Why was there such a major crisis between the superpowers over Cuba in 1962?

machinery. This made the alliance between Cuba and the USSR stronger. In America, Kennedy had become president. He was America’s youngest ever president, making him look weak to international opponents. Kennedy allowed a group of rebels to invade Cuba in 1961. The rebels told the CIA that on arrival at the ‘Bay of Pigs’ in Cuba, many Cubans would join them but this didn’t happen. When they arrived they were outnumbered and within three days were killed or arrested. The failure of this attack made the USA and especially Kennedy look vulnerable causing Khrushchev to believe that he could push Kennedy about. It also made Castro more popular. However, his failure at the Bay of Pigs made Kennedy more determined to stand up against the USSR in the future as he had been humiliated at both the Bay of Pigs and over the Berlin Wall. Now he was prepared to stand up to the USSR even if it meant risking nuclear war! Khruschchev decided that as Kennedy was so weak and could be pushed around he could place missiles on Cuba- just 90 miles away from the USA. This was a cheap way of threatening America, as Khrushchev would not have to pay out for expensive long-range missiles. From their position in Cuba, any major American city was in range, the USA felt threatened by this as they felt that the USSR were ‘in their own back yard.’ In 1962 the USA discovered the missile bases on Cuba after Khrushchev had denied that they were anything other than SAMs (Surface to Air missiles) for defence. An American U2 spy plane discovered the missile sites and prompted Kennedy to blockade Cuba and issue an Ultimatum to the USSR, that the missiles must be removed within 30 days. This began the Cuban Missile crisis of 1962, where the world came within 2 days of nuclear war.