Zielinski Kersten CMC Paper HIST 100C MW 8:30-9:50 December 3, 2007 The Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 was the closest the world has ever come to a nuclear annihilation. It was a major confrontation between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The Soviet Union had installed nuclear missiles on the island of Cuba, a mere 90 miles off the coast of the United States. U.S. armed forces were at their highest state of readiness, and Soviet field commanders in Cuba were authorized to use tactical nuclear weapons if invaded by the U.S. The fate of millions literally hinged upon the ability of two men, President John F. Kennedy and Premier Nikita Khrushchev, to come to an agreement. Everybody seemed to think that Cuba would eventually become part of the United States. Slavery became a major obstacle in seeing this happen though. If the United States were to annex Cuba, is would disrupt the delicate balance between free states and slave states. American forces continued to occupy Cuba until 1902, withdrawing only after Cuban leaders agreed to authorize future American intervention by incorporating into the Cuban constitution the Platt Amendment. The Platt Amendment gave the United States the right to intervene under certain circumstances and required Cuba to lease or sell lands for American coaling stations or naval bases. Until 1959, Cuba seemed to be little more than an American protectorate. In the eyes of Cubans, America genuinely looked like a colonial master. Many Americans felt that they had done Cuba a favor by liberating it from Spain and keeping it from sliding into anarchy and destruction. The American's attitude sparked severe outrage from Cubans. When Fidel Castro was planning to overtake Cuba, he made sure to appeal to Americans by appearing anti-Communist. Once Castro succeeded in overtaking Fulgencio Batista's regime, His first goal was to reduce American influence in Cuba, which resulted in alienating the United States. The American's anger and suspicion pushed Castro closer to Moscow. On December
19, Castro proclaimed Cuba's full solidarity with the socialist bloc. As one of his last acts as president, Eisenhower severed diplomatic relations with Cuba. The Cold War was the period between World War II and the collapse of the Soviet Union (roughly 1946 to 1991). It was the result of a clash between the different values and visions of the United States and the Soviet Union: The United States stood for liberal democracy and market capitalism, and the Soviet Union stood for socialism and a command economy. After WWII, while the United States was preparing to demobilize the troops, Stalin, in his "Two World" Speech, told the Supreme Soviet that war was likely with the shocked United States. Stalin felt that war was imminent in order to get rid of democracy. During this period, the United States and the Soviet Union never fought each other directly, but they helped fight the friends of their foe. W. Lippmann coined the term "Cold War" because relations were intense, yet the United States and the Soviet Union weren't going to war. George Kennan advised that, when confronted with force, the Soviet Union would back off from trying to spread communism because they believe that they'll win anyways. Kennan felt that if the United States held off long enough, then it would be the Soviet Union that would eventually collapse instead of democracy. In 1961 and early 1962, no one thought that a nuclear deployment was very likely. East bloc arms shipments to Cuba continued and accelerated during this time, but there was no intelligence to suggest that the Soviet Union and its allies were doing anything other than what they claimed: supplying Cuba with purely defensive weapons. Since this continued to be the case, the Kennedy administration could find little ground for complaint. Possible reasons for Nikita Khrushchev to place missiles in Cuba to repair the missile gap, to defend Cuba, because of Western presence in Berlin, the presence of US missiles in Turkey, to demonstrate Soviet boldness and leadership in the global struggle against capitalism, and/or as a way of preventing Cuba from drifting toward Chinese patronage. In his memoirs, Khrushchev wrote that his primary motive in deploying missiles to Cuba was to deter an American invasion. He seems to have concluded from the Bay of Pigs operation that
Kennedy was bent on destroying the Cuban Revolution. Operation Mongoose and Kennedy's energetic attempts to isolate Cuba economically and diplomatically seemed to Khrushchev to confirm that intention. Not only did Khrushchev believe that Kennedy had the intention to invade Cuba, he knew that Kennedy had the capability. Historians believe that since Khrushchev opted for a nuclear deployment instead of a purely conventional one he must have had some other motive on his mind, such as the missile gap repair. There was also the possibility that the prospect of giving the Americans a dose of their own medicine (since they missiles had in Turkey) filled him with glee. Those seemed to be the three main reasons for Khrushchev deciding to deploy missiles to Cuba. As far as historians can tell, it was Khrushchev's decision alone. American intelligence had noticed a spike in shipping traffic right away. It was the greatest fear of American leaders that the Soviets might be attempting to deploy strategic missiles, but no one thought that the Soviets would be so foolish. U-2 photographs would ultimately provide the first hard proof of nuclear missile deployments, but not until October 15. Although Kennedy didn't have any hard evidence that the Soviets were deploying missiles to Cuba, he decided that he should start sending signals that he wouldn't tolerate it if they were. Kennedy was reading the newspaper on the morning of October 16 when McGeorge Bundy informed him that a U-2 had photographed nuclear missiles in Cuba. Even though Kennedy wasn't easily rattles, Bundy could see a wave of disbelief, shock, anger, and fear was over his face. Instantly Kennedy knew that he was about to face the most difficult challenge of his presidency. Kennedy felt that Khrushchev had ignored his warnings and had deliberately misled him. Kennedy immediately assembled the ExComm, and his reliance on them would decrease over time as he became more confident in the wisdom of his own judgment. For a couple of days, Kennedy kept flip-flopping between the idea of a quarantine and a U.S. invasion. Ultimately, Kennedy decided to impose a quarantine on Cuba in order to prevent further shipments of Soviet military weapons. Had Kennedy reacted right away instead of taking a "cooling-off" period, he would have chosen an invasion, which would have eventually led to World War III.
After days of deliberation, Kennedy and Khrushchev finally reached a compromise on October 28. Crisis tensions eased, but the ordeal was not yet over. The two superpowers still had to hammer out the terms of a formal agreement. During the course of the final negotiations Castro, who felt betrayed by Khrushchev, tried to halt the removal and inspection of the missiles. Eventually, with the help of the U.N., Castro backed down and the two sides reached an agreement. A U.N. inspection team was assigned to monitor the removal of the missiles and the demolition of the missile bases in Cuba. Then, the Soviet Navy shipped the missiles back to the U.S.S.R. Within hours of the Kennedy-Khrushchev deal, the Soviets started dismantling the missile sites. Almost immediately the rumors began circling in Washington that the Soviets were hiding nuclear missiles. This marked the distrust of the Soviets. The only way to make sure that the missiles were gone was to conduct on-site inspections, but Castro wouldn't permit it. Castro demanded that the United States cease violating the Cuban airspace, lift not merely the blockade but also the longstanding economic embargo against Cuba, terminate subversive activities, prevent what Castro called the "piratical attacks" of others, and close down the naval base at Guantanamo. These "Five Points" encompassed most of the out-standing U.S.-Cuban relations. The difficulties and delays that that the Kremlin and the White House experienced in communicating with one another during the crisis left a powerful impression. Many felt that the hours lost in translating, encoding, transmitting, decoding, and delivering urgent messages might have been the difference between peace and war. The U.S. and the Soviet Union negotiated what became known as the "Hot Line" agreement in the first months of 1963. It created a direct teletype connection between the two capitals via a physical line running through London, Copenhagen, and Helsinki, and was intended to provide for rapid communication in time of emergency. In order to help dispel some of the fears, the United States, USSR, and the United Kingdom signed the Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons Tests in the Atmosphere in August 1963.
The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 was a close call to nuclear war. Steaming this problem on was both Soviet insecurity and Cuba's fear of U.S. invasion. Tension and secrecy drove the three nations to the breaking point, and yet, miraculously, not a missile was launched. As the word held its breath on the morning of October 28, Kennedy and Khrushchev finally reached a compromise. Due to the lost time while trying to work out an agreement, both sides agreed to construct a "hot line" in order to get information faster in times of emergency. Nine months after the crisis ended, Kennedy and Khrushchev signed an agreement to ban nuclear testing in the atmosphere. This marked the beginning of what seemed to be a new willingness to cooperate and communicate. Looking back, had Kennedy reacted to the discovery with an invasion of Cuba, the world would have followed the path of a nuclear war instead of the more peaceful compromises. Had Kennedy reacted with an invasion of Cuba, none of us would probably be sitting here right now.