Cuban+Missile+Crisis

October 16-28, 1962
The Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest the world was to a full scale nuclear war. After provocative political moves and the failed US attempt to overthrow the Communist Cuban regime, in May 1962 Nikita Khrushchev proposed the idea of placing Soviet nuclear missiles on Cuba to deter any future invasion attempt of their ally. The US felt threatened by the Soviet Union deploying intermediate range missiles in Cuba. Fearing nuclear war, the US decided against an invasion of Cuba, and US President John F. Kennedy negotiated with Soviet President Nikita Khrushchev to avert Nuclear war by pulling out Soviet missiles from Cuba, while the US pulls out missiles from Turkey.


 * The Soviet plan of putting missiles in Cuba was due to the missile gap between the Soviet Union and the United States, The Soviet Union only had 4 Intercontinental ballistic missiles, whereas the US had around 75. The Soviet compensated by sending shorter range, more accurate missiles to Cuba.
 * After provocative political moves and the failed US attempt to overthrow the Cuban regime in the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, Nikita Khrushchev proposed the idea of placing Soviet nuclear missiles on Cuba to deter any future invasion attempt.

The US had no plan in place because US intelligence had been convinced that the Soviets would never install nuclear missiles in Cuba. The EXCOMM quickly discussed several possible courses of action, including: The Joint Chiefs of Staff unanimously agreed that a full-scale attack and invasion was the only solution. They believed that the Soviets would not attempt to stop the US from conquering Cuba. Kennedy was skeptical.
 * 1) Do nothing: American vulnerability to Soviet missiles was not new. Newly placed missiles in Cuba made little strategic difference in the military balance of power.
 * 2) Diplomacy: Use diplomatic pressure to get the Soviet Union to remove the missiles.
 * 3) Warning: Send a message to Castro to warn him of the grave danger he, and Cuba were in.
 * 4) Blockade: Use the US Navy to block any missiles from arriving in Cuba.
 * 5) Air strike: Use the US Air Force to attack all known missile sites.
 * 6) Invasion: Full force invasion of Cuba and overthrow of Castro.
 * Fidel Castro felt that a second attack was inevitable ever since the failure of the "Bay of Pigs" invasion in 1961. Consequently, he approved
 * Kennedy instead, established a naval blockade of Cuba, any ships going to and from Cuba would be stopped and searched, and the airspace would be constantly monitored.
 * Kennedy sent U-2 planes to spy on Cuba, finding missile sites. The crisis escalated when a U2 plane was shot down on October 27th.
 * Kennedy and Khrushchev began secret negotiations at Vienna to come to agreement to avoid nuclear war.
 * On October 28, 1962 tensions finally began to ease when Khrushchev announced he would dismantle and return the missiles to the Soviet Union, if in return the United States would not invade Cuba and remove missiles from Italy and Turkey.

Timeline points

1960 December 19 - Cuba openly aligns with the soviet union 1961 April 17 - "The bay of pigs" a group of Cuban exiles that were backed up by the us failed in an attempt to spark an anti Castro rebellion 1961 June 3-4 - Khrushchev and Kennedy hold summit talks in vienna regarding Cuba missile crisis 1962 august 31st - The first time the us hears of soviet missiles in Cuba 1962 October 14 - A U-2 plane obtains images of missile sites in Cuba 1962 October 27 - An American U-2 is shot down and killed the pilot 1962 October 27 - Kennedy sends Khrushchev a letter stating they will not invade Cuba as long as they remove the missiles from Cuba 1962 October 28 - Khrushchev announces the removal of missiles in Cuba, Kennedy agrees to remove missiles from Turkey ending the Cuban missile crisis