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Recommended: Kennedy's involvement in the Cuban missile crisis

October of 1962 is considered by many the closest the world has ever been to a third World War. As pressure between the Soviet Union and United State grew so did the fears of the American people. Due in part because of its proximity to the United States, Cuba was the perfect place from which the Soviet Union could launch an attack. This was cause for real alarm, Cuba had already begun building silos and launch pads for nuclear missiles that would be able to do massive amounts of damage to the United States. John F. Kennedy’s speech regarding the Cuban Missile Crisis was one of the greatest factors in preventing a third World War as well as keeping domestic peace.
John F. Kennedy had several goals for his speech, to calm and reassure the America people, to relieve tensions with the soviets, and to not repeat some of his same mistakes. Just over a year before the speech John F. Kennedy had made his worst mistake as president, the Bay of Pigs Invasion. JFK was pressured into signing off on an attack that turned into one of the worst and most embarrassing American attacks in history. He would not let that happen again; his speech was thoroughly planed and carefully executed. The Cuban Missile Crisis was in part because Cuba’s leader Fidel Castro felt threatened after he learned the U.S. tried to overthrow him. This along with the threat that Soviet Union felt from the U.S. having missiles positioned just over 100 miles outside their border led the two countries to form an alliance. With the Soviet Union’s resources and Cuba’s positioning they formed an alliance that could have done substantial damage to the U.S. before they could even react.
At the time the speech was given the United States had already been secretly negot...

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... planned to read if the United States was to enter a war. It reads “My fellow Americans, with a heavy heart, and in necessary fulfillment of my oath of office, I have ordered - and the United States Air Force has now carried out - military operations with conventional weapons only, to remove a major nuclear weapons build-up from the soil of Cuba.”
John F. Kennedy was prepared to go to war, even to the point of having an announcement speech written. However due to his ability to keep the American people calm while pressuring the Soviet Union; he was able to prevent what could have been the worst war in history. After suffering a major embarrassment and failure at the Bay of Pigs, John F. Kennedy was determined to take a more careful and thorough approach. This approach led to the Cuban Missile Crisis being ended peacefully and a third World War being adverted.

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