Since Castro became Cuba’s dictator, relations and communication between the US and Cuba had deteriorated and in January 1961, all diplomatic relations between the two nations had been broken off. However, it wasn’t until April the same year that there was an actual display of conflict between the 2 which became known as, ‘The Bay of Pigs’. Shortly after he became US President Kennedy was informed by the CIA that with the assistance of Castro Cuban exiles, it was planning on invading Cuba. In total 1500 invaders landed on the Cuban bay although, due to outdated CIA intelligence the invasion was a disaster and it resulted in embarrassment for Kennedy and glory for Castro.
The disaster of the Bay of Pigs worsened the situation between Cuba and the US; this resulted in a growing relationship between Cuba and the USSR. However, the US kept Cuba under surveillance and on Tuesday 16 October 1961, Kennedy was informed of Soviets delivering missiles and setting up missile sites on Cuba. This was the beginning of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Excomm, a committee of the National Security Council, advised Kennedy throughout the crisis and when informed of the missile build up, faced Kennedy with 5 options to deal with the information; the first, an invasion of Cuba; the second, a naval blockade of Cuba; the third, air attacks on the missile sites; the fourth, a nuclear attack on Cuba; and the last, do-nothing and allow the missile sites to be erected. On Saturday 20 October, President Kennedy decided on a blockade of Cuba. Two days later on Monday 22 October, Kennedy announced the blockade and calls for the Soviets to remove its weapons from Cuba thus eliminating their ‘reckless threat to world peace’. The following day, Kennedy received a letter from Khrushchev stating that the Soviets ships would not observe the blockade; so on Wednesday 24 October, the blockage began.
As the first Soviet ship approached the 500 mile blockade zone, the 20 Russian ships closest to the zone, stopped and turned around. The next day, US aerial photographs showed that work on Cuban missile bases was proceeding. On Friday 26 October, President Kennedy received a letter from Khrushchev claiming the missiles were purely for protection but if the USA agreed not to launch an attack on Cuba and lift the blockade, the missiles would be removed; this way the first time Khrushchev had admitted the presence of the missiles on Cuba. The following day Khrushchev sent a second letter to Kennedy saying that the missiles would be removed from Cuba if the US removed its nuclear weapons from Turkey. The same day a US airman was shot and killed and Kennedy was advised to launch an immediate attack. Kennedy knew he couldn’t agree to the proposals in Khrushchev’s second letter, nor did he want a war so Kennedy agreed to the terms of the first letter but warned Khrushchev that if the USSR did not remove its missiles from Cuba, a full scale attack will follow. On Sunday 28 October, Khrushchev ordered the Soviet government to remove the missiles from Cuba to return them to the USSR.
The crisis was over, but the world was left shaken by the clear display of brinkmanship shown by the USA and the USSR.
It is not clear why the USSR decided to put missiles on Cuba and historians have developed several theories as to why Khrushchev placed them there in the first place. It is possible they were being used as a bargaining tool; threatening the US to give the USSR what it wanted. It also could have been to protect Cuba or the USSR as with missiles with the ability to destroy any major American city, the US were less likely to attack the USSR.
To the public eyes, the end result looked like a great victory for Kennedy, however in reality, on 27 October, Kennedy had secretly agreed to remove the US missiles from Turkey. Khrushchev also faced glory as he was seen as a peace maker, stopping a worldwide nuclear war.
The Cuban Missile Crisis resulted in Cuba staying communist with the support and arms of the USSR. The crisis was thought to be the height of the cold war and after, the tensions began to thaw and in 1963 a best ban treaty was signed, which although, did not stop nuclear weapons being developed, did limit their testing. In addition a telephone line was established between Washington and Moscow, giving direct access to communication between the 2 countries at any time if necessary.
Both leaders had reached an agreement and began striving toward a better future however with two years, the two leaders were gone. President Kennedy had been assassinated and Khrushchev had been overthrown.
