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The Cuban Missile Crisis 1962
Location
“Trinity and Beyond”
Chronology of First Five Nations With Nuclear Weapons
1945 July 16
U.S.  U.S. explodes the world's first atomic
bomb, the ‘Trinity Test’, at Alamogordo, New Mexico.
1949 August 29
U.S.S.R. Soviet Union detonates its first
atomic bomb, ‘Joe 1’, at Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan. It’s a copy of the
Fat Man bomb and had a yield of 21 kilotons.
1952 October 3
UK  First British atomic bomb, ‘Hurricane’,
was tested at Monte Bello Islands, Australia, with a yield of 25 kilotons.
1960 February 13
FRANCE  First French nuclear test occurs at
Reganne, Algeria, in the Sahara Desert. ‘Gerboise Bleue’ had a yield of
60-70 kilotons.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1964 October 16
CHINA  China explodes its first atomic bomb
at the Lop Nor test site on the northeastern edge of the Tarim Basin in the
XinJiang Province. It was an uranium 235 implosion fission device
named ‘596’and had a yield of 22 kilotons.
Players: Soviet Side
Andrei Gromyko,
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Fidel Castro
Premier of Cuba
Nikita Khrushchev
Soviet Premier
Anatoly Dobrynin
Ambassador to the U.S.
Raul Castro
Head of Military
Deputy Foreign Minister
Players: American Side
John Kennedy
U.S. President
Robert Kennedy
Attorney General
Robert McNamara
Secretary of Defense
Dean Rusk
Secretary of State
Causes
–Soviet Insecurity
•Missile capability NOT balanced.
–Cuban Invasion
•Bay-of-Pigs-1961, Operation Mongoose-1962.
•Castro nervous.
–Build-up
•April 1962, Soviet Premier Nikita
Khrushchev conceived the idea of placing
intermediate-range missiles in Cuba to
provide a real deterrent to a potential U.S.
attack against the Soviet Union or Cuba.
“Missiles & Machines of War”
USN F-8 Crusader
SS-4 "Sandal" 1000 km
USAF RF-101
SS-5 "Skean" 2000 km
USAF U2
The Missiles: Locations
The Missiles: Locations
The Missiles: Aerial Photo 1
The Missiles: Aerial Photo 2
The Missiles: Aerial Photo 3
Blockade: Close-up
•250,000 Marines and ground troops
•1,000 planes
•250 naval vessels.
Warning Signs
• May, 1962: Khrushchev makes veiled references
to a plot
– How would the U.S. feel having 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 reconnaissance flight over Cuba
spots sites installing nuclear missiles…
• October 15: Presence of missiles is confirmed
“13 Days” Begin
•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
“13 Days” cont.
• 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?
“13 Days” -- closure
• October 27: Soviets demand that Americans also
withdraw missiles from Turkey
– Major Rudolf Anderson’s plane shot
down…tensions high
– 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
1. 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
2. Protect Cuba
3. Reciprocity
• The U.S. has missiles pointing at us, let’s see how
they feel now
4. 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
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”)
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? Both Kennedy
brothers thought that 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
•Many options were considered
The American Decision: Considerations
(1) Air Strike
– On October 17th, President Kennedy considered that
there would be an air strike, at least against the missile
sites, and perhaps against wider targets
– Reservations from others: air strike may be using a
“sledgehammer” to kill a “fly
– Later that day Robert McNamara suggests policy in
between diplomacy and an air strike
(2) Blockade
– Advocated by McNamara and Robert Kennedy
– Critics feared it would allow Soviets time
– 10/19, Kennedy accepted plan
The American Decision: Considerations
(3) Do Nothing
– Ignore missiles in Cuba.
– U.S. had military bases in 127 different countries
including Cuba.
– U.S. had nuclear missiles in several countries close to
the Soviet Union.
– Therefore, only right that the Soviet Union should be
allowed to place missiles in Cuba.
(4) Negotiate
– U.S. should offer the Soviet Union a deal.
– USSR remove missiles in CubaU.S. withdraw her
nuclear missiles from Turkey and Italy.
The American Decision: Considerations
(5) Invasion
– Send U.S. troops to Cuba to overthrow Castro's
government.
– Missiles could then be put out of action and the
Soviet Union could no longer use Cuba as a
military base.
(6) Nuclear Weapons
– Use nuclear weapons against Cuba and/or the
Soviet Union.
Consequences of Cuban Missile Crisis
(1)HOT LINE
The two sides established a direct communications
link that became known as the Hot Line. It was
hoped that this would help prevent dangerous
confrontations such as the Cuban Missile Crisis
arising again.
(2) U.S. REMOVES MISSILES
Three months after the Cuban Missile Crisis the
United States secretly removed all its nuclear missiles
from Turkey and Italy.
Consequences of Cuban Missile Crisis
(3) TEST BAN TREATY
A Test Ban Treaty was signed between the two countries
in August 1963. The treaty prohibited the testing of
nuclear weapons in the atmosphere.
(4)PRISONERS RELEASED
The 1,113 prisoners captured during the Bay of Pigs
invasion were exchanged by Castro for $50 million in
food, drugs, medicine and cash.
(5) USSR RESOLVE
The Soviet Union became determined to have a nuclear
capability that was equal to the United States. This was
achieved by 1972.
Consequences of Cuban Missile Crisis
(6) STRAIN ON SOVIET ALLIES
China accused the Soviet Union of being a 'paper-tiger' and
claimed to be the true leader of the Communist
movement. The split between the Soviet Union and China
became wider.
(7) U.S. RESOLVE
The United States became convinced that the Soviet
Union would not go to war over another communist
country. It has been argued that this encouraged the
United States to help attempts to overthrow socialist and
communist governments in Vietnam, Nicaragua and
Grenada.