The Cuban Missile Crisis

• The Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 was probably the nearest the Cold War came to breaking into an all-out nuclear war between America and the Soviet Union.
• Nuclear missile bases in Cuba posed a great threat to America, and the decisions taken by either side in October 1962 could have led to disaster.

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The Cuban Missile Crisis happened one year after the construction of the Berlin Wall, which was a major source of Cold War tension in Europe.

The Cold War was still tense in other parts of the world, too. In Vietnam, America was increasing military presence to help South Vietnam in their fight against the communist North.

America and the Soviet Union were competing in the Space Race, trying to be the first country in the world to send a man to the moon and have the best space technology. In 1959, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin had become the first person to travel into space.

American President John F. Kennedy was under pressure to stand up to the communist Soviet Union. This would influence some of the decisions he took in dealing with the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Cuba is an island just 90 miles off the coast of Florida, in America. Until 1959, America had been their close ally, and they were one of the main consumers of Cuba’s sugar and tobacco.

In 1959, the undemocratic, corrupt Cuban government was overthrown in a communist revolution, led by Fidel Castro. He seized many American-owned businesses in Cuba and nationalised them. He refused to pay America any compensation, meaning that America lost out on products and profits from these businesses.

In response, America stopped buying goods such as sugar from Cuba. The communist Soviet Union stepped in and agreed to buy large quantities of sugar from Cuba, building relations between the two countries.

In 1961, the newly elected American President John F. Kennedy approved a plan to invade Cuba and overthrow the communist regime. He gave permission for the CIA to launch the Bay of Pigs invasion.

This was a plan for Cuban exiles, who had left Cuba and fled to America following the revolution, to invade Cuba and overthrow Castro. The invasion would begin at the Bay of Pigs, on the southern coast of Cuba. They had support from the CIA but the US government did not send US troops to support the invasion.

The plan was a disaster. Upon arrival, they were met by heavily armed Cuban troops and they were all either captured or killed. The Cuban people did not give their support to the invasion either.

The invasion showed that America was prepared to take strong measures to remove communism from Cuba, but it pushed Fidel Castro to seek further support from the Soviet Union and their leader, Nikita Khrushchev. It was an embarrassing failure for Kennedy and the CIA. Kennedy had won the presidential election of 1960 by promising to be tough on communism and the Bay of Pigs failure was just three months into his presidency.

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On 14 October 1962, a U-2 spy plane flew over Cuba and photographed Soviet nuclear missile sites being constructed. This was a huge threat to America. Cuba was only 90 miles from the coast of Florida, meaning that many of the biggest US cities, like Washington DC and New York, would be well within range of these missiles. The government believed that the lives of 80 million Americans were in danger.

President Kennedy initially kept this information secret from the American people while he and his advisors worked out what to do about the missiles. They considered several options:

• An airstrike on the sites to wipe out the missile bases. Kennedy’s advisors warned there was no guarantee that the bases would all be destroyed.
• An invasion of Cuba. This would mean the missile bases could be removed, but the missiles could be launched before then.
• A naval blockade. This would avoid direct conflict and might stop further nuclear material being delivered to Cuba. It involved stopping and searching every ship heading towards Cuba. If it contained material that could be used to build missiles, it would be turned around.
• Do nothing. This would mean any potential nuclear war against Cuba and the Soviet Union would be avoided, but Kennedy had promised he would be tough on communism. Allowing missiles in Cuba to go unacknowledged was not appealing.

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Kennedy eventually opted for a naval blockade. He made a televised address to the American people on 22 October and told them about the missiles on Cuba and the naval blockade that had been put in place.

When the naval blockade was in place, Soviet ships initially continued to sail towards Cuba, but Khrushchev ordered them to stop and turn around. However, the American Navy did search other vessels. A Soviet tanker was allowed to deliver oil and a Lebanese ship was stopped and searched - but it was allowed to continue its journey as it contained no missile building materials.

Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev sent letters to President Kennedy. In one letter, sent on 26 October, Khrushchev proposed the Soviets removed the missiles from Cuba in return for America making a commitment to not invade Cuba.

A second letter, sent on 27 October, made the same suggestion, but also demanded America should remove their own missiles from Turkey as well. On the same day, a US spy plane was shot down over Cuba, further raising tensions.

Kennedy decided to ignore the second letter and replied to Khrushchev agreeing to the proposals in the first letter. On 28 October, Khrushchev made a televised address and announced Soviet missiles would be removed from Cuba.

Robert Kennedy, US Attorney General and President Kennedy’s brother, secretly agreed with Russia that America would quietly remove their missiles from Turkey at a later date.

• The Soviets removed their missiles from Cuba.
• America promised that they would not invade Cuba.
• America secretly removed their missiles from Turkey in 1963.
• A telephone hot line was set up between Washington DC and Moscow, to enable direct communication between the leaders of America and Russia. The intention was to avoid the brinkmanship that had taken both sides so close to war.
• A Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was agreed in 1963, which aimed to reduce some of the pressure on the arms race. This banned the testing of all nuclear weapons above ground. Tests were sometimes being used to demonstrate military power, so limiting tests was a further attempt to reduce tension.
• Other leading communist party members in Russia were unhappy with Khrushchev’s handling of the crisis. There was a feeling that Russia had been forced to back down and the crisis had embarrassed them. Khrushchev was forcibly removed from power within two years of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Play a History Detectives mission exploring whether the USA or the USSR came out of the Cuban Missile Crisis in a stronger military position.

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