The Cuban Missile Crisis: The World on the Brink 1962

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The Cuban Missile Crisis The World on the
Brink1962
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America and Cuba How Awkward!

• Cuba, small island, 90 miles from Florida
• Spanish American war had been fought to keep
  Spains influence out of Americas sphere of
  influence
• 1959 Fidel Castro overthrows Battista, a
  dictator, establishing Communist government.

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America and Cuba How Awkward!

• Castro nationalizes businesses, against U.S.
  interests
• April 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion
• 1,400 anti-Cuban exiles attempted to overthrow
  Castro but the CIA botched the mission
• JFK took the blame
• JFK Victory has a thousand fathers, defeat is
  an orphan.
• US govt continued to try to overthrow Castro but
  never succeeded

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Cuban Missile Crisis USSR and Cuba?

• Cuba was a Communist state in Americans sphere
  of influence
• Cuba provides a launch site for Soviet ICBMs
• Khrushchev wanted to force JFK, who he may have
  been testing, into bargaining over US missiles in
  Europe

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Cuban Missile Crisis To the Brink

• 14 October 1962 US U2 spy plane takes photos of
  suspected USSR missile sites on Cuba
• Sites were nearing completion, experts believed
  they could be ready in 7 days
• Soviet ships are detected, bound for Cuba
  carrying missiles and supplies

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Cuban Missile Crisis The Escalation Ladder

• Kennedys Options?
• Do Nothing
• Consult the United Nations
• Strategic Air strike
• Full Invasion of Cuba
• Other?
• Which would you choose? Why?

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• Kennedys Options Pros Cons
• Do Nothing
• Consult the United Nations
• Strategic Air strike
• Full Invasion of Cuba
• Other?

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Cuban Missile Crisis To the Brink

• 20 October Kennedy is advised that an invasion
  is the ONLY way to guarantee Americas safety by
  destroying the silos before they are operational
  

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Cuban Missile Crisis To the Brink

• but he decides on a blockade around Cuba
  (quarantine). He gets the support of South
  American nations to do this.
• 22 October Kennedy publicly calls on Khrushchev
  to remove weapons
• Watch JFKs speech.

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Cuban Missile Crisis To the Brink

• 23 October Khrushchev refuses to acknowledge
  blockade or presence of Soviet missiles on Cuba
• The American Military moves to DEFCON 2. The
  highest alert ever.
• 24 October first Soviet ships approach the
  quarantine zone
• What happens if we fire on the Soviet ships to
  enforce the blockade? What will they do?
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?viZAwvCKoSi8feature
  related

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Cuban Missile Crisis To the Brink

• October 26 USSR offers to withdraw the Cuban
  missiles in return for a U.S. guarantee not to
  invade Cuba.
• October 27 USSR called for the withdrawal of
  U.S. missiles from Turkey (in addition to the
  demands of the 26th.)
• October 27 when a U-2 was shot down over Cuba
  and another U-2 flight over Russia was almost
  intercepted.
• Kennedy responded by publicly accepting the first
  deal and then sent Robert F. Kennedy to the
  Soviet embassy to privately accept the second
  deal. The fifteen Jupiter missiles in Turkey
  would be removed six months later.
• October 28 Khrushchev announced that he had
  ordered the removal of the Soviet missiles in
  Cuba
• Satisfied that the Soviets had removed the
  missiles, President Kennedy ordered an end to the
  quarantine of Cuba.

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What was the outcome of the crisis?

• Cuba remained Communist heavily armed (without
  nuclear missiles)
• Neither leader lost face or looked weak, both
  came away with concessions
• M.A.D. had been a successful deterrent
• Permanent hotline between White House Kremlin
  established
• Supported theory of containment co-existence
  because alternatives unimaginable
• 13 Days- U2 and Options
• 13 Days- Eyeball to Eyeball

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Cuban Missile Crisis To the Brink
Russia was a rational actor. So why risk nuclear
war? See the whole board... Complete this
analogy Cuba is to America as __________ is
to the Russia? (2 possible answers)
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Cuban Missile Crisis To the Brink
Read/Watch the possible Russian motivations for
placing missiles in Cuba for HW. What were
Krushchevs possible goals? http//www.globala
ffairs.es/en/the-cuban-missile-crisis-the-eluded-p
erspectives-of-the-soviet-union-and-the-cuban-gove
rnment/ http//www.globalconversation.org/2011/04
/15/soviet-view-missile-crisis