Download Cuban Missile Crisis

CUBAN MISSLE CRISIS
CUBAN MISSLE CRISIS
Kennedy,
Khrushchev, Castro
• The Cuban Missile Crisis was a
confrontation during the Cold War
between the Soviet Union and the
United States regarding the deployment
of nuclear missiles in Cuba.
• For many people the twelve days of the
Cuban missile crisis was the most
frightening of their lives.
•
• Kennedy had been elected as United
States president by promising to get tough
with the communists.
• In April 1962, America had placed nuclear
missiles in Turkey.
• The United States had a dramatic
advantage in nuclear weapons.
• In 1961, the U.S. started deploying 15
Jupiter intermediate-range ballistic
missiles (IRBM) in Turkey, these directly
threatened cities in the western parts of
the Soviet Union.
• Soviet premier Khrushchev publicly
expressed his anger of the missiles
deployed in Turkey. He regarded the
missiles as a personal affront.
• Khrushchev planned the deployment
in May 1962, by late July over sixty
Soviet ships were en route to Cuba.
• On September 4, 1962 Kennedy told
congress that there were no offensive
missiles in Cuba.
CUBAN MISSLE CRISIS
Missiles discovered by U-2
Surveillance planes
Medium Range
ballistic missile
base
Missiles Found in Cuba
• In 1962, U.S. intelligence discovered that Cuba was
building nuclear missile sites throughout Cuba.
• When the sites were completed, many East Coast cities
including NY and DC would be in range of nuclear
weapons.
• Kennedy went on the offensive, blaming Soviet leader
Nikita Khrushchev for provoking world peace and
demanded for the removal of the missiles from Cuba.
• The missiles were not discovered
by the U.S. until photographs
were shown to Kennedy on
October, 16, 1962.
• Kennedy announced the
discovery of the installations in a
televised address on October 22.
• The missiles had been placed to protect
Cuba from further planned attacks after
the failed Bay of Pigs invasion
• The Cuban Missile Crisis began on
October 16th, 1962.
• The crisis ended twelve days later on
October 28, 1962.
Televised Address
• Oct. 22 JFK informs the US of the
Soviet missiles
• “quarantine placed around Cuba”
FIGHTING THE COLD WAR
• 90 miles from United States
• Missiles now 5 minutes
away from united States
THE PLAYERS
• EX – COMM
–Kennedy’s group of advisors
–Hand-picked group of 19 men
helped Kennedy through the
crisis
–Most had Law backgrounds so to
an international law approach
X-COMM
• Robert F Kennedy
– Attorney General
– JFK’s confident and
– Facilitator of meetings
– Against Air strikes
– Ambassador Dobrynin
Theodore Sorenson
•
•
•
•
•
•
Special Counsel to President
Dove perspective
Wrote most of the correspondence
Chief of Staff
Dove
Dove
X-COMM
Robert McNamara
Secretary of Defense
One of most important:
Supported blockade
Job was to monitor
blockade and reigning in the
military
Dove
Dean Rusk
Secretary of State
Cautious diplomat
Wanted diplomacy
“We are still here”
Anatoly Dobrynin
Anatoly Dobrynin
Soviet Ambassador. Good relationship with
the Kennedys and opened the talks with the
Soviet Union
McGEORGE BUNDY
National Security Advisor
Former Dean of Harvard
Played Devils advocate
Supported not taking out
missiles in Turkey
Adlai Stevenson
Ambassador to the United
Curtis LeMay
Chief of Staff United
States Air Force
Dean Acheson
Advisor to Ex-Com
Republican Advisor to
President Eisenhower
Advisor and
Speech writer
for JFK
Ted Sorenson
Bay of Pigs
CUBAN MISSLE CRISIS
Cuba provided with arms
After the Bay of Pigs fiasco, Soviet arms
flooded into Cuba. The Soviet Union
publicly announced that it was supplying
Cuba with arms in May 1962. By
September, Cuba had thousands of
Soviet radar vans, missile erectors, jet
bombers, jet fighters, tanks, and patrol
boats, as well as 5000 Soviet technicians
to help maintain the weapons.
So near America?
Whilst conventional arms were being
supplied to Cuba, an island next door to the
USA, the Americans watched with great
alarm, the question being whether the
USSR would dare put nuclear missiles on
Cuba. On 11 September, Kennedy warned
the USSR, and on the same day, the USSR
assured the USA that they had no intention
of placing nuclear missiles on Cuba.
BUT…
On Sunday, 14 October 1962, an American U-2
spy plane was sent to Cuba, flying over and taking
amazingly detailed photographs of missile sites in
Cuba. It was obvious to all US military experts that
these were nuclear missile sites, and that they
were being built by the USSR. Over the next few
days, it was confirmed that some sites were
already supplied with missiles, and 20 Soviet ships
carrying missiles were also on the way to Cuba.
Nuclear launch sites in Cuba, 1962
What should America do?
As both the USA and USSR were now in
possession of many nuclear weapons, Kennedy
had five main choices, put forward by his
advisors. What should he do?
Do nothing
Surgical attack
Invasion
Diplomatic pressures
Blockade
Do nothing
PROS
• The Americans knew that
their nuclear power was
much greater than the
Soviet Union
• The USA could still destroy
the USSR, and the USSR
knew this, meaning that the
USSR would never use the
missiles
• The biggest danger to
world peace would be to
overreact to the discovery
of the missiles on Cuba
CONS
• The USSR had lied about
the missiles in Cuba, and
Kennedy had already
issued a warning to the
USSR
• Doing nothing could be,
and would be, interpreted
as a sign of weakness by
other countries
Attack from air
Surgical air attack
PROS
• It would destroy the
missiles on Cuba before
they were ready to use
CONS
• The destruction of all the
sites could not be
guaranteed, and if even
only one site was left
undamaged, the USSR
would be able to launch a
counterattack against the
USA
• The attack would kill Soviet
soldiers, causing the Soviet
Union to retaliate at once
• The attack would be seen
as immoral
All-out invasion by air and sea
Invasion
PROS
CONS
• An all-out invasion of Cuba
by both air and sea would
get rid of both the missiles
and Castro
• The American forces were
already trained and
available to carry out the
invasion
• The USSR would either
respond immediately to
protect Cuba, or would
respond within the Soviet
sphere of influence, with a
possible take-over of Berlin
United Nations meeting to discuss Cuba
Next
Diplomatic pressures
PROS
• By getting the United
Nations or other countries
to intervene, or negotiate, it
would avoid conflict
CONS
• If the USA was forced to
back down, it would be
interpreted as a sign of
weakness by other
countries
American blockade
Blockade
PROS
• Banning the Soviet Union
from bringing in any further
military supplies to Cuba by
using the US navy to stop
and search Soviet ships
would show that the USA
was serious, without using a
direct act of war
• Blockading the Soviet ships
going to Cuba would put the
burden on Khrushchev
• If this option did not work
out, even though the USA
had a strong navy, they
could still take other options
CONS
• A blockade would not solve
the main problem as the
missiles were already on
Cuba, and could be used
within one week
• The USSR may choose to
retaliate by blockading
Berlin, as it had already
done so before in 1948
A Brief Chronology
 May, 1962: Khrushchev makes veiled
references to a plot (How would the U.S. feel to
have missiles pointing at them, as they have
missiles pointed at us?)
 September: JFK and Congress issue warnings
to USSR that US will deal harshly with any
threats to national security
 October 14: U2 recon. flight over Cuba spots
sites installing nuclear missiles
 October 15: Presence of missiles is confirmed
The Missiles: One Site
Chronology, Continued
 October 16: President Kennedy notified
 October 16-22: Secret deliberations on what
should be done
 October 22: Kennedy tells nation his plan for
blockade and quarantine
 October 23: OAS endorses naval quarantine
 October 24: Naval quarantine begins and
successfully changes course of many Soviet
ships
Chronology, Continued
 October 25: One Soviet ship challenges naval
quarantine; Kennedy lets it pass
 October 25: At the UN, Adlai Stevenson directly
challenges the Soviet ambassador to admit to
the existence of missiles, when the ambassador
refuses, Stevenson wheels out pictures of the
missile sites
 October 26: Soviets raise possibility for a deal:
if we withdraw missiles will America promise not
to invade Cuba?
Chronology, Continued
 October 27: Soviets demand that Americans
also withdraw missiles from Turkey; Major
Anderson’s plane is missing over Cuba,
presumably shot down; U.S. recon plane strays
over Soviet airspace…high tensions
 Kennedy tells Khrushchev that he will accept
the proposal of the 26th, Kennedy tells his
brother to tell the Soviet Ambassador that
though the Turkey missiles would not be part of
the bargain, they would be removed in time
 October 28: USSR agrees to withdraw missiles
Soviet Decisions
 Motivations



Close the missile gap—Currently far
behind U.S. in terms of number of
missiles
 Verbal threats no longer effective with
overwhelming evidence of U.S.
superiority
Protect Cuba
Reciprocity: The U.S. has missiles
pointing at us, let’s see how they feel
now
Soviet Decisions, Continued
 Inability to use the missiles

If fired a missile, repercussions would be
severe
Why Khrushchev Settled
 Effectiveness of naval quarantine
 Conventional inferiority in the Caribbean
 No possible countermove
 Overwhelming world support for the U.S.
 Other possible reasons

Got what he wanted?
 No
U.S. invasion of Cuba
 U.S. missiles withdrawn from Turkey
The American Decision
 In September Kennedy had stated
and Congress had passed a
resolution saying that if the Soviet
Union placed offensive weapons in
Cuba we would not tolerate it.

Could we then rely solely on
diplomacy? Kennedys thought
John could be “impeached” if he
didn’t act in accordance with his
prior warnings
 Determined in first 48 hours of crisis
that the removal of missiles was the
primary objective

This objective effectively ruled out
isolated diplomacy, and left two
options…
The American Decision cont.
 Option 1 - Air Strike



On October 17th, President Kennedy “made
the flat statement that there would definitely be
an air strike, at least against the missile sites,
and perhaps against wider targets” (Bundy
394)
Reservations from others, airstrike may be
using a “sledgehammer” to kill a “fly
Later that day Robert McNamara suggests
policy in between diplomacy and an air strike
The American Decision cont.
 Option 2 – Blockade
 Advocated early on by McNamara and Robert
Kennedy, blockade would not require instant killing,
but critics feared it would not remove the missiles
and would allow Soviets time to complete what they
already had in Cuba
 Douglas Dillon strengthened blockade argument by
suggesting that it would only be a first step, that if
Khrushchev did not remove the missiles to lift it,
then more could be done
 By Friday the 19th, the committee working on the
blockade adapted it into a quarantine, on Sunday
Kennedy accepted their plan as the course of
action
Could America have acted
differently?
 Could we have used the crisis to remove
Castro?

Our warnings all along had been against offensive
weapons so once that warning is tested if we use it
to attack Castro are we sticking to our word?
 Could we have tried diplomacy before resorting
to the quarantine?

If we didn’t keep secrecy, Khrushchev could have
proclaimed defiance, or denounced
quarantine…then both countries would be in
positions where they’re heading straight for each
other and can’t just turn back
Castro’s Role
 No real role in decision
making
 Apparently out of touch with
the situation


Oct. 26: “Aggression
imminent/imperialists
disregarding world
opinion”—Clearly not the
case
Khrushchev plays along
to some extent but it is
clear he disagrees with
him (“your suggestion
would have started a
thermonuclear world
war”)
Questions
 Do you feel Major Anderson’s death justified
more aggressive action?
 Seeing as how our options in the crisis were
somewhat dictated by the warnings we issued
in September…should we have issued those
warnings?
 If the missiles in Cuba were conventional,
and neither the Soviet Union nor the U.S.
possessed any nuclear weapons, would the
crisis have been avoided?
• The compromise reached satisfied no one,
it was a particular embarrassment for
Khrushchev and the Soviet Union who had
not made public the withdrawal of the
missiles in Turkey.
•
.
• U.S. military commanders were also not
happy with the result. General LeMay told
the president that it was “the greatest
defeat in our history” and that the U.S
should invade immediately
• Cuba felt they had been betrayed by the
Soviets whom they had trusted, with all the
decisions being made exclusively by
Kennedy and Khrushchev.
• The Cuban Missile Crisis spurred the
creation of the Hot Line. This is a direct
communications link between Moscow and
Washington D.C. The purpose was to
have a way leaders of the two Cold War
countries could communicate directly to
better solve a crisis like in October 1962.
FIGHTING THE COLD WAR
Nuclear war was
averted and Kennedy
gained stature or
respect as a world
leader
FIGHTING THE COLD WAR
Result of crisis
“hot line” installed
between Kremlin and
White House
Fallout from the Crisis
• When Khrushchev “blinked,” he lost
great respect in the Soviet Union.
• Kennedy, on the other hand, looked
cool, calm, and collected. His legacy
will be forever linked to this incident.
• What this incident did do was improve
communication between the two
superpowers. A “hot line” phone
connection was created between the
two leaders.
• A year later, the U.S. and Soviets
signed a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty which
prohibited countries from testing
nuclear bombs above ground. This
would be the first nuclear agreement
ever.
Blockade was chosen
as solution
Kennedy addressed
Nation
Brinkmanship
Ships stopped
“looks like someone
blinked”
Russia and
Khrushchev sent
letter with terms that
were agreeable to U.
S.
FIGHTING THE COLD WAR
Next day second letter
with additional terms
U. S. missiles must be
removed from Turkey
FIGHTING THE COLD WAR
X-Com ignored the first
letter
Blockade and
negotiations were
successful
FIGHTING THE COLD WAR
Promise not to invade
Cuba
Russia would take out
missiles
FIGHTING THE COLD WAR
Adali Stevenson and
U.N. proved missiles
were in Cuba over
Russia’s denial
FIGHTING THE COLD WAR
Missiles were removed
from Cuba U. S.
agreed to remove
missiles from Turkey 6
months later