The Cuban Missile Crisis was a major event in U.S History that almost led to nuclear destruction. It was over a period of thirteen days in which diplomats from the U.S and the Soviet Union were trying to reach a peaceful resolution so that they wouldn’t have to engage in physical warfare. The crisis was the hallmark of the Cold War era which lasted from the 1950’s to the late 1980’s. The Cold War was a power struggle between the U.S and Soviet Union in which the two nations had a massive arms race to become the strongest military force. The U.S considered Communism to be an opposing political entity, and therefore branded them as enemies. Khrushchev’s antagonistic view of Americans also played a big role in the conflict. The Cold War tensions, coupled with a political shift in Cuba eventually lead to the military struggle known as the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Cuban Missile Crisis was the point of most tension and near collapse causing the Cold War to almost shift from a passive and underground struggle to a violent and catastrophic one.
Both sides acted in various ways leading up to the Cuban Missile Crisis. They both tried to gain an indirect advantage over the other with an arms race that lasted over 40 years. The Soviets in particular spent billions in creating weapons with money that would’ve been better served improving their economy. Before Khrushchev was even in charge, Stalin ordered the construction of a laboratory which would eventually harness hundreds of tons of Uranium to be developed into explosives. In 1961, the Soviets detonated a massive hydrogen bomb known as the ‘Tsar Bomba’ for a trial. This was the most powerful explosive ever detonated by mankind, yielding a blast with the strength of 50-58 megatons of d...
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... source but it was valuable in my research in its own way. It helped me learn about the Cold War from a basic standpoint. I was able to learn about the entire structure from the military to politics and social impact. Communism in general is discussed thoroughly in this book and how that shaped the Cold War.
Schwarz, Benjamin. "The Real Cuban Missile Crisis." The Atlantic. http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/01/the-real-cuban-missile-crisis/309190/2/ (accessed April 13, 2014).
This source provided a very good counter-argument to the usual interpretation of the Cuban Missile Crisis. It gives an insightful criticism of the Cuban Missile Crisis as seen through American propaganda. This internet article was able to give an opposite interpretation of the events and portray the U.S as the aggressor in some ways, which helped make my paper more well-rounded.
The Soviet Union and the United States were very distant during three decades of a nuclear arms race. Even though the two nations never directly had a battle, the Cuban Missile Crisis, amongst other things, was a result of the tension. The missile crisis began in October of 1962, when an American spy plane secretly photographed nuclear missile sites being built by the Soviet Union in Cuba. JFK did not want the Soviet Union and Cuba to know that he had discovered the missiles, so he made his decisions very secretly. Eventually, Kennedy decided to place a ring of ships around Cuba and place missiles in Turkey. Eventually, both leaders superpowers realized the possibility of a nuclear war and agreed to a deal in which the Soviets would remove the missiles from Cuba if the US didn't invade Cuba. Even though the Soviets removed took their missiles out of Cuba and the US eventually taking their missiles out of Turkey, they (the Soviets) continued to build a more advanced military; the missile crisis was over, but the arms race was not.
...y. He touched parts of the slaves' lives and what they really went through, but I don't think we even have a true idea of what it would have been in their shoes. The author presented the information in a very solid way and sectioned out very well. I understood what he was trying to explain easily. It was somewhat a long book but very much full of knowledge and history that in spirit is still alive today. We may not have slavery like it was then, but we still deal with racism and prejudices daily. The world changed because of slavery and is the way it is because of the history of America. We cannot change the past but we can change the future. Thank God the world is not the way it was. I cannot imagine what painful lives the slaves had to endure. But we can become knowledgeable about the history of slavery and America and learn from it in many different ways.
Robert F. Kennedy's chilling account of his experiences with his brother, President John F. Kennedy over thirteen days in October of 1962 give an idea to the reader of just how alarmingly close our country came to nuclear war. Kennedy sums up the Cuban Missile Crisis as "a confrontation between two atomic nations...which brought the world to the abyss of nuclear destruction and the end of mankind."1 The author's purpose for writing this memoir seems to be to give readers an idea of the danger confronted during the Cuban Missile Crisis and to reflect on the lessons we should learn from it as a country, and for future members of government.
Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party is one of the most enlightening books I have ever read, showing the true horrors of the Communist
Perhaps the most critical moment that had occurred to the United States and the world of the last century is the Cuban Missile Crisis. The significance of this event was that it had brought the world to the closest it could ever be to a nuclear war. Millions of lives, cultures and infrastructure would have been lost if it was not splendidly dealt with. Yet, a man was able to prevent this devastation, and he was none other than President John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK) of the United States. How was he significant to the event? This research paper will discuss it with the points that are based on JFK’s characteristics. Hence, to provide an overview of this paper; the outbreak of nuclear warfare was prevented in the Cuban Missile Crisis specifically by John F. Kennedy’s many distinguished characteristics.
Throughout the Cold War people feared nuclear war, but the world was never closer to one then during the Cuban Missile Crisis. There would be no winner in a nuclear war, only destruction would remain. For fourteen days in October of 1962,
This book was a good read for me, but I also read book reviews to help me keep track on what I am reading. These book reviews just made a better understanding of what I was reading.
The U.S. had just elected President Kennedy two years prior to this very threatening occasion, and every nation thought he was a weak leader who just craved attention. During this time, the Soviets and the U.S. were right in the middle of the Cold War (1947-1991): the period of time when both nations were trying to spread their type of government and become superior, making us enemies. Just a year before the Cuban Missile Crisis, the U.S. had made a failed attempt at invading Cuba at the Bay of Pigs to overthrow their communist dictator, Fidel Castro. Once Russia caught wind of this failed invasion, they quickly jumped at their chance at becoming allies with Castro, and started building nuclear bombs in Cuba. Kennedy had recently placed bombs in Turkey, Russia’s neighbor, probably leading the Soviets to place some of theirs in Cuba, because of how close it was to America.
There were a number of reasons the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred. First, the United States had missiles in Turkey, and to counter this the Soviet Union desired some missiles close to the United States. What better place than Cuba was there? Cuba being only ninety miles South of the United States allowed for intermediate-range missiles aimed at the United States. Another reason for the near end of the world was because the lack of communication between the two superpowers. Both countries just made moves and did controversial things without consulting the other country. The United States placed their missiles in Turkey without speaking with the USSR. A third reason for the crisis was the appeal of the USSR to Cuba and vise-versa. Both these countries were communistic. After Fidel Castro took over in Cuba he quickly despised the United States along with the USSR. The USSR appealed to Cuba because they could provide protection for them after the then recent Bay of Pigs invasion. During this invasion, the United States in April 1961, more than 1000 Cuban exiles made an amphibious landing in Cuba at a place called the Bay of Pigs. (Webster’s) Their plan was to move inland and join anti-Castro forces and stage a revolt.
Garthoff, Raymond L. Reflections on the Cuban missile crisis. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1989. Print.
In 1962 nuclear war seemed inevitable to the world, it was the first time nuclear war was hanging on a thread. The Cuban Missile Crisis presented a threat to the world, in which the USSR planted nuclear missiles on Cuba. America’s response was to threaten launching nuclear missiles at the Russians. This incident launched the world into a new time, which presented nuclear weapons as a source of power.
The Cuban Missile Crisis lasted two weeks in the midst of the Cold War, and brought the world closer to nuclear war than ever before. In October of 1962 multiple nuclear missiles of the Soviet Union’ s were discovered in Cuba, a mere 90 miles south of the United States. Given the communist ties between Cuba and the USSR, this poised a considerable threat to our national security. Throughout the 14 days the two leaders, John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev struggled to clearly understand each others‘ genuine intentions. Actions taken by each state during this crisis demonstrates the realist point of view, in a variety of ways. The fundamentals of Realism will be explored and explained along with actions taken during this crisis from a realist point of view.
Roger Donaldson’s film, Thirteen Days dramatizes the Kennedy administration reaction to the Cuban Missile Crisis. The film discusses a time when the United States had come close to a nuclear war with other nations. The film mainly focuses on showing the audience the United States perspective of the crisis. The Cuban Missile crisis was a thirteen-day long confrontation between the United States, Cuba, and the Soviet Union. This crisis started out when both the United States and the Soviet Union wanted to be seen as the most superior nation in the world. Therefore, both nations decided to use the technology they had in order to produce nuclear missiles and other weapons to show the globe how powerful they were as nations. The United States and
“The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962: A National Security Archive Documents Reader” edited by Laurence Chang and Peter Kornbluh and “Cuba on the Brink: Castro, the Missile Crisis and the Soviet Collapse” by James G. Blight will be evaluated by referring to their origin, purpose, value and limitation.
Stern, Sheldon M. The Cuban Missile Crisis in American Memory: Myths versus Reality. Stanford, CA: Stanford Univ., 2012. Print.