Nicholas Beller

Mr. Bjork

ENGL 2010 – Sec 00-

February 22nd 2008

The Cuban Missile Crisis

The Cuban Missile Crisis was much more than a standoff between the United States and Soviet Union. It was the pinnacle of the Cold War as America realized that the threat of a bomb was more imminent than expected. In what could have nearly been the end of the world from nuclear holocaust turned out to be a mild misunderstanding with nearly no casualties. While many people consider the Cuban Missile Crisis to be a dark time period for America, it could be argued that it was a turning point in the Cold War that helped America and the Soviet Union set standards of what would happen if another confrontation was to occur.

The turmoil between Cuba and the United States began years before the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred. An incident known as the “Bay of Pigs” can be cited as the event where things started to turn sour. In 1959, a young Fidel Castro was leading a revolution in Cuba in an attempt to turn Cuba into a dominating communist power with the likes of the Soviet Union. It was obvious that it was in the United States’ best interest to stop the possibility of a second evil empire. At the same time as Castro was having a revolution, an equally fresh faced leader was coming into power in the United States in a much different way. John F Kennedy Jr. was democratically elected as president in November 1960. The youngest president to date, Kennedy was eager to make his mark on Americans. He and his cabinet; consisting of his brother his brother Robert, Secretary of State Dean Rusk, and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara received the Cuban intelligence from the Eisenhower Administration and were to thwart any possibility of a communist overtaking.

The plan to thwart was simple enough and been done several times in the past with much success, including; Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh in 1953 and Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán in 1954. The United States government gave several million dollars of aid to anti-Castro Cubans, in hopes of a counter-attack consisting of guerilla warfare. This kept American hands clean of any blood at a relatively cheap price. However Castro and his followers proved to be much tougher than anticpated. On April 15th 1961, several American airstrikes hit Cuban airports and airstrips, in hopes destroying any air attacks by the Cubans. Although a second sweep was planned, it was cancelled by Kennedy, in foresight, one of the biggest mistakes of the invasion. A small army of American troops, along with thousands of anti-Castro exiles, armed for combat, landed in Bahía de Cochinos. Even by the first day of training and fighting however, it was known that the exiles didn’t have a chance. Castro and his rebellion forces far outnumbered the American backed exiles, as well as being well informed by spies. After days of resistance and fighting, the invasion could be seen as a disaster and the retreat began. After it was all said and done, 90 exiles had been killed as well as several thousand taken prisoner by Castro’s rebels. The Bay of Pigs Invasion was a severely embarrassing event for the young Kennedy Administration, and was the beginning of what would be a running rivalry between Kennedy and Castro.

Not even a year later, in February of 1962, Kennedy enacted an economic embargo upon Cuba, an embargo that is still in effect to this day.  One of the first precursors to the Cuban Missile Crisis could be considered as the Americans arming of fifteen intermediate range missiles in Turkey, giving the American military an upper hand with close proximity to the Soviets. This action led Nikita Khrushchev, Premier of the Soviet Union, to counter with the obvious, arm missiles within close proximity to America. The choice for the host of these missiles couldn’t be a better fit than Cuba. Castro was searching to do anything to get back at America after the Bay of Pigs Invasion and was more than willing to comply with his fellow communist counterpart, Khrushchev. Castro sees this as an opportunity to more than just help out an ally, but to also give its self protection from any invasion by the Americans.

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In May 1962, Castro, after meeting with his advisors including; his brother, Raul Castro, Che Guerva, and several others, gave official notice to the Soviets that they could begin shipping materials for missiles. On July 15th, 1962, Soviet ships containing materials for making surface-to-air and surface-to-surface missiles, as well as nuclear warheads, set out for Cuba from the Black Sea.  In what is known as Operation Mongoose, the CIA sends out guerilla tactical teams in the Cuban jungle in hopes of infiltrating Castro’s units. In August, American intelligences discovered what seemed to be a shipment of Soviet military missiles going ...

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