There was always competition between Russia and America because they were two superpowers. There was the Arms Race, where both countries competed for newer, stronger weapons than the other. Such as when America developed the A bomb, Russia got the A bomb, America got the H bomb, Russia got the H bomb and so on. They were both trying to out do each other with nuclear weapons, but if one of them used them then it would probably lead to the end of

Up until now it seemed that the USSR was winning the Cold war, especially after the Americans had been humiliated when a U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union. In August 1961 the communists had also built the Berlin Wall. Yet again the USA had been embarrassed again in 1961 after the Bay of Pigs fiasco. So when President Kennedy appeared on television on October 22nd and announced the blockade and asked Khrushchev to stop supplying missiles to Cuba he wanted to appear as leader of the West. B4 is a primary source because it is taken from Kennedy’s actual televised speech. This source is going to be biased because it is spoken by Kennedy to it is obviously going to be giving an American viewpoint. It is also going to be biased because Kennedy is trying to get global support. In his speech he announces that there will be a naval blockade and “all ships of any kind bound for Cuba from whatever nation or port will, if found to contain cargoes of offensive weapons, be turned back”. He also says in his speech “I call upon Chairman Khrushchev to halt and eliminate this clandestine, reckless and provocative threat to world peace”.

Finally, source D5 (another secondary source) this is an extract written by Tony Howarth, and taken from a book called “Twentieth Century History, The world since 1900”. This is the source that believes that it was both Kennedy and Khrushchev that were the saviours. This extract starts off by looking at views made by the people at the time of the Crisis, which was that Kennedy was the hero. Looking back in hindsight it gives a picture of a longer term result, and gives a different view of Kennedy, as to that the world had at the time, a majority of these views claimed that Kennedy was the hero, however Fidel Castro is still at present the president of Cuba, and is adored by its citizens. Also according source D5, Kennedy and Khrushchev realized that at the brink of war they had no means of fast communication with each other, so in June 1963 their two Governments agreed to set up a hotline, a direct communication system link between the white house and the Kremlin, it was created to prevent any further crises. The actions taken by both Kennedy and Khrushchev illustrate that they were both reluctant to go to war as when Kennedy set up the blockade, Khrushchev ordered his ships to stop at the blockade, to prevent anything happening.

The last two sources are probably the most important of all the sources available. D2, is a secondary source, and our first one, it was actually written about the Bay of Pigs, mentioning the plans on how the overthrow of Castro were going to be carried out by Cuban exiles, but consequently when the presidency changed in 1961 to Kennedy he inherited a policy which he himself had not initiated but he carried on with it. This shows how young Kennedy actually was when he first became President he was the youngest president America had ever had, and it shows clearly his inexperience. In a way you can’t blame Kennedy for what he did, as he didn’t come up with the idea Eisenhower did. According to D2 the Americans lost all possibilities of a more positive approach

The meaning of Kennedy’s speech was obvious; if a Cuban missile was launched then the USA would attack the USSR. On the 24th October, 12 Soviet ships heading for Cuba were either stopped or changed course. On Cuba, work still continued at the missile sites, while in the USA, Kennedy mobilised his troops ready for a possible invasion of Cuba. On the other hand, Russia were looking for a way out of the crisis, Khrushchev sent Kennedy two letters. In his first letter he told Kennedy that he would remove all missiles from Cuba and stop sending weapons there, only if the USA stopped their blockade and do not interfere with Russian ships. In the second letter, Khrushchev stated that the USA had missiles situated in Britain, Italy and most importantly Turkey. He

Some topics in this essay:
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