US Foreign Policy During The Cuban Missile Crisis

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Recommended: The importance of the Cuban Missile Crisis for relationships between the USA and USSR

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 …show more content…

John F. Kennedy stated: “Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill… that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” Through the Cuban Missile Crisis, both sides showed their foreign policy in action.The Soviets showed that they didn’t really care about the United States’ (particularly John F. Kennedy's) threats against putting missile in Cuba. One could argue that it was because of the Soviet Union’s policy towards Cuba- in support of it- that the whole event took place. The United States also showed that they were not afraid to stand up against the Soviets through their containment policy: blockading Cuba. Both countries’ foreign policies were not particularly gentle towards each other. In addition to Russia, American foreign policy for other countries showed through the Cuban Missile Crisis. America showed is foreign policy through NATO and the assumption the leaders of America made: if Russia attacked turkey, the USA would be honor bound to invade Russia as part of the NATO

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