Soviet Missiles On A Route To Cuba example essay topic

Assignment #3: Process Analysis A War Abolished As we live are lives today in the year 2003, a lot of us feel lucky that the war with Iraq did not turn into a fatal, nuclear one. The reason many people feared the war was because of the new military technology that has developed over the years. For example, smart bombs, atomic bombs, and the worst of them all, the nuclear bomb. Many people thought that the war was a terrifying feeling for the countries involved. People today believe that the war with Iraq was the biggest suspense the U.S. citizens ever had to go though. Little did they know that forty one years ago, the United States was very close to being involved in a nuclear war with Cuba and the Soviet Union.

The process of how the U.S. was almost a victim of a nuclear war is a very complex and terrifying one. It all began in the month of June 1961 when Kennedy attended a summit with Premier Khrushchev, leader of the Soviet Union, in Vienna. The reason for their meeting was to discuss cold war confrontations between the east and west. Because the two leaders failed to resolve their differences, and since Kennedy was very young, Premier Khrushchev viewed him as a weak President who lacked the skill, power, and support that creates a great leader. Although the Soviet Union did not feel threatened by President Kennedy, they were concerted that the U.S. had more nuclear weapons than they did. This caused them to, as they said, "tip the scale in their favor".

The first thing the Soviet Union had to do was to find a country were they would be able to hide their missiles. The Soviets easily choose Cuba as their stage of operations because of its leader's past experiences with the U.S. When Cuba's leader, General Fidel Castro came in to office, the U.S. stopped purchasing Cuban sugar and refused to supply its former trading partner with much needed oil. Castro became furious and intensely hated the U.S. because of their behavior towards his country. Another reason for Castro's dislike towards America was because Castro thought of himself as being a higher power than President Kennedy; he was not afraid of the U.S. Once the Soviet Army found a place to store their nuclear bombs, they began to build them with the help of the Cuban military forces. On October 14, 1962, U.S. spy planes were sent to fly over Cuba. While there, they photographed the first of the Soviet Unions ballistic missiles.

When news of this event reached Kennedy's ears, he demanded that the Soviet Union remove the missiles from Cuba and dismantle them. When the Soviets refused, Kennedy began discussing invasion options with his advisers. On October 22, Kennedy came to a decision and announced a naval blockade around Cuba to prevent the arrival of more nuclear missiles. He also declared a quarantine zone around Cuba, with in which U.S. naval forces would intercept and inspect ships to determine if they were carrying weapons. On that exact same day, Kennedy decided that it was time for the citizens of America to know what was going on within their beloved country.

Everyone in America was in fear and thought that the end of the world would soon follow if the U.S. was involved in a nuclear war. For several tense days, Soviet missiles on a route to Cuba avoided the quarantine zone and Khrushrev and Kennedy communicated through diplomatic channels. Khrushrev tried to negotiate many terms with Kennedy but Kennedy showed his strength and did not budge. Again he threatened Cuba and the Soviets that if they did not dismantle their nuclear missiles, the U.S. army would be forced to attack. Finally, after the two leaders of the world's greatest nuclear super powers stared each other down for seven days, Premier Khrushrev blinked. On October 26, Khrushrev agreed to Kennedy's demands to remove all missiles and then the following day, he tried again to negotiate other terms.

Kennedy responded to the first argument and on October 28, Khrushrev dismantled and removed the last nuclear weapon from Cuba. After several days of teetering on the brink of nuclear holocaust, the world breathed a sigh of relief. After one realizes how close America became a victim to a nuclear war forty one years ago, and the process it took to get to that point, maybe they will realize how lucky we were to escape such a disaster. Hopefully as years go by, America and its citizens will never have to go through the fear of a nuclear war or ever have to go through the process of almost becoming involved in one again.