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Cuban Missile Crisis
Thirteen Days in October of 1962
that brought the World to the
brink of annihilation
Key Terms
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M.A.D. (Mutually Assured Destruction) – a military strategy in which a full-scale
use of nuclear weapons by two opposing sides would cause complete
annihilation of both the attacker and the defender. It is based on the theory of
deterrence where the threat of using strong weapons against the enemy
prevents the enemy’s use of those same weapons.
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Nationalization – the process of taking a private industry or private assets into
public ownership by a national government or state.
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C.I.A. (Central Intelligence Agency) – one of the principle intelligence-gathering
agencies of the United States. Has three principal activities:
– Gathering intelligence on foreign governments, corporations and individuals
– Analyzing that information along with information gathered from other sources
– Carrying out or overseeing covert activates and some tactical operations by its
own employees, by members of the US military, or by other partners
Cuban Geography
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This island of Cuba lies 150 km
off the Florida coast.
It is the largest island in the
Caribbean at almost 110,000
km2
Cuba has a tropical climate with
an extended dry and an
extended rainy season
Cuba is mostly covered in plains
and rolling hills except in the
southeast where there are
rugged hills and mountainous
terrain
Background
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1898 – Cuba was freed of Spanish rule after
the Spanish-American war
1902 – Cuba becomes “independent” but is
still heavily influenced by the United States
and in particular American corporations
By 1945 Americans owned:
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90% of Cuba’s mineral wealth
80% of Cuba’s utilities
40% of Cuba’s sugar cane fields
By 1959 Cuba had been ruled by Fulgencio
Batista for 25 years who had become
increasingly wealthy and corrupt allowing
American corporations to own much of
Cuba
Cuba had become the playground of
wealthy Americans but much of the Cuban
population suffered in poverty
Corporate America in Latin-America
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Corporate America’s domination extended across
Latin-America
Latin-American governments that tried to reclaim
their country’s land and industry for its citizens were
branded as Communists
Many American Corporations worked extensively
with the C.I.A. to topple Socialist governments
throughout Latin-America
This would radicalize many young Latin-Americans
who would resist what they saw as American
Imperialism
The most famous of these young Radicals was
Ernesto “Che” Guevara
Cuban Revolution
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1953-1959 – Led by Fidel Castro the Cuban
Revolutionaries attempted to seize power from the
corrupt Batista regime
Jan 1, 1959 – Castro entered the capital city of Havana
and declared victory establishing his Revolutionary
government
Initially Castro declared his government was not
communist and that he would hold free elections
These elections never happened and Castro began a
program of nationalization across the country –
American corporations and investors lost over a billion
dollars
American President Eisenhower imposed a trade
embargo on Cuba (which lasts to this day) that would
Dwight D. Eisenhower
cripple the Cuban economy
34th President of the United States
1953-1961
Cuba Becomes Communist
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Castro would turn to the Soviet Union for
economic and political support
The Soviet Union enthusiastically supported
Castro as it saw Cuba as a potential outpost
close to the United States
USSR bough huge quantities of sugar from
Cuba and gave large sums of money to
support Cuba
Soviet military equipment and personal was
also shipped to Cuba
Threats by the United States only pushed
Castro closer to the Soviets and to embrace
Communism
Bay of Pigs Invasion
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During the Eisenhower administration the C.I.A. began training and
funding Cuban exiles as counter-revolutionaries
April 17, 1961 – 1500 Cuban exiles, trained by the C.I.A landed in Cuba
at the Bay of Pigs
Only three months earlier President John F. Kennedy had taken office –
he had been assured the operation would go off smoothly
The invasion was a disaster as Cuban troops quickly rounded up the
invaders
It was clear to the world that the United States had been deeply
involved
Start of the Crisis
• Fearing another invasion was imminent, Cuba
and the USSR began a military buildup on Cuba
– this would include medium and short range
nuclear missiles. They attempted to keep this
a secret from the United States but failed
• Oct. 14, 1962 – an American U2-spyplane
captured what CIA analysts determined to
be SS-4 medium ranged ballistic missile
armed with nuclear warheads
• It was believed these sites would be
operational within 7 days
• US spy planes identified 20 more Soviet
ships bound for Cuba
The Crisis
• The Americans viewed this as a major
provocation and direct threat to US
security
• Oct. 20 – President Kennedy – despite
enormous pressure from the American
military to invade Cuba – decides on a
naval blockade
Kennedy Addresses the Nation
• Oct. 22, 1962 – Kennedy announced
on live television that the US had proof
that Cuba was building missile sites
that could be used to launch Soviet
nuclear weapons at the U.S.
• He publicly announces a ‘quarantine’
(blockade) of Cuba and calls on Soviet
leader Khrushchev to remove the
weapons
Crisis Continues
• Oct 23 – Khrushchev
refuses to acknowledge
the blockade or the
presence of Soviet
missiles in Cuba
• Oct 24 – First Soviet
ships (accompanied by
Soviet submarines)
approach the 497 mile
exclusion zone
Crisis Continues
• Oct 24, 10:32 am, Soviet ships
stop and turn around
• Oct 25 – aerial photos show
continued construction of missile
sites
• Oct 26 – Kennedy receives a
letter from Khrushchev offering
to negotiate over the missiles in
Cuba with removal of blockade
and US invasion of Cuba threat
• Oct 27 – a second letter arrives
in the morning calling for the
withdrawal of US missiles in
Turkey as well
Crisis Deepens
• Oct 27 – America U2 plane show down over Cuba
and the pilot is killed.
• Kennedy sends a response to Khrushchev ignoring
the second letter but accepting the terms of the
first letter
• That night the US made a secret deal to remove
their, by now, obsolete missiles from Turkey in
exchange for the Soviet Union removing its missiles
in Cuba.
• Details of this agreement were not known until
many years later
Crisis Ends
• Oct 28 – Khrushchev
announced on Radio Moscow
that the missiles sites would
be removed from Cuba
• The world would be brought
back from the edge of what
would have been World War
III
Aftermath
• Initially this appeared as a
great victory for the United
States
• Kennedy’s popularity at
home soared as he was
seen as the leader who had
stared down the
Communist threat while
avoiding a nuclear war
Aftermath
• For the Soviet Union and
Khrushchev in particular this was
seen as an embarrassing failure – it
appeared as if the Soviets had
backed down and left Cuba on its
own
• It was not know until years later
about the deal to remove American
nuclear missiles from Turkey
• Khrushchev would be removed from
power within two years
Legacy
• In response to the Cuban Missile Crisis
the famous hotline was established
between Washington and Moscow
• In the event of another major crisis the
two leaders would be able to talk to each
other immediately and directly