Cuban Crisis

8/3/2019 Cuban Crisis

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Cuban Missile Crisis


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Fidel Castro(CommunistPresident of Cuba)

andNikita

Khrushchev

(Communist leaderof USSR)


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U2 Spy-plane


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JohnFitzgeraldKennedy

What should he do?

What should he do?


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A Brief Chronology

May, 1962: Khrushchev makes veiledreferences to a plot (How would the U.S. feel tohave missiles pointing at them, as they have

missiles pointed at us?)

September: JFK and Congress issue warningsto USSR that US will deal harshly with anythreats to national security

October 14: U2 recon. flight over Cuba spotssites installing nuclear missiles

October 15: Presence of missiles is confirmed


8/22

The Missiles: One Site


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Chronology, Continued

October 16: President Kennedy notified

October 16-22: Secret deliberations on whatshould be done

October 22: Kennedy tells nation his plan forblockade and quarantine

October 23: OAS endorses naval quarantine

October 24: Naval quarantine begins andsuccessfully changes course of many Sovietships


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October 25: One Soviet ship challenges navalquarantine; Kennedy lets it pass

October 25: At the UN, Adlai Stevenson directlychallenges the Soviet ambassador to admit tothe existence of missiles, when the ambassadorrefuses, Stevenson wheels out pictures of themissile sites

October 26: Soviets raise possibility for a deal:if we withdraw missiles will America promise notto invade Cuba?


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October 27: Soviets demand that Americansalso withdraw missiles from Turkey; MajorAndersons plane is missing over Cuba,

presumably shot down; U.S. recon plane straysover Soviet airspacehigh tensions

Kennedy tells Khrushchev that he will acceptthe proposal of the 26th, Kennedy tells hisbrother to tell the Soviet Ambassador that

though the Turkey missiles would not be part ofthe bargain, they would be removed in time

October 28: USSR agrees to withdraw missiles


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Soviet Decisions

Motivations

Close the missile gapCurrently farbehind U.S. in terms of number of

missiles Verbal threats no longer effective with

overwhelming evidence of U.S.superiority

Protect Cuba

Reciprocity: The U.S. has missilespointing at us, lets see how they feel

now


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Soviet Decisions, Continued

Inability to use the missiles

If fired a missile, repercussions would be

severe


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Why Khrushchev Settled

Effectiveness of naval quarantine

Conventional inferiority in the Caribbean

No possible countermoveOverwhelming world support for the U.S.

Other possible reasons

Got what he wanted?No U.S. invasion of Cuba

U.S. missiles withdrawn from Turkey


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The American Decision

In September Kennedy had statedand Congress had passed aresolution saying that if the SovietUnion placed offensive weapons in

Cuba we would not tolerate it. Could we then rely solely on

diplomacy? Kennedys thoughtJohn could be impeached if hedidnt act in accordance with hisprior warnings

Determined in first 48 hours of crisis

that the removal of missiles was theprimary objective

This objective effectively ruled outisolated diplomacy, and left twooptions


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The American Decision cont.

Option 1 - Air Strike

On October 17th, President Kennedy madethe flat statement that there would definitely be

an air strike, at least against the missile sites,and perhaps against wider targets (Bundy394)

Reservations from others, airstrike may beusing a sledgehammer to kill a fly

Later that day Robert McNamara suggestspolicy in between diplomacy and an air strike


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The American Decision cont.

Option 2 Blockade Advocated early on by McNamara and Robert

Kennedy, blockade would not require instant killing,but critics feared it would not remove the missiles

and would allow Soviets time to complete what theyalready had in Cuba Douglas Dillon strengthened blockade argument by

suggesting that it would only be a first step, that ifKhrushchev did not remove the missiles to lift it,then more could be done

By Friday the 19th

, the committee working on theblockade adapted it into a quarantine, on SundayKennedy accepted their plan as the course ofaction


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Could America have acted

differently? Could we have used the crisis to remove

Castro? Our warnings all along had been against offensive

weapons so once that warning is tested if we use itto attack Castro are we sticking to our word?

Could we have tried diplomacy before resortingto the quarantine? If we didnt keep secrecy, Khrushchev could have

proclaimed defiance, or denouncedquarantinethen both countries would be inpositions where theyre heading straight for eachother and cant just turn back


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Castros Role

No real role in decisionmaking

Apparently out of touch withthe situation

Oct. 26: Aggressionimminent/imperialistsdisregarding worldopinionClearly not thecase

Khrushchev plays alongto some extent but it isclear he disagrees withhim (your suggestionwould have started athermonuclear worldwar)


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Questions

Do you feel Major Andersons death justifiedmore aggressive action?

Seeing as how our options in the crisis weresomewhat dictated by the warnings we issued

in Septembershould we have issued thosewarnings?

Robert Kennedy likened an air strike to PearlHarbor (Bundy 394), was that a fair analogy?

If the missiles in Cuba were conventional,and neither the Soviet Union nor the U.S.possessed any nuclear weapons, would thecrisis have been avoided?


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The Cuban Missile Crisis


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Acknowledgement

Andrew Wood and Dave Ryan

Cuban Crisis

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