Similarities Between Kennedy And Khrushchev

President John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev were two of the most important men during the Cuban Missile crisis; they had a lot of differences in character and response to situation, but had some similarities as well. The two were the some of the most influential men at their time, especially considering the Cold War and resulting Cuban Missile Crisis. John F. Kennedy was the youngest man to be elected president at his time, so you can imagine the pressure he must have felt as a prominent leader in such a trying time. However, he had a respectable history, having gone to some very respectable schools throughout his life, including ________. Born into a wealthy and respected, Roman Catholic family, tall, handsome, polished, sophisticated,
There was a policy that the United States had committed itself to a few years earlier, during the presidency of Harry Truman. It was called the containment policy. The policy of containing the spread of communism was the methods that were used to keep communism from spreading further. They would accomplish this by strengthening noncommunist countries, particularly those bordering the Soviet Union, the most threatening and sizeable communist nation at the time. This way, they would be able to easier shut down any attempt of the spread of communism. The Soviets responded with their own policy. The Soviets believed that capitalism was evil and that Western democracies and therefore advancements were a threat. Therefore, the Soviet policy was to destroy capitalism, spread communism, and support communist or anti-Western revolutionary movements. This is what caused the Cold War. Each side engaged in deterrence, which is a defensive strategy that aimed to prevent an enemy from attacking out of fear of the consequences. Just like two friends who have problems and need to go over what has happened, and how to fix it and “make up” what has been done wrong, Kennedy and Khrushchev realized how much they needed to meet in person and go over the problems that their modern world was facing. Meeting in Vienna, they debated whether communism was destined to overcome capitalism, they
In autumn of 1962, President Kennedy was informed that there was a nuclear missile site on the island of Cuba, which is practically on the coast of Florida. This was a major dilemma, because it had recently been taken control of by a communist dictator named Fidel Castro, and it was now very obvious that the Soviet Union was getting involved. Kennedy was warned that as soon as it was finished, the sites would be able to launch nuclear missiles that would hit cities in the United States in a matter of minutes. Beginning a series of almost nonstop meetings with advisors, military leaders, and statesmen, there were many ideas of how to deal with the threat. Some said that it was time to take action, and show that the Americans were not afraid to take action to protect her people. Some argued that that would cause a nuclear war, because the Soviets would likely take it as an offense to them as well. Kennedy came to the conclusion that the situation was too short notice for a diplomatic solution, but a straight up attack on Cuba was too dangerous. He ordered a naval blockade of Cuba, to keep more weapons from reaching the island, and to pressure the Soviets to dismantle the existing missile sites. He said, “I call upon Chairman Khrushchev to halt and eliminate this clandestine reckless, and provocative threat to world peace.” He also claimed that the use of Soviet weapons anywhere in the Western Hemisphere would result in a