The Cuban Missile Crisis

4 Pages 1024 Words

The Cuban missile crisis was almost the start of a third world war. There were many events that influenced John F. Kennedy’s decisions. The reactions and results lead to a resolution. The United Stated learned that the Soviets were building nuclear missile bases on Cuba. The Soviet Union promised that they wouldn’t attempt to put nuclear weapons in Cuba, but they put them there anyway. They thought that the United Stated wouldn’t find out. They were wrong.
The closest the United States ever came to a nuclear war was under President John F. Kennedy. The Prime minister of the Soviet Union was Nikita Khrushchev who secretly ordered the nuclear warheads to be placed in Cuba. Khrushchev had promised, revolutionary leader, Fidel Castro, the protection of Cuba at all times of need. The United States feared that Fidel Castro would establish a communist regime in Cuba and because of this the United States implemented an embargo that cut off all forms of trade between Cuba and the United States. Cuba got aggravated with this and turned to the Soviet Union for aid.
Before any of this happened, the United States placed several medium-range nuclear missiles in Turkey. The missiles were across the Black Sea from the Soviet Union and were in sight to Khrushchev. President Kennedy was told not to place them in Turkey, but did it anyway.
In July of 1962, the United States found out that nuclear missile shipments were being made to Cuba. Khrushchev thought that the United States wouldn’t take any action towards them. Kennedy warned the Soviets about it. United States U-2 spy planes flew over the island and took photographs. They brought back reports and pictures of ballistic missiles and missile bases. The CIA found out that there were thousands of Russian military technicians that were in Cuba. As the days passed, the U-2 planes brought back more reports and photographs. The missiles that were photographed were placed within range of maj...