Cuban Missile Crisis Back In 1962 example essay topic

THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS Back in 1962 most people thought there could not be a nuclear war. They were wrong. The U.S. A, Soviet Union, and Cuban countries were so close they could feel it breathing down their necks. The people of the U.S. were so close to being incinerated, and they didn't even know it.

The Soviets had such a build up of missiles in Cuba they could have wiped-out most of the continental United States. The build up of these missiles, and the problems faced in October of 1962 are known as the Cuban Missile Crisis. On October fourteenth through October twenty-eighth 1962 the world was never closer to a nuclear war, than the events that happened during the thirteen days of the Cuban missile crisis (The Minds Treasure Chest). The crisis involved three countries, with three leaders. The United States had John F. Kennedy, the Soviet Union had Nikita Khruschev, and Cuba had Fidel Castro, a dictator over Fulgenico Batista. These three countries are linked together in one of the most climatic movements in the cold war.

The Soviet Union and Cuba were together against the United States in hope to damage the United States credibility to other countries, and to gain greater influence over Latin America (Groliers). On the twenty-fifth of October U-2 planes took pictures of the missiles in Cuba (Morganthau, 36). President Kennedy ordered the missiles withdrawn from Cuba, but Khrushchev would not withdraw (Mind's Treasure Chest). The United States took an estimate and figured that the Soviets and Cubans could only have about forty-four sub-launched polaris missiles and about one-hundred bombers on Cuba, and the United States had one-hundred fifty-six ICBM missiles ready to go along with one-hundred forty-four sub-launched polaris missile and one-thousand three-hundred bombers. The United States had more missiles and bombers than the Soviet and Cuban forces (Morganthau, 36). But that didn't matter much because the Soviet and Cuban forces already had major cities, including New York and Washington D.C., targeted with missiles.

With these cities targeted the Soviets and Cubans had the power to kill three-hundred-million people a day (Mind's Treasure Chest). One course of action taken was before the crisis, about twenty months before (Morganthau, 36). The courses name was The Bay of Pigs. The invasion started on April seventeenth 1961 and ended on April nineteenth. The force used for the invasion wasn't United States soldiers, but about one-thousand five hundred Cuban exiles (Groliers). The invasion was unsuccessful because the transport ships of the invaders got caught on seaweed in the bay.

Three-hundred of the exiles were killed and the remaining one-thousand two-hundred survivors were captured. After the crisis, in December of 1962, the United States exchanged $53 million worth of U.S. supplies to Cuba for the safe return of the exiles (Groliers). Another course of action taken was a full naval blockade. The blockade was established so the missiles could be taken out of Cuba by the Soviets, and so the United States could learn about the situation.

On the twenty-eighth of October Castro panicked and said he was going to have the missiles fired, Khruschev thought that was unnecessary and gave into U.S. demands (Mind's Treasure Chest). On the twenty-eighth Khruschev ordered the missiles out of Cuba, and the crisis ended without a nuclear war. After the crisis was over Kennedy chose not to say or do anything that might be degrading to Castro, Kennedy didn't want to humiliate him any more (Mind's Treasure Chest). In January of 1991 six of Kennedy's top aids with Fidel Castro, Rail Castro, and some Russians. Met in a conference room in Havana Cuba to discuss the crisis and other issues like: Castro's efforts to overthrow Central American Governments, the Bay of Pigs invasion, and Operation Mongoose. Also talked about was Cuba's guerrilla training on the aisle of youth.

The conference went well and the issues were better understood afterward (Robinson, 15). In conclusion the Cuban Missile Crisis was a huge conflict for the world, the cold war, and the Soviet, Cuban, and United States countries. The United States was so close to a nuclear war, but had the wits and brains to prevent it. If the crisis did go nuclear chances are we wouldn't be here today, or thirty-two years ago after the Cuban Missile Crisis.