1962
CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS
 
Assignment
Background
Timeline
WWW sites
Recommended Books
Related Events

Map of Cuban Missile Sites
 
Course home page
 
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Assignment
 
What were the five possible U.S. responses to the presence of nuclear missiles in Cuba, and why did President Kennedy select the naval quarantine option?
 
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Background
 
In October 1962, U.S. aerial reconnaissance pictures showed about forty offensive nuclear missiles being installed and manned in Cuba by Soviet technicians. These missiles had an effective range of a little more than two thousand miles and threatened much of America.  Although the United States had already broken off diplomatic relations with Cuba after the revolution led by Fidel Castro, President John F. Kennedy refused to authorize air strikes against the missile installations and instead demanded the immediate removal of the missiles. To achieve that, he ordered a naval blockade and quarantine of all offensive military equipment under shipment to Cuba.  By a vote of 20 to 0, the Organization of American States also recommended that member nations take necessary measures to stop the flow of offensive weapons to Cuba.
 
Kennedy told Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet leader, that if Cuba launched any missiles at the United States it would be considered an act of war by the Soviet Union, and the U.S. would retaliate directly against the Soviet Union.  Americans waited while Soviet ships carrying offensive weapons to Cuba approached the blockade, while cargo ships were allowed to pass. On 28 October Khrushchev accepted the American demands.  The Soviet government agreed to dismantle its bases and remove the missiles.  Kennedy and Khrushchev came to a compromise that if the nuclear missiles were pulled out of Cuba, the American quarantine against Cuba would end and the U.S. would not invade the island.  The U.S. also agreed to speed up removal of nuclear missiles from Turkey.  The world was never as close to nuclear warfare as it was during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
 
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Timeline
  • 1 January 1959, President Fulgencio Batista fled; 2 January 1959 Fidel Castro proclaimed victory in Santiago; 2 February 1959 Cuba declared Castro was the new premier and president.
  • 27 May 1960, United States ended aid to Cuba.
  • 12 July 1960, Nikita Khrushchev supported Cuba in dispute with U.S. over Guantanamo Bay military base.
  • 14 October 1960, Foreign banks nationalized (7 August 1960, Castro had nationalized all U.S. property, about 770 million dollars).
  • 17 April 1961, Bay of Pigs.
  • 22 October 1962, Kennedy announced that Soviet Union had nuclear missiles in Cuba based on aerial reconnaissance of 16 October.
  • 26 October, Khrushchev said that he would remove the missiles if the U.S. removed missiles from Turkey and promised not invade Cuba.  Kennedy replied that all work in Cuba must stop before any negotiation.
  • 28 October, Khrushchev agreed to dismantle the sites (U.S. removed its missiles from Turkey in November).
  • 30 August 1963, The U.S. and U.S.S.R. established a "hot-line" to prevent the risk of an accidental nuclear war.
 
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WWW sites
 
There are many sites devoted to the crisis.  A good starting point, the The Cuban Missile Crisis gives an in-depth chronology. or the wikipedia entry.  (See also the course taught at Georgetown College for a set of excellent references.).  The letter (in Russian from the Soviet archives) from Khrushchev to Kennedy is available.
 
If you have installed a RealAudio player on your computer, you can listen to the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Adlai Stevenson, query the Russian ambassador about the missiles sites (text).  There are also recordings (RealAudio format) of all the White House conversations taped during the crisis and President Kennedy's Radio and Television Report to the American People on the Soviet Arms Buildup in Cuba.
 
In a class by itself is the remarkable www site 14 Days in October:  The Cuban Missile Crisis from ThinkQuest.  This is a great site that has documents photos, dossiers, briefings, audio in a well-constructed and useful setting (highly recommended). This is not to be confused with Thirteen Days in History, another great site of source materials..
 
Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963, Volume XI is the volume of official American documents dealing with the crisis.  Mt. Holyoke college has placed many of the most important documents on its Cuban Missile Crisis Page.
 
The National Security Archives (NSA) has published previously-classified documents about the crisis (The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962: A Political Perspective After 40 Years), which also includes photos, and a Chronology of the Cuban Missile Crisis.  The NSA has also sponsored a series of interpretive articles on the crisis as part of the Cold War International History Project.  See also, how the Cuban Missile Crisis fits into the overall context of the Cold War at the Cold War International History Project; also check a list of Cold War Resources.
 
Finally, some other document collections are at:
 
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Recommended Books
 
One of the best accounts of the crisis is Michael Beschloss, The Crisis Years:  Kennedy and Khrushchev, 1960-1963 (1991).  James Blight, et al., Cuba on the Brink:  Castro, the Missile Crisis and the Soviet Collapse (1993), provides a comprehensive description of the crisis.  A highly critical account of America's policy toward Cuba is M. H. Morley, Imperial State and Revolution:  The United States and Cuba, 1952-l986 (1987).  Other accounts include:  Dino Brugioni, Eyeball to Eyeball (1991); David Detzer, The Brink (1979); Norman Finklestein, Thirteen Days/Ninety Miles:  The Cuban Missile Crisis (1994); Robert Thompson, Missiles of October (1992).  Robert Kennedy, The Thirteen Days (1968), are the memoirs of one of the key participants in the crisis.  For a perspective on the Cuban side of the crisis, see Sad and Luminous Days: Cuba's Struggle with the Superpowers after the Missile Crisis (2002) by James Blight and Philip Brennes.
 
Documentary information:
  • Ernest May and Philip Zelikow, eds.  The Kennedy Tapes:  Inside the White House during the Cuban Missile Crisis (1997)
  • Graham Allison, Jr., The Secret Cuban Missile Crisis Documents (1994)
  • Anatoli Gribkov and William Smith, Operation ANADYR : U.S. and Soviet Generals Recount the Cuban Missile Crisis (1994)
  • Mary McAuliffe, ed., CIA Documents on the Cuban Missile Crisis (1992)
  • Laurence Chang and Peter Kornbluh, eds., The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962 :  A National Security Archive Documents Reader (1992)
  • David Larson, The "Cuban Crisis" of 1962:  Selected Documents, Chronology, and Bibliography (1986)
  • Ronald Pope, ed., Soviet Views on the Cuban Missile Crisis:  Myth and Reality in Foreign Policy Analysis (1982)
 
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Related Events
Cuban Revolution, 1960
 
Bay of Pigs, 1961
 
Fidel Castro
 
John F. Kennedy
 
Nikita Khrushchev
 
 

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