President Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis
Why did the presence of soviet missiles in Cuba trigger an international crisis, and how was that crisis resolved?
The United States felt threatened that the communist Cubans under Castro would attack with the nuclear missiles and kll millions of Americans. The Soviet Union after negotiating with the United States promised to remove the nuclear missiles if the United States would promise not to invade Cuba.
What options did Kennedy and his advisors consider in response to the missiles?
1. they could quaratine Cuba 2. they could send nuclear missiles to Cuba and knock out their missiles, which would probably start a nuclear war 3. the could attack some of the ships going to Cuba that are from the Soviet Union
How was the crisis ultimately resolved?
As any ship approached Cuba, the United States Navy would stop it. Meanwhile, Kennedy wrote to Premiere Krushchev and asked him to remove the missiles from Cuba; Krushchev ask the United States to promise not to invade Cuba. We promised this, and 6 months later, the United States removed the missiles from Cuba.
Why was the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba a problem?
Cuba is less than 100 miles from the mainland of the United States, specifically Florida. This means that any of the missiles armed on Cuba could reach a target city in the United States and start a nuclear war with Cuba and the Soviet Union who put the missiles there in the first place. This was very scary for the United States because we would have no way to protect ourselves from a nuclear attack and millions of citizens of the United States would be killed.
What course did Kennedy choose and why?
Kennedy chose to quarantine Cuba, with the United States Navy stopping any ships going to Cuba, boarding those ships and checking each one to make sure that they did not have any nuclear warheads. This seemed to be the least aggressive response to the crisis, but it held the possiblity of force if needed by the United States Navy. It was hoped that the Soviet Union would not attack the United States ships and start a nuclear war.
Evaluate President Kennedy's handling of the cuban Missile Crisis.
President Kennedy consulted past presidents to get their advice as well as the advice of other leaders to determine the best course of action in Cuba. Even though he probably wasn't as decisive in the Bay of Pigs and the initial invasion of Cuba, he did a good job negotiating with Krushchev and coming to an aggreement that both men and their countries could live with.
