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Jfk and the Cuban Missile Crisis

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Jfk and the Cuban Missile Crisis
Running head: JFK HANDLES THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS

President JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis
Contemporary History
June 12, 2010

The Cuban Missile Crisis forever marked 1962 as the year the world almost witnessed a nuclear war. The Soviet Union, Cuba, and the United States were all teetering on the edge of a cliff that was crumbling from the weight of fear, tension, and secrecy. It also marked the official end of Americans innocent belief that they were safe in the glow of Lady Liberty’s torch. Yet amidst the dark shadow of nuclear threat one American president rose to this challenge and proved that peace through strength is the best strategy.
In 1962 the Soviet Premier was Nikita Kruschchev. During this time the Soviet Union was unable to keep up with the U.S. in the arms race which resulted in only having missiles capable of reaching Europe. On the other hand the U.S. could easily reach Soviet soil with the push of a button. Khrushchev feared that the U.S. would make the first move by striking from Turkey which was only 150 miles away. “In late April 1962, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev conceived the idea of placing intermediate-range missiles in Cuba. A deployment in Cuba would double the Soviet strategic arsenal and provide a real deterrent to a potential U.S. attack against the Soviet Union.” (Think Quest, 1997) This was a plan that would be enthusiastically accepted by Cuba’s Fidel Castro.
Castro was still stinging from the failed Bay of Pigs attack. He was also more than a little nervous that there would be an inevitable second attack coming his way which led to his decision to allow the Soviets to build their missile installments in his country. Castro was nervous due to a strategic plan put in place by the U.S. “The Kennedy administration seemed to settle on a policy of harassment and diplomatic isolation in order to contain Castro and keep him off balance. The harassment included running operations back and forth between Cuba and Florida,


References: Hershberg, Jim. (1995). Anatomy Of A Controversy. Retrieved from: http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/cuba_mis_cri/moment.htm JFK Library. (Retrieved June 10, 2010). The World On The Brink: John F. Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis The History Place. (1962). President John F. Kennedy on the Cuban Missile Crisis. Retrieved from: http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/jfk-cuban.htm ThinkQuest. (1997). The Cuban Missile Crisis Fourteen Days In October. Retrieved from: http://library.thinkquest.org/11046/days/index.html
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