Crisis

The Cold War produced many confrontations between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Korea and Vietnam were confrontations between the superpowers in an indirect way because each was supporting a country. Not until 1962 did they really come face to face with one another. The 1962 Cuban Missile Crises, although over Cuba, pitted the U.S. directly against Russia. The decisions between October 14 and 17, 1962 could easily have started WWIII or everyone's fear at the time, nuclear war. But, calmer heads prevailed while both powers were able to claim victory.

The road to this crises began back in the 1930's. The U.S. had economic and political interest in Cuba, thus not allowing a government to take control that represented the Cuban people. From Franklin D. Roosevelt to Dwight D. Eisenhower the U.S. controlled Cuba in a round about way. When the Cuban military dictatorship of Batista was filled with corruption and looked badly upon, the U.S. was associated with it. When guerrilla warfare broke out in Cuba, the U.S. stopped supporting Batista. Although the U.S. did not openly support a rebellion by Fidel Castro, the U.S. newspapers were reporting Castro's ideas and his democratic plans. No one could have guessed what Castr

1960 was a presidential year for the U.S., so as you can imagine, the Cuban issue was a major factor. The Democratic nominee John F. Kennedy attacked Eisenhower and the democrats by saying that his defense policy was to soft and that there would be a "missile gap" during the early 60's giving the Soviet Union an edge in the nuclear race. Eisenhower could disprove this theory but didn't because of security reasons. Eisenhower was also blamed for the loss of Cuba, and there was already an air of uneasiness because of the Soviet Union's launching of sputnik, the first earth satellite. Richard Nixon, the vice president and republican nominee, had to defend Eisenhower without divulging secret information, so the cards were stacked against him.

By 10:15 the first two Soviet ships were to reach the blockade. A report then came in that a Soviet submarine had moved into position between the two ships. At 10:32 everyone was able to relax. The Soviet ships had stopped were they were, and 14 others had either stopped or turned back. The rest of the week went along withh no mishaps, but, the Soviet Union did not officially acknowledge the blockade yet and intelligence data showed that construction on the missile sites was continuing. On Friday Khruhchev had still not indicated any removal of the missiles. The ExCom then met again to talk about a possible air strike and invasion. It was their concern that by the time they did anything, the missile sites would be operational resulting in more casualties.

Fidel Castro was of course angry at Khrushchev's decision. Castro refused to allow UN inspectors into Cuba to supervise the removal of the missiles. The U.S. finally allowed the missiles to be removed under U-2 surveillance photos. Kennedy also demanded the return of Soviet bombers. The Soviet Union agreed and on November 20, the quarantine ended.

Kennedy and Khrushchev both claimed victory in the ordeal. Khrushchev said that an American pledge not to invade Cuba was what he wanted. Most people do agree though that Khrushchev was gambling to attempt and try to equal the U.S. superiority. Kennedy claimed victory because the U.S. stood up to Soviet aggression and the missiles were removed because of Kennedy'

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Category: History