Cuban Missile Crisis

On a Tuesday morning in October of 1962, it was brought to President John F. Kennedy's attention that the Soviet Union had raised activity on the island of Cuba. The President and the few members of the government that knew about the raised activity on Cuba, were extremely distressed once they found out about Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushev's move to place missiles on the island just off the coast of the United States. This move by the Soviets changed the way America viewed the Cold War, and thus changing the American culture, by having Americans citizens understand that they were very close to nuclear war, by changing the American rivalry with Cuba and the Soviets, and by giving American confidence in their leadership.

President Kennedy was not sure how the American people would react when and if the public was notified that the Soviets had placed close and intermediate range nuclear missiles on Cuba. Kennedy understood that he needed to tell them American people, but when he told them he needed to present them with a specific plan on what his administration planned on doing to counter it and what steps they would take to make sure that the Russian missiles were soon eradicated from the island. President Kennedy decided to move forward with the action of “quarantining” Cuba. An article titled “Student Reactions to the Cuban Crisis and Public Dissent" which was published two years after the stand-off gave me information on how people viewed the crisis and how it was handled. “I felt we should be willing to go to war to support it […] I felt we were going to have a real doozie of a war.” is what the author of the title said he felt when President Kennedy announced he was proceeding with a quarantine of Cuba. Having told the American people that service men would be used in what was essentially a naval blockade, the American people knew that they should prepare for the worst. Families all over the country were stocking up on supplies for if a war between the two nations did break out. The movie “Atomic Cafe” is a documentary about the testing of hydrogen bombs, in one scene it shows a short film on what to do if America was being bombed. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, people did not feel prepared for a war, even though they had films on what to do if their town was being bombed. Going through these preparations and having the navy deployed made Americans understand just how close they were to nuclear war. 

President Kennedy's address to the nation is on the top, and below is the film "Atomic Cafe"

 Every since the end of World War II, the American rivalry with the Soviet Union had been a very heated one. I think that the Cuban Missile Crisis was the climax of the intense rivalry. The Naval History and Heritage Command website had details all about the crisis the provided information on every aspect of the crisis. It gave me information on how Russian Premier Nikita Khrushev felt during the crisis. Towards the peak of the crisis, when war, and a full scale invasion of Cuba, was seemingly the only option for the United States, the White House received a message from the Soviet Capital. This peak is described as the "period of greatest danger" which soon turned into a "bargaining period" as it was described in an article I used, the article is titled Measuring Affect and Action in International Reaction Models. The message that was received at the White House was thought to be a fake by many of the members of the committee that was supposed to figure out America's next move,  the Executive Committee of the National Security Council (EXCOMM) was the committee. Other members of EXCOMM thought the message to be genuine, but thought that it was not written by Khrushev, and that there had been a coup. No matter if the message had been written by Khrushev, members of government that overthrew him, or if they thought it was a fake, one thing was clear: America was now in a situation of power in the situation, it was America's move. This change in tone in the crisis, set a change in tone in the rivalry with Russia and Cuba for the rest of the Cold War. The message that was received at the White House set in motion two things: the end to the Cuban Missile Crisis and the end to Russia's position of power over America. Although when the crisis was resolved, America had to pledge not to invade Cuba, they still forced the Soviets to back down in front of the entire world, leaving America in a position of power in the a still intense rivalry. 

EXCOMM in one of their many meetings during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The Cuban Missile Crisis ended with America on top, in a position of power over the Soviets and Cuba, this lead to American's having much more faith in their leaders. Before the crisis, President Kennedy was often looked at as being too young or too weak to be in a situation with so much pressure, but after the confrontation with Cuba and Russia, American's realized John F. Kennedy was a great leader. The States had a few run-ins with Castro in the few years prior to the Crisis, all in which made the leadership of the United States look week. An article titled The Cuban Quarantine clearly illustrates the altercations with Castro and clearly shows how they made the United States look weak, but the article also states that the Quarantine was the right move by the States. Going through with the Quarantine sent a message to the Russians and Cubans that the leaders of the United States of America, and it's citizens, would not back down from the Soviets. EXCOMM also showed that they were a force to be reckoned with in their handling of the crisis before the Soviets knew the American's knew of their activity. This article, titled Failure in National Intelligence Estimates, shows that governments at this time relied very heavily on spy intelligence, including America in situations like this. I used this source to show that in situations like this, false spy information could lead to a conflict. The Soviets claimed that they knew nothing of offensive weapons on the island of Cuba, even after the United States had confirmed their presence. This intelligence given to the States by flyovers from U2 planes gave the members of EXCOMM an upper-hand when figuring out how to address the situation. This article, titled The Quarantine of Cube: Legal or Illegal?, address the possible solutions the members of EXCOMM came up with. Having the upper-hand of intelligence, allowed the leaders of the States to back the Soviets down and humiliate them in front of the world. Doing this on a public forum, the American people developed much more confidence in their young leaders. 

A Missile showcased in a parade in Moscow, this photo was used by EXCOMM as a reference for the missiles that were placed in Cuba.  

A photo from the U2 flight over Cuba showing the Soviet activity.

A crisis that lasted thirteen days nearly ended in a Third World War. However, it did not end in war, but rather with America being the clear victory in an "cold" altercation. America being the victory gave the American people confidence in their leaders, giving America an edge in the rivalry with the Soviet Union, and allowing the American people to understand how close they were to nuclear war.