<aside> <img src="/icons/light-bulb_gray.svg" alt="/icons/light-bulb_gray.svg" width="40px" /> In this lesson, you will…

  1. Understand the circumstances that led to the Cuban Missile Crisis.
  2. Discuss the stakes of the Crisis and American espionage
  3. Understand the resolution of the Crisis.

Big Question: How close was the world from open nuclear conflict in October 1962?

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The Sword of Damocles

In 1953, Joseph Stalin died, and Nikita Khrushchev became the new leader of the Soviet Union.

Khrushchev immediately began to reform the Soviet Union with de-Stalinization. This involved:

While it seemed like tensions would decrease, two events led to an increase in tensions between the US and Soviets Union:

President John F. Kennedy’s Address to the United Nations on 25 September 1961:

Every man, woman and child lives under a nuclear sword of Damocles, hanging by the slenderest of threads, capable of being cut at any moment by accident or miscalculation or by madness. The weapons of war must be abolished before they abolish us.

Men no longer debate whether armaments are a symptom or a cause of tension. The mere existence of modern weapons--ten million times more powerful than any that the world has ever seen, and only minutes away from any target on earth--is a source of horror, and discord and distrust.

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Despite Kennedy’s plea for denuclearization, the United States places Jupiter medium-range ballistic missile in Turkey.

These missile put Moscow within range of American short-range missiles.

Patria o Muerte!

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In 1959, Fidel Castro and a group of Communist rebels seized power in Cuba; the United States was worried about the spread of Communism so close to home

Initially, Castro wanted Cuba to remain neutral in the Cold War, but the United States grew hostile to Castro’s regime.

America’s attempts to collapse Castro’s Cuba:

Attempted Assassination of Castro

Kennedy authorized the CIA to make multiple assassination attempts on Castro.

Embargos

The US put trade and travel embargos on Cuba, banning goods from the country.

Bay of Pigs Invasion

In April 1961, a 1,400-man invasion force of anti-Castro Cuban exiles (supported by US), landed at the Bay of Pigs beach on the south coast of Cuba.

The invasion was a massive failure. The United States was hoping that the initial landing would be joined by Cuban rebels against Castro, but the invasion only made Castro more popular.

In 1962, Castro aligned himself and Cuba with the Soviet Union. Part of the agreement was to move Soviet R-12 nuclear missiles to the island.

This meant that there was only a 15-minute warning of a strike on Washington DC, New York, and much of the US

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HRU5yonyK8

Countdown to Midnight