Kennedy campaigned with the promise to close the missile gap with the Soviet Union. Upon entering office he realized that it was no close race between the US and the USSR. Despite this fact, between the years 1961 and 1963, the United States’ defense budget increased and the number of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles enlarged to a ratio of seven to one over the Soviet Union. This stockpiling of weapons helped to deter an actual war between the nations, as well as the spread of Communism. Also, in an act to prevent the spread of Communism globally, Kennedy encouraged Third World countries to develop democratic forms of government through economic progress in order to resist communism. (Jones)
Kennedy’s problems with Fidel Castro and Cuba were already in place before he took office. By the time he was in office the Soviet Union and Cuba were in cahoots and major trading partners that shared a likewise mentality of running their respective countries. In reference to the relationship between the two Communist countries and the United States, Khrushchev warned that “he would rain rockets on the United States if it interfered in Cuban Affairs.” (Jones) This hostile view of foreign policy led America to plan the overthrowing of Castro as the leader of Cuba and fighting a harsher war against Communism.
This overthrowing was attempted with the disastrous Bay of Pigs conflict. In theory, if successful, the invasion would have gotten rid of Castro’s regime and show the Soviet Union that America was not playing around with their determination in containing Communism. The problem was that the strike was ill prepared and failed miserably, leading to the death and capture of the soldiers that were included in the strike against Castro. This misstep made it look as if America may be losing steam as the most powerful nation in the world. This did not set well with Kennedy and he guaranteed that he would continue to fight Communism all over the world.
Due to the failing of the US invasion, Castro spread propaganda against the “weakening” United States and promised to spread Communism through Latin America. Castro was convinced that the Bay of Pigs invasion would not be the only attempt from the United States to invade his country. With this assumption Castro wanted a way to protect Cuba from foreign attack. At the same time Khrushchev was considering the placement of intermediate-range missiles in Cuba in order to double the Soviet strategic arsenal and to also provide a deterrent to a US intervention to either country. (Thinkquest)
In 1962 the USSR had begun building missile installations in Cuba. Aside from protecting Soviet interests in Cuba, Khrushchev felt that he could set out a form of equality in the nuclear power of the Soviet Union compared with the United States if he had weapons in the Western hemisphere. He also made it a point to let the Americans know “your rockets are in Turkey. You are worried by Cuba…because it is 90 miles from the American coast. But Turkey is next to us”. (Spielvogel)
In July of 1962 America picked up on a large number of Soviets ships in the waters surrounding Cuba. Refugees and agents from the US also noticed that there were suspicious construction sites that may have been missile sites and that there were a growing number of Soviet troops in Cuba. The confirmation that there were indeed missile sites and missiles on the island led to what is now known as The Cuban Missile Crisis.
After much back and forth between the nations, Kennedy demanded the removal of the missile from Cuba. After much debate and negotiation, Khrushchev finally agreed to remove the missiles if the United States promised not to invade Cuba. America met these terms and on October 27, 1962 the crisis was over. The end of the crisis came down to John F. Kennedy’s refusal to be intimidated by the Communist leaders and the ability of Khrushchev to realize that an all out war with America was a horrible idea.
America and John F. Kennedy can be seen as projecting the sense that the United States was the most powerful nation in the world. In contrast the Soviet Union and Nikita Khrushchev can be seen as wanting to spread what it saw as the best form of government and becoming the most powerful nation. Despite this striving for power when it came down to the point of either major conflict or avoiding major conflict, the latter was chosen. This was due to the choice by Khrushchev to not become engulfed in a nuclear war. He knew that the United States was a far more powerful nation, and responded appropriately to not have his country destroyed. Regardless of whatever damage he would be capable of, he realized that the results of those actions would have been terrible for himself, his allies and his country, thus protecting his own interests. Also without waging war between nations, neither nation really lost that much power relative to what they had before the conflict arose.
Prestige was also a factor in the events surrounding this conflict of the Cold War. America was a proud nation at the time and was the leader of all the great world powers. As was learned in Chapter 27 of our textbook, the Soviet Union was a nation that did not agree with the way the United States was running its government and vice versa. Americans believed that all people should be free and able to choose their governments and not be ruled by power as the Soviet Union thought. (Spielvogel)
This disagreement led to conflict between the two nations. The idea of prestige comes up very obviously when looking at the two nations during this era in history. America was stockpiling large amounts of weapons and wanted to prove that it was still the top nation in the world and would not be tested. The continued stockpiling and development of high-powered weapons could ensure that this would remain true. The prestige of having a bigger and better army with more advanced weapons and a larger number of troops is what really ended the dispute of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
The Soviet Union tried to compete and wanted to spread its idea of Communism to the world and become greater in power than the United States and its allies. The Soviets even went as far as deceiving the public and the media during events such as parades where they would continuously circle their troops and tanks around, making it appear as if they had more than they actually did. But ultimately, Khrushchev knew that America had more prestige and power, especially in terms of military force over the Soviet Union and backed down from an all-out war in order to ensure his countries survival.
It is easy to see why Time picked the day of and events leading up to October 27, 1962 as a day that changed the world. It is hard to say how life would be different today if the crisis was not avoided, but it is safe to say that things would be very different. If the events leading up to that fateful day were handled differently, the world we live in would be a very different place. Hopefully there will never again be such an event that so closely threatens the security and safety of the United States.
Works Cited
"Averting the Apocalypse - 80 Days That Changed the World - TIME." Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2011. <http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1977881_1977891_1978377,
"Cuban Missile Crisis: Summary." ThinkQuest : Library. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2011. <http://library.thinkquest.org/11046/days/index.html>.
"John F. Kennedy: Inaugural Address. U.S. Inaugural Addresses. 1989." Bartleby.com: Great Books Online -- Quotes, Poems, Novels, Classics and hundreds more. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2011. <http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres56.html>.
Jones, Howard. Crucible of power. 2nd ed. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2008. Print.
Spielvogel, Jackson J. Western civilization: a brief history. 7th ed. Boston: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning, 2011. Print.