Nuclear Missile Bases Under Construction In Cuba example essay topic

During the administration of United States President John F. Kennedy, the Cold War reached its most dangerous state, when the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) came to the brink of nuclear war in what was known as the Cuban Missile Crisis. The United States and Russia were already engaged in the Cold War, and both countries were now in a race to build up their armed forces. The Arms Race was a competition between both countries to scare each other by creating bigger, more powerful missiles and bombs. Usually, the United States was more advanced than the Soviet Union in technology and the Soviets tried to catch up as quickly as possible and neither stopped. The American people thought that the Russians had more, and better missiles than the United States had because of Soviet Premier Khrushchev boasting over his country's status. Eventually, American officials show this to be false.

As the Cold War continued, the fear of a nuclear holocaust grew and proposals for arms reduction began, but the fear still remained. In 1961, the United States formed the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, which dealt with the government policy concerning nuclear testing and arms control. In May of 1972, the first Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT 1) came to an end and a treaty had been signed by the United States and the Soviet Union to limit the production of anti-ballistic missile systems. Throughout the Cold War people feared nuclear war, but the world was never closer to one then during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

There would be no winner in a nuclear war, only destruction would remain. For fourteen days in October of 1962, American and Soviet troops were prepared to attack one another and were ready to use nuclear weapons. This was the highest peak of tensions during the Cold War. The Cuban Missile Crisis began with the growing tensions between the United States and Cuba following the Cuban Revolution of 1959. The revolution ousted Cuba's dictator, Fulgencio Batista and brought to power a government headed by Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro. Before the revolution, the United States had a significant influence in Cuba's economic and political affairs, but the Castro government refused to be influenced by the United States.

Castro caused concern in the United States when he confiscated property belonging to wealthy Cubans and foreigners in an attempt to implement policies to improve conditions for poor and working-class Cubans. Many of these properties belonged to businesses owned by U.S. companies. Fearing that Castro would establish a Communist regime in Cuba, the United States applied economic pressure, and in 1960, they implemented an embargo that cut off trade between the United States and Cuba. Castro refused to give in to the pressure. Castro responded by openly embracing communism and allied with the Soviet Union. Ana stas Mikoyan, the Soviet First Deputy Prime Minister, negotiated this alliance.

This was the unofficial beginning of the Cuban Missile Crisis. In an effort to topple Castro's government, the United States trained and armed anti-Castro Cuban exiles living in the United States before their ties were severed. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had been training Cuban exiles for a possible invasion of Cuba. Newly inaugurated President John F. Kennedy approved this invasion on April 12, 1961.

The operation was designed as a means of overthrowing the Castro regime without revealing U.S. involvement in the operation. The plan originally called for the gradual buildup of anti-Castro forces within Cuba, that would be capable of toppling Castro. However, the operation quickly escalated into plans for a full-scale invasion, with the budget expanding from four million dollars to forty-six million dollars. On April 15, several days before the invasion, CIA pilots destroyed part of Castro's air force. They were preparing to complete the job on April 16 when President Kennedy, for reasons that nobody can explain, ordered a halt to the air strikes.

On April 17, about 1500 exiles, armed with U.S. weapons, landed at the "Bay of Pigs". Hoping to find support from the local population, they were quickly stopped by Castro's army. Help never arrived. By the time the fighting ended on April 19, about 100 had been killed and the rest taken prisoner. The failure of the "Bay of Pigs" seriously embarrassed the Kennedy administration, which was blamed by some for not giving it adequate air support and by others for allowing it to take place at all. By 1962, there was much concern in the U.S. over reports that the Soviet Union was channeling weapons to Cuba.

In September, Kennedy warned the Soviets that "the gravest issues would arise" should they place offensive weapons in Cuba. On October 14, U.S. intelligence officials presented Kennedy with photographs showing nuclear missile bases under construction in Cuba. The photos suggested preparations for two types of missiles: medium-range ballistic missiles, which are able to travel about 1,300 miles, and intermediate-range ballistic missiles, which would have been able to reach targets at a distance of about 2,500 miles. These missiles placed most major U.S. cities within range of nuclear attack. Kennedy also saw evidence of nuclear-capable bombers. Kennedy was now faced with a situation that had potentially grave consequences.

However, he had no clear choice on the actions to take against the Cubans and Soviets. Kennedy knew that an attack on Soviet installations in Cuba risked touching off a global nuclear war that would result in the loss of millions of lives. At the same time, he thought, and repeatedly said, that he also risked war by doing nothing. If he ignored Soviet defiance of his pledge in September to oppose offensive weapons in Cuba, then all U.S. pledges might become suspect. President Kennedy decided to take action. Kennedy quickly assembled a group of twelve advisors, called EX-COMM, to help him throughout the crisis.

He had several options: invasion, air strikes, a blockade, or diplomacy. After seven days of intense discussion with government officials, he ordered a naval quarantine of Cuba to prevent any more weapons from arriving into Cuba. On October 22, 1962, President Kennedy made the events public and tensions rose throughout the world. Kennedy demanded that all Russian arms be removed from Cuba immediately. During the crisis, Kennedy ordered low-level missions over Cuba every two hours to keep watch over the progress. On the twenty-sixth, the United States' government received a letter from Soviet Premier Khrushchev promising that the Soviets would retreat from Cuba under the condition that the American government would not plan another attack on Cuba.

However, the following day, a U.S. plane was shot down over Cuba and another letter arrived from Khrushchev. This time the Soviet Premier asked for more in return for the removal of arms from Cuba. Khrushchev now asked that the United States remove all missiles from Turkey in return for Soviet missiles in Cuba. Attorney General Robert Kennedy suggested that the government ignore the new letter and agree only to the first. On the twenty-eighth tensions began to ease when Khrushchev agreed to remove the missile installations in Cuba confiding in the U.S. ' assurance that they would not attack Cuba. The tensions during the crisis were extremely high and Soviet General and Army Chief of Operations, Anatoly Gribkov, described it best- "Nuclear catastrophe was hanging by a thread... and we weren't counting days or hours, but minutes.".