The Cuban Missile Crisis

Government- The Cuban Missile Crisis

The great arms race during the 1950s and the ‘60s caused the conflict of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 which strained the nation and the world. The fourteen days that the United States government and the Russian government interacted emphasized the seriousness and the intense rivalry between the two super powers. The idea of a mass nuclear war, a third world War, or the wipe out of the whole population of Earth developed and loomed in the minds of the government officials who were involved in this crisis. In a memoir written by Robert F. Kennedy, the Attorney General during the time of the Cuban crisis, described the heated and disputed ideas and actions taken by the American government. The missiles
Therefore, the revolutionary uprisings and the conquest of Cuba by Fidel Castro, the communist dictator of the country irked the Eisenhower administration. A failed invasion of Cuba known as the Bay of Pigs contributed to the advent of the conflict. Presented during the Eisenhower administration but approved during the Kennedy administration, this attempted overthrow of Castro naturally and ideologically pushed Cuba to extend a hand toward Russia in hopes of protection. This newly presented opportunity for the Soviets opened Cuban doors for the entry of intermediate range Soviet missiles- 90 miles away from American territory, thus setting forth the full Cuban Missile
During a United Nations meeting, Adlai Stevenson questioned the Soviet delegate Valerian Zorin using photographs from U-2 carriers about the knowledge and the distasteful action of the Soviet Union. This open criticism and humiliation of the Soviet in front of the United Nations created a global crisis that U Thant, the acting Secretary General at that time commented in his October 24, 1962 address saying, “What is at stake is not just the interests of the parties directly involved, nor just the interests of all members, but the very fate of mankind…” Indeed it was not only the United States, the Soviet Union, and Cuba that were involved. The safety of the whole world involved. The South American countries gave full support of the United States, The Organization of American States, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, European countries, and two African countries, Guinea and Senegal, also gave the U.S.A proper supporting and legal basis of the quarantine. In order for the Soviet aircrafts to conduct a war strike, the planes would have to land in western Africa to refuel, revealing the importance of the African countries in an seemingly unrelated conflict. Without the whole support of NATO and other organizations, the position of the United States would have been undermined (Kennedy