The Cuban Missile Crisis

1. Kennedy described Wednesday, Oct. 24 and Saturday, Oct. 27 as the darkest days of the crisis. Use the information on page 350 to explain why.

Wednesday, Oct. 24 was the beginning of the blockade: the first sign that the U.S. was truly getting involved in the crisis, the first point of action. After that, there was no turning back. Saturday, October 27 marked the first American casualty; Kennedy was forced to consider actually going to war.

2. Do you think that nuclear war was ever a possibility in this crisis?

I do not believe that nuclear war was truly a possibility in this crisis. Both countries knew that they had the power to wipe each other out completely; both were too afraid of retaliation to launch on the other. This crisis was more of a show of power - whoever could flex the bigger muscles would win.

3. Is Source 26 a Soviet or an American cartoon? Explain your answer by referring to the details in the cartoon.

This is an American cartoon. The biggest clue pointing to this is that JFK seems to be having less trouble than Khruschev - he is sweating less, implying that he has the upper hand. Also, more detail is shown in the drawing of Kennedy - the author clearly wanted to make him look good, whereas Khruschev is drawn much more simply.

4. Using Source 27 list any evidence you can find for and against each of the explanations.

Why did the Soviet Union place nuclear missiles on Cuba?

To bargain with the USA

-Neither country truly wanted war

-Bargaining could have avoided any violence

-Tensions were so high at this point that bargaining seemed unlikely to work

To test the USA

-The USSR was constantly trying to tell how powerful the US' weapons were

-This situation could have proven very, very dangerous for the Soviet Union

To trap the USA

-If the US struck first, the Soviet Union would look like the victim in the situation

-neither country wanted to provoke the other; no matter who struck first, there would still be terrible consequences

To get the upper hand in the arms race

-The Cold War was really just a power play

-It was more about impressions than actual fighting

-The USSR had a need to prove itself superior to the US

-Getting the upper hand would just cause the US to bump up their own arms supply

To defend Cuba

-The USSR woudl have been happy to have Communism spread so far across the globe

-The USSR had promised to support and protect any satellite nations

-The USSR was too busy dealing with the US to get involved in what could turn into a complicated civil war

5. Choose the explanation(s) that you think best fit what you have found out about the crisis. Explain your choice.

I believe that the USSR was trying to gain the upper hand in the arms race. The Soviet Union felt very threatened by the US missiles in Turkey; by placing missiles in Cuba, they threatened the US in the same way. The Cold War was all about getting the upper hand. The race to have more and better technology was constant. While the Soviet Union and the U.S. did not actually want war, both wanted to look better than the other; for this reason, it only seems logical that the USSR was motivated mainly by a need to gain an upper hand in the arms race.

The U.S. Attempts to Contain Cuba

1. Why was Cuba so important to the United States?
The US saw Cuba as a sphere of their own interests; from the Spanish-American war, they had many businesses set up there, as well as a large naval base. The US saw Cuba as nearly an extension of its own borders - while it wa not technically part of America, the US certainly liked to maintain a firm control there.

2. Why do you think the Americans chose to equip Cuban exiles rather than invading themselves?
By invading themselves, it would have looked much more severe. The Soviets would most likely have directly attacked; by using Cuban exiles, the US could always simply claim that they were just arming people who had motivations of their own. Also, the US was likely no inclined to risk American lives in such an attack.

3. Why did the invasion fail?
The exiled Cuban troops were vastly outnumbered by Castro's men. JFK did not plan for Castro to send such a large number of troops; although the exiles' military technology was on par with Castro's, they were simply overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of Castro's army.

4. Compare Source 17 on page 345 (in the Arms Race.pdf reading) with Source 24 on page 348. Describe how the Soviet Union missiles on Cuba changed the Cold War balance of power.
While the U.S. had nuclear launch sites in Western Europe, close by to the USSR, the Soviet Union had previously been unable to place nuclear weapons anywhere near to the U.S. Now, with nuclear weapons in Cuba, the Soviet threat to the U.S. was much greater; they could launch an attack in minutes, where as in the past it would have taken up to 1/2 an hour for the missiles to hit.