Commentary. The Cuban Missile Crisis Address to the Nation is a speech made by the United States of America President, John F. Kennedy, and live transmitted on October, 22nd 1962.

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A key moment in the history of mankind is the Cuban Missile Crisis having the two superpowers at its core: United States of America and the Soviet Union. The crisis began on October, 14th 1962 and lasted for 13 days. Evidence proved it to be, the point at which the Cold War nearly degenerated into a nuclear war and nearly became World War Three. The Cuban Missile Crisis Address to the Nation it’s a speech made by the United States of America President, John F. Kennedy, and live transmitted on October, 22nd 1962.

If we examine the method for making the “crisis” public, we can observe that John F. Kennedy was extremely specific. He did make very clear the problems ‘ballistic missiles, capable of carrying a nuclear warhead…capable of striking Washington, D. C., the Panama Canal, Cape Canaveral, Mexico City, or any other city in the southeastern part of the United States, in Central America, or in the Caribbean area.’(Kennedy, 1962) By being specific about what exactly the crisis was, John F. Kennedy was able to give public awareness to the events that were likely to unfold. Besides warning Khrushchev the speech also has other targets. The American president warned Dictator Fidel Castro by saying: . They are puppets … which has turned Cuba against your friends and neighbors in the Americans, and turned it into the first Latin American country to become a target for nuclear war the first Latin American country to have these weapons on its soil.’ (Kennedy, 1962)

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For a better understanding of the exigency that occurred during that period we must take a look at the events that took place before the crisis itself. One major contributor to the crisis which helped raise suspicion was caused by the Bay of Pigs Invasion in April of 1961. (Allison, 1971) This unsuccessful CIA trained invasion force set up concerns for the nations involved, some which have still to be resolved. The Bay of Pigs Invasion was an attempt of the United States to overthrow the Cuban Dictator Fidel Castro without appearing to have influenced the coup’. Cuba itself was the ...

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