The stakes were high, there was so much to lose. On October 16th 1962 the Cuban Missile Crisis began. The 13 day confrontation was possibly one the most intense conflicts in United States history. In response to the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion of 1961, and the presence of American Jupiter ballistic missiles in Italy and Turkey, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev decided to agree to Cuba's request to place nuclear missiles in Cuba to deter future harassment of Cuba. The U.S caught wind of what was happening and felt threatened under the new threat of missiles in Cuba. The best way to resolve the Cuban Missile Crisis was by using a form of “Back-Channel” or “Back-Door” Diplomacy
To Start off, publicly challenging the Soviet Union would harm any
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Brinkmanship is also known as “Big Talk” without affirmative action.. Brinkmanship is a game theory technique to make giant threats more credible. You do not threaten the certainty of nuclear war, but the possibility of one. As more and more people become involved in the crisis, it takes on a momentum of its own. The naval blockade of Cuba was an escalation that involved many more people into the decision making process. Also since a blockade is an aggressive action, the world moved further down a slippery slope where events could run out of control and result in events that no one wanted to happen. By involving more people than necessary Kennedy achieved his goal of making the threat more real. However, a tactic like this is extremely risky. Khrushchev could have ordered an attack the US because of the escalation of the situation. As a result the US could have been heavily
General Taylor remarks Russians are doing whatever they want when they want (Thirteen Days), he also makes reference to the Bay of Pigs. A false analogy fallacy (Fujishin 112), trying to put two events that are different from each other together. And so begins the cat and mouse game deciding what to do and how to react to this discovery. Many of JFK’s military advisors were in favor of striking now before weapons were active. JFK and his closest of advisors knew that if they reacted with force it could start a chain reaction beginning WWIII (a nuclear war of mass destruction). JFK decided against his advisement to wait and look for alternative
One day, in the early 60s the US Government discovered that the Soviet Union had a nuclear missile on the island of Cuba. So, the US government asked the Soviets to get rid of them. It was a bold thing to do because anything could have happened. Things between the US and the Soviets were already tense because of the cold war. For fourteen days, tension grew between the nations. Not knowing if this missile aimed and ready to fire at the US. Kennedy decided to give this speech the “Cuban Missile Crisis Address”. The address was used was to announce there will be a naval blockade on Cuba until the crisis is solved. This address was very effective because Kennedy did not say he was going to start
After thirteen days of conflict, both superpowers agreed to withdraw their missiles. Although it was a stalemate, in the US this was presented as a major victory. Nuclear war was avoided without any loss of life or destruction. Just as in the Berlin Crisis, Kennedy used diplomacy to resolve conflicts with the Soviet Union. For Kennedy, “his readiness to offer negotiations was in part based on a politician’s belief
Kennedy had to deal with these people. He needed to respond successfully because even though these people did not like what was happening, they were still important people that Kennedy needed to keep on his side. He responded to these challenges by making sure they knew why he thought this, and also by trying them to convince them why Kennedy was making the best idea. This was hard to do. Several people challenged Kennedy. This were mainly Military advisors. They challenged Kennedy by calling him weak and wondering why he would not attack when America had an advantage. They thought America should attack when the missiles were not operational yet in
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.
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.
The first point that made John F. Kennedy responsible for handling the Cuban Missile Crisis, well, was his way of managing the public. In every crisis, a leader must always keep in mind of the reactions of the people because if it is ill dealt with, disastrous and chaotic consequences could ensue. Thus, even though nuclear warfare was prevented; credit should also be given to how the public of the United States did not end up in turmoil. To access how the public did not end up in chaos, one has to look into the genesis of when the majority of the American citizens received the news of the Cuban Missile Crisis in the first place. This leaves with only one source, which was the public address from President John F. Kennedy on October 22, 1962.1
He stated that if the Soviets execute a “hostile move anywhere in the world against the safety and freedom of peoples to whom we are committed, including in particular the brave people of West Berlin, [it] will be met by whatever action is needed” (source). Respectively, war was not the President’s first choice. President Kennedy declared that he himself and government officials “are prepared to discuss new proposals for the removal of tensions on both sides, including the possibilities of a genuinely independent Cuba, free to determine its own destiny” (source). During the Cuban Missile Crisis, America desired peace without war in the Western Hemisphere, but President Kennedy made it clear that the U.S. would fight for it if necessary. Throughout his address, President Kennedy utilized the logos appeal wonderfully to gain the trust of the American and Cuban
“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.
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.
On October 22nd, 1962, President John F. Kennedy delivered the famous "Cuban Missile Crisis Address to the Nation" speech in response to Nikita Khrushchev’s act of placing nuclear and flying missiles on the island directly south of the United States: Cuba. The purpose of the speech was to alert the nation of the situation and inform them on how it would be handled. This speech successfully won the attention and respect of the American and Russian people through the use of multiple rhetorical devices.
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.
On October 14, 1962 brought the world close to a nuclear confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union. Political position adopted by both sides nearly prevented a resolution., but a compromise was found and the nuclear war averted. There was a direct and dangerous confrontation between the United States and the Soviet and was the moment when two superpowers came closest to nuclear conflict.
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.
Foreign policy is essentially a country’s perspective on how to deal with other countries. It is the the goals that high ranking leaders have for their nation-states pertaining to world relations. A country’s foreign policy can change drastically during big events. To see this theory unfold, consider the Cuban Missile crisis and Russian and American foreign policy during this crisis. First, at a systemic level, the polarity during the cuban missile crisis affected the foreign policies of of Russia and the United states. They were both powerful and grew cold towards each other as they competed for prominence. Americans feared the growth of Communism, so, through the Truman Doctrine, America declared that US foreign policy would help countries through