May 2nd, Nikita Khrushchev devises a plan to station intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Cuba in order to counter act the increasing power of the United States of America. This increasing power was in actual fact their potential power, in that the United States had increased their development in nuclear missiles and then deploying them to stations around the world. Cuba had also been told that this use of their storage space was also due to their interest, as a fellow communist state, in protecting Cuba from an invasion which had been sponsored by the United States, similar to their previous attempt which resulted in the Crisis of the Bay of Pigs which took place in 1961; this invasion attempt proved to be a complete failure, as all of the invasive force had either been killed or had been taken as prisoners by Castro’s army. The invading force consisted of 1300 Anti-revolutionary Cuban exiles who had fled Cuba to the United States in fear when Castro came to power. These Cuban exiles had been specially trained by the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) for this operation, but when the exiles were deployed for this operation, they were placed on the southern tip of the island in the Bahía de Cochinos (Bay of Pigs) to avoid detection by Castro’s forces. The invaders hoped to acquire help from the more remote villages in the south of the island but were quickly intercepted by Castro’s troops. The fighting raged on for two days, from April 17th until April 19th, until the Cuban exiles were forced to surrender; more than 90 of the 1300 exiles had been killed in the fighting and the remaining exiles were taken prisoner and were executed shortly after. The failure of the invasion seriously embarrassed Kennedy’s administration, as he had only been elected as president three months before approving this course of action.
Fidel Castro soon gave his approval to such requests after hearing of how the United States was planning another invasion attempt. Soon after Castro gave his approval, the Soviet Union began construction on missile installations, but the constructions had to be kept ‘low-key’, because if the United States were to learn of their plans, they would be quick to react with lethal force in fear of war.
On October 22nd, satellite reconnaissance photographs were presented to President John F. Kennedy of missile installations under construction in Cuba by the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union denied all allegations that the missile installations that were under construction in Cuba were being built under Soviet direction. President Kennedy responded to this announcement through a televised address to the United States by announcing that the construction of Soviet missile installations in Cuba had been brought to his attention and that any attack on the United States with the use of nuclear missiles would be seen as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States and would be responded to with lethal force upon the Soviet Union. President Kennedy proceeded from this televised announcement by imposing Naval quarantines around Cuba in an attempt to prevent any more weapons shipments from the Soviet Union reaching Cuba. This course of action was among a list of four other advisable ways to proceed, which were put forward by Kennedy’s advisors. It is believed that President Kennedy made the correct decision by merely blocking of Cuba’s supply of missiles, this would certainly agitate both Castro and the Soviet Union but there was no risk that this course of action could escalate the situation. The cause for issuing this blockade around Cuba was due to Castro’s orders to fire on any and all U.S aircraft that entered Cuban airspace. On the October 28th, Castro ordered his troops to shoot down, with the use of Russian missiles, an American U2 Spy Plane that was surveying Cuban/Russian progress; the pilot was killed in the process.
The other four ways that President Kennedy could have preceded are as follows:
- President Kennedy could have done nothing and have ignored the fact that highly dangerous missiles were being stored in Cuba by the Soviet Union. This was the least favourite of the list as it would have been highly dangerous for the United States of America if the Soviet Union had seen this as a weakness and had taken full advantage of the opportunity.
- The United States could have launched a full scale invasion on Cuba, which could have resulted in heavy US casualties and would thus have severely damaged Kennedy’s presidency. This could have easily resulted in Russian casualties due to their involvement, which could have made matters worse.
- President Kennedy could have arranged a fully armed air strike to attack the missile storage installations only, but there were large risks to this plan as the air force could not guarantee that that the missile storage installation would be the only structures caught in the attack, thus risking both Russian and Cuban casualties.
- President Kennedy could have launched an appeal to the Soviet Union, requesting that the missiles be removed from Cuba because they were causing unhealthy relations between Russia and the United States. The chances of the Russians recognising this appeal were unlikely as the Russians denied all knowledge of the presence of such missiles being in Cuba in the first place.
- President Kennedy could issue a Naval quarantine around Cuba, thus cutting off Cuba’s supply to the missiles. This course of action was the most highly approved of out of the list as the risks of escalating the situation were low and the fact that President Kennedy would be seen as taking a specific and direct course of action towards resolving the problem.
Outraged at how president Kennedy responded to the assault on the U2 Spy Plane, Castro began preparations for war, with the support of Khrushchev, both Cuban and Russian troops joined forces and mobilised while Castro issued a warning to President Kennedy that, “whoever wishes to investigate Cuba must know that they will have to come in battle fatigues”. Despite the sincerity of this statement, Cuba was still greatly dependant on the Soviet Union. Cuba had complete faith in the Soviet Union that if war was inevitable, the Soviet Union’s support was undeniable. The reason for Castro’s great faith in the Soviet Union was due to the fact that the Cuban economy had improved so much since its alliance with the Soviet Union, and had remained loyal for so long, Castro began to depend on the Soviet Union for any kind of support necessary, but this alliance did not come without a cost. The Soviet Union’s main aim was to gain a position where it would be able to challenge its main rival, the United States. This being because the Soviet Union was governed with a communist regime, whereas the United States was governed by a capitalist regime. Also because both of these nations were in tough competition with each other, mainly concerning their “space race”, and the development and testing of nuclear weapons.
In response to President Kennedy’s quarantine around Cuba, Nikita Khrushchev sent two letters to President Kennedy, both of which contained conflicting comments. The first letter contained a request on behalf of Cuba, that the missiles would be removed from Cuba if the United States did not attempt an invasion on Cuba. The second letter contained accusations against the United Stated for having similar missile installations stationed in Turkey, and then proposed that Russia would remove their missile installations from Cuba only if the USA did likewise in Turkey.