The Cuban Missile Crisis During The Cold War

The Cuban Missile Crisis Both the United States and the Soviet Union had strong military forces of aircrafts, ships, tanks, and soldiers. Both also had arsenals of thermonuclear hydrogen bombs that were capable of destroying entire cities and millions of people in an instant (Byrne 11). In addition to these weapons, both nations had intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that could reach around the world (Byrne 42). So when the United States found Soviet missiles on Cuba, an island only 90 miles from U.S. shores, it posed a threat to the security of the nation. So, over the course of thirteen days, U.S. President, John F. Kennedy and a group of advisors known as ExComm (the Executive Committee of the National Security Council) evaluated
Start of the Crisis In October of 1962, President John F. Kennedy was informed that a U-2 Spy plane had found and taken pictures of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba. Furthermore, “the photographs showed that the Soviet Union was secretly positioning ballistic missiles in Cuba, just 90 miles (145 kilometers) off the coast of Florida” (Byrne 8). The Cuban Missile Crisis was a moment during the Cold War, where President John F. Kennedy and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev confronted each other, each with the power of mutual destruction. If a war were to happen, that would’ve meant the death of 100 million Americans and more than 100 million Russians (“History of the Cuban Missile Crisis”).
Why it Happened
Before the crisis, the two superpowers were allies, united to defeat Nazi Germany. But after World War II, their connections soured, as they competed for allies, power around the world, territory, in space, but the primary source of conflict was the divided
Kennedy, and Soviet Premier, Nikita Khrushchev, confronted each other on the brink of nuclear war. When President John F. Kennedy was alerted that a U-2 Spy Plane had taken photographs of nuclear tipped missiles on Cuba, he assembled ExComm and evaluated options of how to deal with the missiles in Cuba. One of the main options was to attack Cuba in a bombing raid and then invade afterwards, but Kennedy declined and instead imposed a naval blockade. Khrushchev then made a deal with Kennedy, saying that if Kennedy didn’t invade Cuba, the Soviets would remove their missiles. They also said that they would do this if the United States removed their missiles from Turkey. Kennedy agreed and a full-out nuclear war was avoided. Also, as a result, the two nations established a hotline that would be used if any other confrontations came up and they could be worked out