Investigation: The Cuban Missile Crisis as a Thaw in the Cold War

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Chunga 0345-006

Completed in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the IB Diploma Programme

John Paul Chunga

IB History Internal Assessment 2011-2012

Candidate Number: 0345-006

IB Instructor: Nicholas

Investigation: The Cuban Missile Crisis as a Thaw in the Cold War

Word Count: 1,963

Section A

        I want to know more about politics in the 1960s at the height of the Cold War when John F. Kennedy’s New Frontier combats Soviet ambition. The United States and the Soviet Union were the superpowers of the world with two competing ideologies. With this competition came fear of that the other would best them in technological advancement. The nuclear arms race had begun after the Second World War and on October 16, 1962 culminated with the Cuban missile crisis that had the world inches from destruction. After this event the arms race did not flex its power as the Cold War thawed, however what evidence supports this supposed thawing in the Cold War? In other words, to what extent did the Cuban missile crisis lead to a thaw in the Cold War with the Soviet Union?

        To reach a conclusion for the research question, the conditions leading up to, during, and following the Cuban missile crisis will be assessed. The lessons learned from the administrations following will be used to assess whether a thawing occurred. The sources Thirteen Days by Robert F. Kennedy and The Fog of War directed by Errol Morris is used and analyzed for its origins, purposes, values, and limitations.

        The cultural aspect of the Cold War is not assessed in the determination of Cold War thawing and is limited to a United States perspective focusing on relations with the Soviet Union.

Section B

Pre Missile Crisis and Heating

  • Had FDR not died, the Cold War would not have happened, but it did, and the Americans had the monopoly on the bomb, which made Russia want to catch up to the opposing superpower (Walker 27)
  • Nothing guides Russian policy so much as a desire for friendship with the United States (Walker 29)
  • The spies in the sky ranging from U-2 spy planes to sputnik made the Russians nervous and alarmed (Walker 117)
  • Containment policy (Dobson)
  • The nuclear weapons of the Cuban Missile Crisis got the United States into the Cold War, and through negotiations they can release the tensions (Bundy 136)

Missile Crisis and Initial Heat

  • “Rational individuals came that close to total destruction of their societies and that danger exists today” (McNamara)
  • The Soviet Union had loaded Cuba with 162 nuclear warheads, including 90 tactical warheads all aimed at the United States (McNamara)
  • It was General Curtis LeMay’s suggestion of military intervention against Robert McNamara’s suggestion of blockade against the Cubans for the President to decide from (Kennedy 14-15).
  • Kennedy would listen to advisors regardless of their rank in the security meetings (Kennedy 95)
  • The Kennedy government spent time talking, debating, arguing, disagreeing and debating again (Kennedy 89)

Post Missile Crisis and Thawing

  • McNamara’s Lessons: empathize with your enemy, rationality will not save us, there’s something beyond oneself, maximize efficiency, proportionality should be a guideline in war, get the data, belief and seeing are both often wrong, be prepared to reexamine your reasoning, in order to do good you may have to engage in evil, never say never, and you can’t change human nature
  • Nikita Khrushchev desired peace as much as President Kennedy (Frankel 177)
  • “The importance of placing ourselves in the other country’s shoes” (Kennedy 102)
  • The Cuban missile crisis showed the importance of global respect and the need for allies in the world (Kennedy 98)
  • The Kennedy presidency was a watershed in Soviet-American relations in utilizing the “Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space and Under Water” and other lesser agreements (Levering 99)
  • “The Berlin crisis-together with its culmination in the Cuban missile crisis- marked a turning point in the Cold War, though it was not perceived as such at the time” (Kissinger 593)
  • “the Soviet Union did not again risk posing a direct challenge to the United States” (Kissinger 593)
  •  “The threat of nuclear war was useful only if your enemy truly believed you were suicidal” (Fursenko and Naftali 542)
  • The policy of détente lowered Soviet and American tensions (Walker 317)
  • Paradoxes of the aftermath of the Cold War: the US weakens their tension with China and Soviet Union while involving in conflict in Indochina, the US had better communication with Peking than Moscow, and the US and Russia increased their arsenals of nuclear warheads and offensive delivery systems (Levering 133)

Section C

Source One

        The first source to evaluate is Robert F. Kennedy’s memoir Thirteen Days, published in 1969, about the United States Attorney General’s account of the Cuban Missile Crisis. In the memoir, Kennedy writes the feelings and the happenings of the Executive Committee of the National Security Council in their response to the threat of missiles being placed in Cuba. U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy writes the book as he faces immanent danger. It appears the author desired to bring to light the inner workings of his brother’s presidency to show how the Administration dealt with imminent threat.

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        The memoir was written by Kennedy as an account of what happened in the thirteen stressful days inside the White House. The memoir brings the gravity of the situation into account when RFK passes a note to the President that reads, “I now know how Tojo felt when he was planning Pearl Harbor” (Kennedy 9). Additionally, the memoir looks back on the crisis to look at lessons to learn and what to gain from the experience. This insight into the EXCOMM allows the reader to realize the thoughts of the people deciding the fate of the country, however the source ...

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