Comments on: Cuban Missile Crisis

By: cortiz

cortiz — Fri, 10 Jun 2016 03:41:57 +0000

Christine Ortiz
In response to the Cuban missile crisis the United States and the Soviet Union were in a way playing chicken with our countries. Khrushchev and John F. Kennedy became at odds when the United States realized that the Soviet Union had missiles capable of targeting United States cities stationed in Cuba. Do you believe the Soviets would have stationed missiles there if the CIA was not creating problems for Cuba with the Bay of Pigs and Operation Mongoose? These two interferences by the United States were in part, part of the problem. Castro was not backed by the United States and did not fall in step with the United States as his predecessor Baptista had. If Castro was more Pro-United States, is it possible that we would have never had the Cuban Missile Crisis in the first place? American interests in Cuba, such as businesses were extremely important and Castro was not one to be bosses around. In the article by John Swift, he explains that Kennedy was even more against Castro than Eisenhower was and pointed to his rashness in his decision making. This rashness could be attributed to his lack of experience in the area of military strategy. Eisenhower knew what the stakes were and decided against doing anything to stir up trouble between Cuba and the United States. Once Kennedy took office, it seemed that he was of the opinion that the United States was embarrassed by our lack of control there in Cuba. Kennedy flexed his muscles and was embarrassed by the Bay of Pigs fiasco. From there, Kennedy wanted to make it clear the United States was not powerless to do anything against Cuba. So, Operation Mongoose was put into place to disrupt the Cuban government in any way it could. It was not until the Soviets who decided to help out Cuba when they became staunch Communist. Do you believe Cuba would have stayed Communist if Kennedy had not made things so very hard for them? It is quite possible that we could have made in-roads into bridging those gaps and could have been more cohesive in our dealings and the United States would not have had a communist country so very close to the edges of this country.
I Pledge (377)

By: dwienkan

dwienkan — Fri, 10 Jun 2016 02:48:12 +0000

Brian I think this is a great slideshow containing powerful images and photographs . I enjoyed the helpful external links as well. Your layout is clear and concise and helps convey the seriousness of the situation. With nuclear bombs laying only 90 miles offshore of the United States, it is truly a miracle that a deadly conflict did not erupt. If I had been living at the time and had known about the situation I would have been terrified. I can only imagine the immense pressure JFK and his staff must have felt. However, the situation had begun, reached its climax, and was resolved before news of the crisis had spread, so there was no time for citizens to panic. Even the Atomic Clock was not changed to reflect the possible danger until after the event was over.

I also really enjoyed the political cartoons you included in the power point. They point to the constant and ever-increasing possibility for a nuclear war to break out. I found the vice cartoon especially interesting, as it shows the stress and pressure both sides were under to maintain control and influence of the globe. I pledge (Word count 192)

By: admin

admin — Thu, 09 Jun 2016 04:44:45 +0000

It is hard today to realize how close the world came to a nuclear war in 1962. Over the years, bit by bit, details of the situation have become known. In particular, the provocative role of Fidel Castro has indicated that, if not for Nikita Khrushchev’s unwillingness to accept a war (at the risk of his leadership role), a nuclear war would have occurred. Cuba might have been destroyed, and countries around the world would have been involved.

John Kennedy and his principal advisers–including his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy–knew that they could not back the Soviet Union into a corner. World image–a point covered in the Mastny article about the Test Ban Treaty and also one covered years earlier by George Kennan in his Long Telegram and “X” Article–was tremendously important in the communist (and noncommunist) world. So, the US found an angle to give Khrushchev a way to avoid failure (even if it was not a way to assert victory). It did not save Khrushchev’s job, but it did prevent a war.