Kennedy and cuban missile crisis 2011

QW 3-7-11

What two things changed the election of 1960 in Kennedy’s favor?

What did Nixon say Kennedy lacked?

Kennedy As President As Kennedy Entered the

White House, the nations dangerous rivalry

In the fall of 1962, the tension would reach a boiling point

The Cuban Missile crisis as the standoff came to be called was the most dramatic Kennedy faced

Crisis over Cuba

First test of Kennedy’s nuclear policy came just 90 miles off the cost of Florida

Crisis over Cuba

Few days before he took office, Eisenhower had cut off relations with Cuba because a revolutionary leader – Fidel Castro had declared himself a communist and welcomed aid from the Soviet Union

Kennedy Seeks Greater Containment

During his campaign Kennedy had criticized Eisenhower for not being concerned enough about the Soviet threat

He said the Soviets are winning the race for allies in the third world.

Kennedy Seeks Greater Containment He blasted

Republicans for letting communism reach America’s doorstep in Cuba.

So the Democrats would not be seen as soft on communism, Kennedy took an especially hard line

Kennedy Seeks Greater Containment

Eisenhower had relied on massive retaliation to deter soviet aggression but the Soviets had built their stockpile of nuclear weapons and had the long range missile to launch them.

Instead Kennedy developed the Flexible Response Policy Strengthen nations non-nuclear forces by

building a stronger military.

The Cuban Dilemma

The U.S. was suspicious of Castro’s intentions but nevertheless recognized the new government

Batista had been unpopular and corrupt and many Americans viewed Castro as a freedom fighter

When Castro’s government took control of three oil refineries owned by American and British firms, the relations between the two countries deteriorated.

The Cuban Dilemma

Castro also broke up commercial farms into communes that would be worked by formerly landless peasants.

American sugar companies which controlled 75% of the crop land in Cuba, appealed to the U.S. government for help

Congress responded by erecting trade barriers against Cuban sugar

The Cuban Dilemma

To put his reforms into action, Castro relied increasingly on Soviet aid

Castro’s charisma won many supporters in Cuba as did his willingness to stand up to the United States

Many other Cubans felt betrayed, they saw him as one dictator who replaced another

About 10% of the Cuban population went into exile in the U.S. where a counter movement began

The Bay of Pigs In the summer of 1960, Eisenhower gave the CIA permission to secretly train hundreds of Cuban exiles for an invasion of Cuba.

The U.S. hoped this would trigger a mass uprising against Castro that would overthrow him.

Kennedy learned about this operation 9 days after his election

He had his doubts about the plan but supported it

The Bay of Pigs On April 17, 1961

some 1400 Cuban exiles landed on the Bay of Pigs island, but nothing went as planned

An air strike carried out two days before had failed to knock out the Cuban air force, although the CIA had reported that it had.

The Bay of Pigs

A small advance group sent to distract Castro never reached shore, when it finally landed they faced 20,000 Cuban troops, backed up by Soviet tanks and aircraft.

The Bay of Pigs

The troops surrounded the exiles, killed some and took others prisoner.

Castro turned it into a public relations triumph with the media saying, “The North American mercenaries look like fools to our friends, rascals to our enemies and incompetent to the rest.”

The Bay of Pigs

The disaster left Kennedy embarrassed. He negotiated a deal with Castro for the surviving commandos and ultimately paid a ransom of $53 million in food and medical supplies

The Cuban Missile Crisis Castro had a

powerful ally in Moscow – Khrushchev who promised to defend Cuba with Soviet arms

The Cuban Missile Crisis

During the summer of 1962 the flow of Soviet weapons to Cuba including nuclear missiles increased greatly.

Kennedy first responded with a warning that the US would not tolerate the presence of offensive nuclear weapons

The Cuban Missile Crisis In October American U-2

planes provided the president with evidence that the Soviets were secretly building missile bases on Cuba and that some contained missiles ready to launch

The missiles could reach U.S. cities within minutes

But wait… why did the Soviets do this?

The Cuban Missile Crisis In 1961, one year prior the

U.S. had deployed 15 missiles in Turkey aimed at Western USSR cities including Moscow.

As a result the Soviets placed missiles in Cuba

On October 22, Kennedy delivered a speech to inform an anxious nation of the existence of Soviet missile sites in Cuba and his plans to remove them

A Blockade..kinda Kennedy ordered a naval

blockade of Cuba to stop the Soviets from delivering the missiles

Had to call it a Quarantine, as a naval blockade is an act of war

Also that the missiles already in Cuba needed to be dismantled

As the Soviet ships headed towards the blockade the US braced for war

The Cuban Missile Crisis Kennedy made it clear that

an attack from Cuba would be an all out attack on the USSR.

For the next six days the world faced the terrifying possibility of nuclear war.

After much deliberation between the Soviet Union and Kennedy's cabinet, Kennedy agreed to remove all missiles set in Turkey on the border of the Soviet Union in exchange for Khrushchev removing all missiles in Cuba.

The Solution

Soviet missiles were promptly removed from Cuba; in return

Kennedy pledged not to invade Cuba. 

US also made a secret promise…

The Solution Privately, through secret talks between

Attorney-General Robert Kennedy and Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin, he also agreed to Khrushchev’s demand that he pull the U.S. Jupiter missiles out of Turkey (they were obsolete anyway). 

The Soviets let up their pressure for Berlin; and a test-ban treaty was signed in 1963, but the nuclear arms race escalated. 

One could say the crisis ended in a draw.