Was the Cuban Missile Crisis a turning point in Relations between the Superpowers?

Mahdi Zarringhalam

History Coursework: The Cuban Missile Crisis

Was the Cuban Missile Crisis a turning point in

Relations between the Superpowers?

The Cuban Missile crisis is recognised by the entire world to have been one of the most dangerously fragile points in the history of conflicts between the United States of America and the Soviet Union. Surely after it was over, after the US and USSR had realized they had nearly thrown the world into nuclear war, after an event that could ultimately have spelt the planets doom, changes were bound to be made in order to stop anything like the missile crisis from happening again in both the near and far future.

So, what steps were taken by the superpowers that would ensure the worlds safety from then on? And more importantly, can the events that took place during October of 1962 on Cuba, be considered a turning point in relations between the US and USSR, and if yes how and to what extent? There are a number of points that can be analysed in this topic that will show evidence of progress and in some cases contradictory evidence to the improvement in the superpowers’ relations after the Cuban Missile crisis.

In the days just after the crisis one of J.F Kennedy’s advisers said to the press,

“Having come so close to the edge, we must make it our business not to pass this way again”. Though this was easier said than done. Kennedy and Khrushchev lay the situation down in front of them and decided what was the wisest thing to do first of all. One of the main aspects of the crisis that made it particularly dangerous was the fact that communications between the White House and the Kremlin were extremely poor. Before and during the crisis messages were sent via letters or telegraphs. The danger of this was that so many important decisions were being made on behalf of these messages and the fact is that it was taking too long for them to reach Kennedy or Khrushchev, meaning critical errors could be made in the time it took one side to get a letter or telegraph across to the other.

It was decided that a telephone hotline was required that would link the White House and the Kremlin; it was installed in August of 1963. It would enable leaders to discuss problems before they reached a dangerous level. It had its other benefits as well, it should not be forgotten that the two sides had only just avoided war and therefore it was clear neither really trusted the other. The hotline would automatically allow leaders to tell each other’s moods and to an extent thought track, perhaps pick up where the other was possibly bluffing or enthusiastic about an idea. None of this could be drawn out of the letters that were sent in the time of the missile crisis.

The introduction of the hotline in itself was a turning point in relations between the US and USSR for it had enabled the two leaders of the superpowers of the world, to talk to each other in a one to one conversation, and thoroughly discuss any subject matters that would possibly affect both countries. Also the hotline did allow the two sides to gain a degree of trust between each other, however small an amount of trust that was, the fact is it was still there, and was a huge improvement upon the capitalists and communists being sworn enemies. The advance in communications would also make such events like the Paris Summit, peace talks conference in 1960, which Khrushchev stormed out of after an American U2 spy plane was shot down over Moscow, never happen again. However things had certainly not suddenly become perfect between the two sides. The new communication facilities did not stop Americans and Soviets speaking their minds, as President Ronald Reagan (presidency 1980-1989) demonstrated in 1980, when he declared that the Soviet Union was an “Evil Empire”. This unfortunately started a second Cold war, which of course was not very good for efforts in communications and relations.

Examples of this are the boycotting of the Moscow 1980 Olympic Games by America and then the 1984 games by the Russian athletes.

As can be seen, there definitely was to an extent a turning point in communications relations after the missile crisis, but certainly there were many ups and downs after the event. The communications advance between the US and USSR also did not fully complete any bridges of trust, yet I believe that would have been very wishful thinking, it was unrealistic to hope for complete cooperation and trust between the superpowers so soon after they had ...

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Examples of this are the boycotting of the Moscow 1980 Olympic Games by America and then the 1984 games by the Russian athletes.

The next point to be analysed is the arms race before the Cuban missile crisis and the changes that were made after by the US and USSR. In 1945 the US arms industry gave birth to the most terrifying man made weapon imaginable, the atomic bomb. The USSR did the same four years later in 1949, partly to rise up to the strength and capability of their adversary the US. Many more weapons with nuclear capabilities were developed over the coming years after the A-bomb, by the two superpowers, with even more advanced and moreover more destructive capabilities including the long range intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). This chain of events was the beginning of the Arms Race between America and the Soviet Union. Throughout this period the two sides competed in a race, to develop more and more deadly and capable weapons, as well as trying to produce as many as possible. During the next few years the superpowers produced enough weapons to destroy the entire world several times over.

In 1962 during the ‘Cuban Missile Crisis’, the two superpowers realized that being in the position of having these weapons threatened world peace like nothing ever before. When the thirteen days in which the crisis took place were over, it became clear that measures would have to be taken to stop an event of such happening again. The realization of this brought the two powers somewhat closer and allowed them to sit down together and take the future of their arms industries into consideration. Between 1963 and 1979 America and the Soviets drew up several treaties that would enable the world to avoid events as dangerous as the missile crisis.

The first treaty to be signed internationally was the ‘1963 Nuclear Test Ban Treaty’ this was the banning of all forms of nuclear testing other than underground, this was welcomed warmly by the worlds leaders, with the exception of France and China who refused to sign. France continued testing their nuclear capabilities just off the Polynesian coast until 1996 when various protests throughout 1995 in Paris brought the testing to an end. It became clear to the US and USSR that each side was fully capable of destroying each other. The horrifying prospect of this came to be known as ‘Mutually Assured Destruction’ (MAD). The New Soviet Premiere Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev (1906 -1982) who took over from Khrushchev and continued the policy of peaceful co-existence between the capitalists and communists and President Lyndon B. Johnson (1908 - 1973) of the US both signed the ‘1968 Non-proliferation Treaty’, this denied smaller emerging countries of the superpowers nuclear technology.

In 1968 Richard M. Nixon (1913 – 1994) took over presidency from Johnson. He made an agreement with Brezhnev to limit the spread of ‘strategic’ nuclear weapons. The path in which these actions came in to play from was the ‘1972 strategic Arms Limitation Talks’ otherwise known as SALT. This was obviously a good thing and can definitely be viewed as a turning point in relations between the superpowers, but the problem was that both sides continued to modernize their nuclear arsenals even though they were not allowed to let them spread. The fact is that they were still making their nuclear capabilities more and more apparent by bringing larger and more destructive weapons into play. In the time between 1966 and 1988, many newer more lethal weapons including Multiple Warheads (MRV) and new long range cruise missiles were developed. However desperate these two superpowers were to prevent an event such as the missile crisis from happening again they continued to contradict their efforts by carrying on developing more dangerous arsenals of nuclear weaponry. To conclude this point I would say ‘yes’ the crisis was most certainly a turning point, simply because it made the United States and Soviet Union realize how dangerous their nuclear capabilities were, let alone the fact that they started to negotiate about their weapons on more formal terms. However the treaties signed were efficient in only stopping the spread of arms but not the reduction of weapons being produced. This did not happen until 1988, after Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev met in 1987 where they secured a deal that would reduce the amount of arms the powers possessed. It was recognised by both sides as a historic moment.

The third point to be looked at is the ‘Space Race’. The race was a competition between the two superpowers to see who was technically and scientifically more advanced. New nuclear weapons capabilities were one thing yet it was far out of the league of space science, notably in the area of space travel. It was believed that the victor of the space race would determine which ideology, capitalism or communism was better. The first step into the space race began before the ‘Cuban Missile Crisis’ when on the 4th October 1957 the Soviet Union launched the world’s first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1. The satellite carried a radio transmitter which sent signals back to earth until Sputnik burned up in the atmosphere 92 days later. This was followed up the year before the Cuban Missile crisis on 12th April 1961, when the Russian Yuri Gagarin blasted off from earth aboard a rocket and entered space. He was the first cosmonaut – Russian for astronaut. These early victories for the USSR were massive propaganda factors for the Soviets. The US did also start to advance in the space race to the Soviet’s status in space science; they achieved victories such as the passing of Venus in 1962 by the Mariner 2, the first successful planetary space probe.

Before ‘Cuba’ the US and USSR were as suspicious of each other as ever, there were literally no communications between their space engineering or science research departments of the two powers. After the Missile crisis due to general improvements in communications this did start to change. Scientists from both sides started to work together on scientific research. This lead to a combined soviet, US mission to space when a Russian cosmonaut and an American astronaut met up. Even though improvements were made in relations between the superpowers science research, the space race went on and both sides were determined as ever to claim victory and prove either capitalism or communism to be a better ideology! The race was finally ended when the US claimed victory as Neil Armstrong climbed out of the Apollo 11 lunar module and became the first person on the moon. The Americans broadcasted the whole event live to the world to prove its dominance in Science. Yet again we come to similar conclusions… the Missile Crisis was definitely to an extent a turning point in relations due to (again) communication advances and through that; a step further towards cooperation between the super powers research facilities. As before there is still the matter of ‘the however factor’, both the Soviets and Americans, still had the urge to beat each other in this technological race and prove their side to be more advanced. One could look at this in either one of two ways from my perspective. Either the space race would bring the two super powers closer to each other by putting them in a competitive situation where there was no obvious gap in capability. Or it could leave one or the other in a very soar position by the end of the competition, thereby to an extent, potentially damaging relations between them.

The next point to look at is the policy held in practice between the Soviets, Americans and earlier by the Chinese, called Détente. Détente was a permanent relaxation in international affairs during and after the Cold War rather than just a temporary relaxation, that was likely to fall at the slightest disagreement between the US and Soviets. The US realised that there were better ways of containing communism than the ways that they had tried with in previous years. The Americans were also aware of the massive cost of weapons production and maintaining a huge armed force. A peaceful relationship with the USSR would be very beneficial to USA especially after the cost of the Vietnam War not long after the Missile crisis. Similarly Khrushchev and the USSR realized they were also spending a great deal on Warfare and military enhancement and production, rather than basic household goods for the people of Russia, living standards were generally speaking, very poor. It would be extremely beneficial for the Soviet Union to adopt the policy of détente with the Americans. From 1963 – 1975 the two super powers worked together to establish a strong sense of détente between themselves. Some of the key acts following the Cuban Missile Crisis are as follows.

In 1963 the hotline was introduced, linking the White house and Kremlin, thereby improving communications between the two sides. Various treaties and conferences were attended and signed by the leaders of both powers, including the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT). In 1972 the President Richard Nixon visited Moscow. A year later Leonid Brezhnev returned the deed and visited Washington. A few years on in 1975 the Helsinki Agreement came along; the USA, USSR, Canada and other major European powers accept European frontiers set up after World War 2. This recognised that Germany was divided and East European countries agreed to allow their people human rights such as freedom of speech. This was an excellent turn out, both for the US and the Soviet people. The US had been fighting for the rights of the peoples of Eastern Europe for many years; this had finally been accomplished through a diplomatic internationally approved way. This was a winning situation for the USSR also; they were seen in the eyes of the whole world to have cooperated comfortably with the other countries in securing a better way of life for the people of their state.

Another key character emerged later, and enhanced the status of détente between the superpowers. In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev became Soviet premier, and a new age in East-West relations began. He was much younger than most Soviet leaders and put new policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (economic reform) into action. His work towards nuclear disarmament with the US and reduction in general weapons was widely supported, all around the world. Gorbachev was the first Soviet leader to become a popular figure in the west.

Once again we must return to our question and ask whether this factor resulted in a turning point in relations between the two superpowers, after the Cuban missile crisis. Most certainly the crisis showed both the USSR and the US that the status of their current relation had to change. I think working round détente was an excellent solution. Both sides were given a guide and idea of how things had to change, and understood that the relaxation of tension between them was vital to make anything work. The results of détente in my opinion were themselves the ‘turning points in relations’ between the US and USSR. I find it hard to extract any weakness or cons in the policy and how the two powers adopted it for their use.

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Now I will attempt to draw out a final conclusion about the stated points, and argue whether “The Cuban Missile Crisis was a turning point in relations between the superpowers”. To be honest it seems to me quite impossible to simply give this question a Yes or No answer. It would be illogical to give ‘no’ as your answer and at the same time it would be somewhat ambitious to give ‘yes’ as your sole answer.

After the missile crisis on Cuba the United States and Soviet Union, realized just how dangerous the situation they were in with their nuclear arsenals was. This in its self was a turning point in their relations and mentality, the steps they were to take after the crisis would hopefully ensure another nuclear weapons crisis would never take place. The enhancement in communication when the hotline was introduced was also a turning point, before the leaders of the powers simply could not talk to each other unless it meant travelling across the globe and under the state of relations at that time, and this was unlikely. The hotline allowed one to one conversations between leaders which secured important decisions efficiently and quickly. Even though a second Cold War broke out after the communications brake through, the US and USSR got back on good terms quite quickly and they resumed their efforts in improving relations. This cold war was definitely a set back but the speed at which the situation changed shows that the two sides were eager to improve things between them, instead of over half a century it took them less than a decade to resume a stable rate of play. The arms Race (after the crisis) showed us two things in my view… both sides were interested in stopping the spread of nuclear arms and denying other smaller countries of nuclear capabilities, this of course is a good thing but the other point I learned from this scenario is that the powers were too proud of their nuclear technology, they weren’t prepared to stop developing, and modernizing their weapons and they continued producing them at a terrible rate, this indicates perhaps the mistrust that still existed between the US and USSR. This was dealt with much later on. However it cannot be denied that the superpowers did attempt to stop the spread of arms and this can definitely be viewed as a turning point in relations. The space race also was effective in improving relations after the missile crisis. It engaged both sides in a competition and history has often shown us that competing in friendly terms is usually excellent for relations. Also the combined efforts in the race when they started to work together showed the world that the United States and Soviet Union could cooperate and work as a team. As for the policy of détente, I think this shaped the rate of improvement in relations between the superpowers and ultimately I would say the introduction of détente was a key turning point in the relations between the US and USSR after the Cuban missile crisis, they took themselves on quite a bumpy ride, but in the end their relations definitely improved after the crisis and the effect of that can still be seen today.