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1962: Cuban Missile Crisis

            Cuba is an island approximately 90 miles off the coast of America. It had been under US influence until Fidel Castro seized power in 1959. Fidel expelled many Americans from Cuba and took over the US companies that were based there. America cut off all aid to Cuba and stopped the importation of Cuban sugar. This was a blow to Castro as sugar was the main export good of Cuba.
             At this stage Castro was not a Communist, but he was now forced to look to the USSR for help. In 1960 the USSR signed an agreement to buy thousands of tons of Cuban sugar every year. With Cuba and the USSR now closely tied, Castro became a Communist.
             In 1961, 1,300 CIA-trained Cuban exiles landed at the Bay of Pigs on Cuba in an attempt to overthrow Castro. The invasion was a failure, making America and their new, inexperienced President Kennedy look foolish.
             During this crisis three major personalities were involved. The leader of Cuba, Fidel Castro. The leader of the United States, John F. Kennedy and the leader of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev.
             Fidel Castro was educated as a lawyer and began his career as an opponent of Cuban President Batista. In 1954, he led an unsuccessful revolt against Batista and was forced to flee the country. In 1956, he returned with a small invasion force that was also unsuccessful. After waging a guerrilla campaign for two years, he led a large-scale attack against Batista and forced him to flee the country. .
             Though the US initially supported him, he soon developed strong ties with the USSR, which turned that support into strong opposition. Castro, in power for decades, has been one of the world's last hold-outs as a Communist leader.
             John F. Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, on May 29, 1917. Graduating from Harvard in 1940, he entered the Navy. In 1943, when his boat was rammed and sunk by a Japanese destroyer, Kennedy, despite grave injuries, led the survivors through perilous waters to safety.


Essays Related to 1962: Cuban Missile Crisis

1. The Cuban Missile Crisis

... sought to further the interests of its' foreign policies which in turn created hostility and suspicion between the two. The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 was just one of the results of this hostility. The arms race was the major fuel that sparked the Cuban Missile Crisis as well as differing social systems and a background of increasing tension. The impact for the super powers and the resulting ... implications were amazingly positive when it came to the matter of international relations. A thaw in the cold war became apparent. There were many key factors contributing to the Cuban Missile...

  • Word Count: 4941
  • Approx Pages: 20
  • Grade Level: High School

2. History of the Cuban Missile Crisis

The Kennedy White House Administration played a tremendous role in the integration of The University of Mississippi and the Cuban Missile Crisis that happened between September 28, 1962 and October 28, 1962. In September 1962, James Meredith, an African American man, tried enrolling at the University of Mississippi. Mayhem immediately arose on the Ole Miss campus, with uprisings resulting in two people dead, hundreds ... the University of Mississippi on October 1, 1962. "His brief tenure at the school lasted less time than the legal battle it took to get there" (The Integration of Ole Miss). H...

  • Word Count: 2157
  • Approx Pages: 9
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  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

3. Thirteen Days- A Look at the Cuban Missile Crisis

... superiority. Perhaps the biggest lesson from RFK's memoir is that humans are fallible; the fate of the world in 1962 was decided by a roll of the dice. That the Cuban Missile Crisis took place is no surprise. When it was learned on Tuesday October 16, 1962 that Russia was placing weapons in Cuba, the Kennedy administration was stunned. Why were they stunned? Kennedy's decision-making ... same reason of security, pride, or face, would bring about a counterresponse [sic] and eventually an escalation into armed conflict-[p.40]. Unforeseen circumstances and misconceptions were really the "X...

  • Word Count: 2306
  • Approx Pages: 9
  • Grade Level: High School

4. Cuban Missile Crisis

... war. This "cold war," as it was called, lasted until the 1990's when the Soviet Union finally fell. At the climax of the Cold War was the Cuban Missile Crisis, which occurred during thirteen days in 1962. The Soviet Union brought nuclear missiles into Cuba and aimed them at United States targets, prompting a tense standoff between the two countries. However, this brinkmanship was ... nuclear war could not have been avoided. The United States demonstrated that by a show of military power they could force another country to back down, thereby avoiding nuclear war. The Cuban Missile Crisis...

  • Word Count: 2834
  • Approx Pages: 11
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5. Kennedy and the Cuban Crisis vs Johnson and Vietnam

... communist, surrounding countries were sure to follow. Among the countries Kennedy was concerned about were Cuba, Germany (specifically Berlin), Vietnam, and Laos. Cuba 1962: In January of 1959, after warring for 3 years, a movement led by Fidel Castro forced the resignation of the corrupt Batiste government, which was ... , after the world came to the brink of Nuclear Holocaust. Then in August of 1963 the Washington-Moscow "hot line" was established. Berlin Crisis 1961-1962- When Russia formally signed a treaty with East Germany, and threatened to cut off Western accessibility to Berlin,...

  • Word Count: 6991
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6. Cuban Missile Crisis

... 1962, the world came the closest it has ever been to nuclear war. From October 18th to the 26th, there was great fear that Russian nuclear weapons, stationed on the island of Cuba, less the two hundred miles off the coast of the United States, would be used against the Americans. This brief period is known as the Cuban missile crisis. How did this crisis ... happen however? How did Russian nuclear weapons, get stationed so close to the United States, and why would the Russians station them in Cuba in the first place. What animosities were felt between not only Russia and the United Stat...

  • Word Count: 1453
  • Approx Pages: 6
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7. Cuban Missile Crisis

... Cubans were both hopeful with Fidel Castro as Cuba's new leader. Castro cleaned up much of the corruption in Cuba, he improved the schools, and better race relations. But in 1962 he announced that he was to be a Marxist-Leninist-Soviet communist. This shut everyone up! From that point on, Castro was beginning to create a Soviet-style state, cooperating closely with ... was following the role of a dictator. Needless to say that United States relationships with Cuba was becoming very small. This turn of events lead to a very frightening encounter with Cuba, Cuban Missile Crisis. For Castr...

  • Word Count: 2369
  • Approx Pages: 9
  • Grade Level: High School

8. The Cuban Missile Crisis

The Cuban missile crisis was the most dangerous of the Cold War, but it still involves the two main superpower enemies; Russia and America, only this time Cuba ... BBC publication called "Cuba in Crisis 1962" written in 1984. It is not going to be biased because it is well researched and is not siding with anyone. Were contemporaries correct in regarding President Kennedy as the saviour of the western world after the Cuban missile crisis? This is the question that I return to. The Crisis when over made Kennedy appear ... time we see Kennedy and Khrushchev, in the same picture, and sharing th...

  • Word Count: 2876
  • Approx Pages: 12
  • Grade Level: High School

9. The Cuban Missile Crisis

The Cuban missile crisis was the most dangerous of the Cold War, but it still involves the two main superpower enemies; Russia and America, only this time Cuba ... BBC publication called "Cuba in Crisis 1962" written in 1984. It is not going to be biased because it is well researched and is not siding with anyone. Were contemporaries correct in regarding President Kennedy as the saviour of the western world after the Cuban missile crisis? This is the question that I return to. The Crisis when over made Kennedy appear ... time we see Kennedy and Khrushchev, in the same picture, and sharing th...

  • Word Count: 2739
  • Approx Pages: 11
  • Grade Level: High School

10. Cuban Missle

... population at large to enjoy many of the material benefits of industrial development... (because) the post-Stalin leadership had begun to unravel a highly autocratic system" (Christian, 373). However, the Cuban Missile Crisis tarnished all hopes of cutting back the defense budget, (an idea the Soviet government had about ten years ago when they were trying to find a cheap way of developing a nuclear ... of these positive results on the economy. When observed from today's standpoint, the Cuban Missile Crisis was, besides being a test of egos, simply a technology-based conflict. Similar t...

  • Word Count: 1451
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Grade Level: High School

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