Now the CIA focused their efforts on assassinating Castro, to stop the rot of Communism. Including various attempts such as an exploding cigar, poison and an attempt to overthrow Castro at the Bay of Pigs, however Castro evaded all American efforts to kill him.
In December 1961, Castro announced that he was going to set up a Communist government in Cuba. This was yet again another blow for the US, to have a Communist country only 90 miles away from nearest US soil made America even tenser. There was now a Communist presence in the Western hemisphere.
This meant;
- America’s Early Warning Defense System, in the Arctic was now virtually useless
- Khrushchev now had a foothold in the West
- Cuba in effect could possibly spread Communism in the West, to its neighboring islands
On the 14th of October 1962 a US U2 spy plane took reconnaissance pictures over Cuba, which later showed that missile bases were being built on the North coasts of Cuba, at full speed. It was clear that Soviet missiles had been transported into Cuba, via boat.
This set up the height of tension, during the Cold War, 13 days in which the world waited with baited breath to see what was going to happen, and who was going to act first.
When comparing opinions and sources on the Cold War it is important to establish where the evidence came from, (East or West) and also to take on both arguments. Therefore it is obvious that the Western public would favor Kennedy, and the East Khrushchev.
I agree with the statement, firstly because in the Western hemisphere people saw Kennedy as being strong and that he had been able to handle the crisis and Khrushchev well. This is why he gained much appreciation in the West, ‘President Kennedy remained calm and firm throughout the crisis’ English PM Harold McMillan.
Also to back the statement even further in the West Khrushchev was seen to be sly and secretive towards the US and transported offensive missiles to Cuba. However wasn’t this what the Cold War was about? Nerves, propaganda, politics and upper hands?
Kennedy also gained praise due to his decision making during the crisis, he had many options open to him at the time of retaliation to the missile bases. Kennedy’s ‘Picket line’ worked.
Finally in 1964 Khrushchev was removed from office by the Polit Bureau who believe that Khrushchev’s handling of the crisis was not up to scratch, it was thought that he climbed down and offered the victory to Kennedy.
However from the other point of view, Khrushchev was seen to be the man who saw sense first, with his idea of ‘Quid Pro Quo’ (I’ll do this for you if you do that for me). With this ‘Face saving’ phrase, Khrushchev could emerge from the crisis as the man who finally saw what was going to happen sooner rather than later, and did something about it.
Even some people in the West saw Khrushchev as the leader who acted with the most resolve during the crisis, ‘I have never seen a statesman act with such magnanimity and greatness as you have over Cuba,’ Bertrand Russell. Furthermore Kennedy was made to look like a fool, when the CIA and 1,400 Cuban exiles lost disastrously at the Bay of Pigs, in an attempt to overthrow Castro, in 1961.
Having weighed up both cases my initial impressions were that Khrushchev came out of the crisis better than Kennedy because, it was he who realized that they had nearly pushed each other too far. It was Khrushchev who sent the two letters to Kennedy. Khrushchev managed to stop a US invasion of Cuba and at the same time agree on NATO missiles being removed from Turkey and Italy.
However Kennedy succeeded in making it look like he had won the battle. Kennedy used Khrushchev’s ‘Quid Pro Quo’ to make it look like Khrushchev had backed down to the might of America, ‘I think the other man just blinked,’ after all Kennedy knew that he had to win this battle. To add to Kennedy’s case Khrushchev was removed from office in 1964 due to what the Polit Bureau saw inadequate handling of the crisis.
John Lillie
