THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS , 1962.
Background
Cuba is a large island just 160 km from Florida in the Southern USA, it had long been an American ally , Americans owned most of the businesses on the island and they had a huge naval base there.
Then , in 1959, after a 3 year guerrilla campaign , Fidel Castro overthrew the American-backed dictator Batista.
With a new pro-Communist state in what it regarded as its own “sphere of influence” this was going to be a real test of the USA’s policy of CONTAINMENT.
HOW SUCCESSFUL WERE THE EARLY ATTEMPTS AT CONTAINMENT?
1959-1961 For 2 years , Cuba and the USA maintained a frosty relationship but without a direct confrontation. Castro took over American-owned businesses in Cuba, but he let the USA keep its naval base.
Castro assured Americans living in Cuba that they were safe. However, from the summer 1960, he was receiving arms from the Soviet Union and American spies knew this.
JANUARY 1961 The USA broke off diplomatic relations with Cuba. Castro thought that the USA was preparing to invade , the USA was no longer going to tolerate a Soviet satellite in the heart of its own “sphere of influence”.
APRIL 1961 President Kennedy supplied arms, equipment and transport for 1400 anti-Castro exiles to invade Cuba and overthrow him. The exiles landed at the Bay of Pigs . The invasion failed disastrously. Castro captured or killed them all within days. The Soviet leader KHRUSHCHEV was scornful of Kennedy’s pathetic attempt to eliminate Communism from Cuba.
Looking back , President Kennedy said he that US policy in Cuba (backing the hated dictator Batista), had itself been responsible for the strength of Communism in the first place.
WHAT WAS THE SOVIET UNION DOING IN CUBA?
After the Bay of Pigs fiasco, Soviet arms flooded into Cuba, in May 1962, the Soviet Union announced publicly for the first time that it was supplying Cuba with arms.
By July, 1962, Cuba had the best-equipped army in Latin America, it had thousands of Soviet missiles, , plus patrol boats, tanks, radar vans , jet bombers ,etc, and 5000 Soviet technicians to help maintain the weapons.
Kennedy warned the USSR that he would prevent by “whatever means might be necessary” Cuba’s becoming an offensive military base, by which he meant A NUCLEAR missile BASE.
The same day the USSR assured the USA that it had no need to put nuclear missiles on Cuba and no intention of doing so.
THE OCTOBER CRISIS
14th October, 1962 an American U-2 spy plane flew over Cuba and it took detailed photographs of missile sites in Cuba.
To the military experts , 2 things were sure:
1.these WERE NUCLEAR MISSILE SITES
2.THEY WERE BEING BUILT BY THE USSR
More photos followed, confirming that some sites were nearly
finished,but others were still being built.
Some were already supplied with missiles, others were awaiting them. The experts said that the most developed ones could be ready to launch missiles in just seven days.
KENNEDY’S OPTIONS
WHEN INFORMED , HE CREATED A SPECIAL TEAM OF ADVISERS CALLED EX COMM.
1.DO NOTHING?
FOR
The Americans had a vastly greater nuclear power that the USSR.
The USA could still destroy the USSR.
AGAINST
The USSR had lied , to do nothing would be a sign of weakness.
2.SURGICAL AIR ATTACK?
FOR
It would destroy the missiles before they were ready to use.
AGAINST
Destruction of all sites could not be guaranteed.
The attack would inevitably kill Soviet soldiers.
The S.Union might retaliate at once.
To attack without advance warning was seen as immoral.
3.INVASION?
FOR
It would not only get rid of the missiles , but Castro as well.
AGAINST
It would almost guarantee an equivalent Soviet response e.g. a take-over of Berlin.
4.DIPLOMATIC PRESSURES
For
It would avoid conflict
AGAINST
It would be a sign of weakness.
5.BLOCKADE?
FOR
It would show that the USA was serious, still it would not be a direct act of war
AGAINST
It would not solve the main problem , the missiles were already on Cuba, they could be used within a week, the USSR might retaliate by blockading Berlin again.
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT
*Kennedy decides on blockade Cuba
*Kennedy announces the blockade and calls on the Soviet Union to withdraw its missiles
*Kennedy receives a letter from Khrushchev saying that the Soviet ships will not observe the blockade, he did not admit the presence of the missiles on Cuba
*The blockade begins, 20 Soviet ships which are closest to the zone stop or turn around
*However, aerial reports reveal that work on the missile bases in Cuba is proceeding rapidly
*Kennedy receives a long , personal letter from Khrushchev, the letter claims that the missiles on Cuba are merely defensive ( this is the first time he admits the presence of them)
*Khrushchev sends a second letter, saying that the conditions for removal is that the USA removes its missiles from Turkey.
*Kennedy does not accept the condition
*An American u-2 plane is shot down in Cuba, the pilot is killed. The President is advised to launch an immediate reprisal attack on Cuba , but he delays it , he also decides to ignore the 2nd letter, he says that if the USSR does not withdraw an attack will follow
*Khrushchev replies to Kennedy : “in order to eliminate as rapidly as possible the conflict which endangers the cause of peace…the Soviet Government has given a new order to dismantle the arms which you described as offensive and to return them to the Soviet Union”
WHY DID THE SOVIET UNION PLACED NUCLEAR MISSILES ON CUBA?
THEORIES
*To bargain with the USA for some concessions
*To test the USA : testing Kennedy
*To get the upper hand in the arms race, with those missiles there it was less likely that the USA would launch the first strike against the USSR
*To trap the USA into a nuclear war
*To defend Cuba
THE OUTCOME
*Cuba stayed Communist and highly armed, however, the nuclear missiles were withdrawn under UN supervision
*Historians agree that this Crisis helped to THAW Cold War relations between the USA and the USSR
*A Communist Cuba was an inconvenience to the USA , but a nuclear war would be the end of civilization.
“…PRESIDENT KENNEDY WILL BE REMEMBERED AS THE PRESIDENT WHO HELPED TO BRING THE THAW IN THE COLD WAR. THIS WAS ALWAYS HIS AIM BUT ONLY AFTER CUBA DID HE REALLY ACT.
THIS CRISIS LEFT ITS MARK ON HIM, HE RECOGNISED HOW FRIGHTENING WERE THE CONSEQUENCES OF MISUNDERSTANDINGS BETWEEN EAST AND WEST…”
President Kennedy was shot dead by a gunman in Texas, in November 1963. This is from his obituary in the British newspaper, the Guardian.
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