Cuban+Missile+Crisis

toc =__**The Cuban Missile Crisis**__= The Cuban Missile Crisis was a conflict between The United States and the Soviet Union during the 60s. . The U.S. found out when a U.S. U-2 plane spotted missiles being built. When president Kennedy found out he met with his Executive Committee to try and think of a solution. JFK thought about bombing Cuba but ended up not doing it. After a lot of escalation Nikita Khrushchev made a deal with the U.S. saying that they would remove the missiles if the U.S. did not invade Cuba and remover their missiles in Turkey. This was the closest point to a nuclear war during the Cold War.

__The Start of the Conflict__
The U.S. and Soviet Union were in the middle of the arms race and the Soviet Union was falling behind. The Soviets could only attack Europe with missiles but the U.S. could attack the Soviet Union with missiles.The Soviet Premier Nikita Krushchev began plans to put missiles in Cuba in April 1962. Meanwhile Fidel Castro was looking for a way to defend Cuba after the failed U.S. Bay of Pigs invasion. Due to this Castro agreed to the Soviets building missiles in Cuba. After Castro agreed the Soviets then secretly started to work on the missiles in Cuba during the summer of 1962. On October 15 a U.S. U-2 reconnaissance plane spotted and took pictures of the Missiles being built.

__The Tension__
When president Kennedy found out about the Soviet missiles in Cuba he meet with his EX-COMM group (A group of JFK's 12 best advisors) to discuss what to do about the missiles. After a lot of discussion JFK decided to place a quarantine around Cuba. This was done so the Soviets could not ship more supplies to Cuba. Kennedy announced the discovery of the missiles on October 22, 1962. He also demanded that the Soviets remove the missiles and that it is a attack on the U.S. are launched from Cuba to the U.S. by the Soviet Union.

__The Two Letters__
On the 26th Krushchev sent Kennedy a long and emotional letter saying that the Soviets would remove the missiles if the U.S. promised not to invade Cuba. The next day a U-2 plane flying over Cuba taking pictures of the missiles was spotted and shot down during the morning. Kenndey's advisers said he should bomb Cuba now but he refused. The same day the White House recieved another letter from Krushchev saying that they would dismantle the missiles if the U.S. did not invade Cuba and dismantled their missiles in Turkey.

For a long time Kennedy disscused with EX-COMM what they should do and if they should agree to the letters. After thing about it for a great amount of time Kennedy decided just accept the terms of the first letter. Kennedy decided that the U.S. would ignore the second letter because they didn't like the terms as much as the ones in the first letter. He wrote Krushchev a letter and said the U.S. will accept the terms of the first letter. Krushev finally decided to agree and the missiles in Cuba were to be dismantled.

__Aftermath__
Kennedy and Krushchev were considered heros by making agreements right before it was too late nuclear war was prevented. Kennedy called off the quarantine of Cuba and the Soviets dismantled the missiles. Kennedy also made a secret deal with Krushchev to remove the missiles in Turkey. The missiles were removed several months after the crisis so that it didn't look a deal the U.S. made with the Soviets. The deal was never publicly announced. Krushchev was ousted from power on October 15, 1964.

__References__
Garraty, John A. The Story of America. Austin, TX: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1994.

Thinkquest 3/8/09 []

[] 3/13/09