The Cuban missile crisis, 1962
- American´s supported a corrupt regime under Fulgencio Batista until the Cuban revolution in 1959
- Fidel Castro took over
- Aligned with the Soviets
- The Bay of pigs (Failed invasion of Cuba)
- 1962 Soviets begin to put Nuclear weapons into Cuba (Noticed by U2 spy planes)
The crisis
- The USA had 3 options:
- Diplomatic solution (negotiated settlement)
- A conventional attack (air attack followed by invasion)
- A naval blockade
- Robert Kennedy, attorney general convinced Security Council to go with blockade
- Ships turn around at the quarantine
- 2 Letters sent from Krushchev to Kennedy
- Brinkmanship ensues (U.N. gets involved)
- Russians pull out of Cuba in exchange for a removal of missiles in Turkey at a later date
- Directly resulted in the Partial Test Ban Treaty of 1962
- Creation of Hot Line (Direct connection between both leaders)
"It was a perfectly beautiful night, as fall nights are in Washington. I walked out of the president's Oval Office, and as I walked out, I thought I might never live to see another Saturday night."
Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara
Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara
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Summary
Fidel Castro gained power of Cuba and aligned with Russia. The USA tried to take Cuba back with the invasion of the Bay of Pigs but it failed. In 1962, it was discovered that Russia had nuclear weapons on Cuba. It was really tough to solve this situation without starting a nuclear war. But eventually Russia removed their nuclear weapons from Cuba and later the USA removed their nuclear weapons from Turkey.