Cuban Missile Crisis

1. Cuban Missile Crisis

A. Khrushchev, and the Russian military, placed nuclear offensive missiles into Cuba. A U-2 plane taking pictures over Cuba spotted the missile camps in Cuba, and brought it to the attention of the President. After a meeting with Russian officials, the Russian’s assured that the missiles were for defensive purposes only. The U.S. officials knew that the missiles were nuclear and for offensive purposes. So, instead of bombing the area before the missiles were ready, like the White House officials wanted, President Kennedy decided to put a quarantine line on the border of Cuba, to stop Russian ships from delivering nuclear equipment. As the ships got closer and closer to the line, Khrushchev wanting to avoid war, called the ships to turn around. After 2 letters, to and from Khrushchev, Kennedy agreed, that if the Russians dismantled the missiles, and got the equipment out of Cuba, the U.S. would get their missiles out of Turkey, within 6 months.

B. After 2 meetings with President Kennedy, Chairman Khrushchev had observed that Kennedy was weak, and would back down to anything that Khrushchev do. In trying to avoid war, and pretty much mass destruction of half the war, President Kennedy and Chairman Khrushchev ended the crisis by agreeing to remove missiles from Cuba and Turkey respectively.

C. ● To bomb the area in Cuba, where the missiles were, when they were first discovered. – He wanted to avoid a war.

● To either bomb the area, or to set up a quarantine line – he wanted to avoid war.

● To move the quarantine line back – Kennedy wanted to give the Russians more time to avoid war.

● Not to alert Congress of the situation that is going on in Cuba – to avoid mass chaos in the U.S.

D. One of the biggest policies that Kennedy had was that he would not back down. After the 2 meetings with Khrushchev, Kennedy wanted to prove that he wasn’t a weak President. Another was that Kennedy wanted to hold strong to the Monroe Doctrine, which said that no one would “mess” with the Western Hemisphere unless, the U.S. knew about it. Also see C.

E. Kennedy didn’t inform Congress of the crisis, because he knew that if they knew no decisions would be made. The “old” policy said that everything that the President does must have the approval of Congress. The “new” policy states that: Under nuclear threat, the President has the right to make decisions with out approval of Congress

F. Kennedy didn’t want to seem weak, and had to make a stand.

G. ●The first letter (actually from Khrushchev) – said that the Russians would pull the missiles out of Cuba if the U.S. promised to not invade Cuba.

●The second letter (not written, but forged by Khrushchev) – said that the Russian would pull the missiles out of Cuba if and only if the U.S. would pull their missiles out of Turkey.

H.

I. Possible lessons learned

1. Time – You need as much time to come up with a situation…also giving the opponent time to back off.

2. Need for more than just one opinion, but not too many to come up with solution

3. Placing ourselves in the other person’s shoes. (How will the person/side react?)

Bay of Pigs

In 1961, Cuban exiles, which were against Castro, were ready to sail to Cuba and to help the U.S. take over Cuba. The U.S. sent soldiers over to Cuba to help to exiles, but the Cuban people did not help. U.S. soldiers were either killed or captured. The U.S. did nothing. Because of this event Khrushchev looked at President Kennedy at weak.

Why Khrushchev thought that Kennedy was weak

● In 1961 – The Bay of Pigs situation…U.S. soldiers died, Kennedy did nothing

● In 1961 – The Berlin wall goes up…Kennedy still does nothing

● In 1961 – Pres. Kennedy and Chair. Khrushchev meet in Vienna… Kennedy not sharp in his answers to Khrushchev, so Khrushchev believes that he can do what ever he wants because Kennedy