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NYGiant
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Cuban Missile Crisis begins.
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The Cuban Missile Crisis begins on October 14, 1962, bringing the United States and the Soviet Union to the brink of nuclear conflict. Photographs taken by a high-altitude U-2 spy plane offered incontrovertible evidence that Soviet-made medium-range missiles in Cuba—capable of carrying nuclear warheads—were now stationed 90 miles off the American coastline.
Tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union over Cuba had been steadily increasing since the failed April 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, in which Cuban refugees, armed and trained by the United States, landed in Cuba and attempted to overthrow the government of Fidel Castro. Though the invasion did not succeed, Castro was convinced that the United States would try again, and set out to get more military assistance from the Soviet Union. During the next year, the number of Soviet advisors in Cuba rose to more than 20,000.
Rumors began that Russia was also moving missiles and strategic bombers onto the island. Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev may have decided to so dramatically up the stakes in the Cold War for several reasons. He may have believed that the United States was indeed going to invade Cuba and provided the weapons as a deterrent. Facing criticism at home from more hard-line members of the Soviet communist hierarchy, he may have thought a tough stand might win him support. Khrushchev also had always resented that U.S. nuclear missiles were stationed near the Soviet Union (in Turkey, for example), and putting missiles in Cuba might have been his way of redressing the imbalance. Two days after the pictures were taken, after being developed and analyzed by intelligence officers, they were presented to President Kennedy. During the next two weeks, the United States and the Soviet Union would come as close to nuclear war as they ever had, and a fearful world awaited the outcome.
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jahenders
Colorado Springs
CO USA
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Posts: 681
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Cuban Missile Crisis begins.
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But, in parallel with the stand off at sea, Kennedy used secret, back-room negotiations, performed by the Attorney General Robert Kennedy (rather than someone in national security), to make secret deals that weren't revealed until later. In particular, he agreed to take the Jupiter missiles out of Turkey in return for Russia taking the missiles out of Cuba, but it would be delayed a few months so it wouldn't be seen as the tit-for-tat trade that it essentially was.
I was reminded of these negotiations when we heard about Biden's pleas to the Saudis to not cut production until AFTER the elections.
Jim
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NYGiant
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Cuban Missile Crisis begins.
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The missiles in Turkey were obsolete and should have been removed months prior.
The White House pushed back against any suggestion that it made a politically motivated request; National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement early Friday that it was “categorically false to connect this to U.S. elections.”
Who ya gonna believe? MBS?
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NYGiant
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Cuban Missile Crisis begins.
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Most of this crisis grew out of the failed Bay of Pigs invasion. Recall that this assault against Cuba was formulated during the Eisenhower Administration. Kennedy realized that this operation woujld have started World War III if attempted, and at the last second, called off the air support.
I've always looked at this episode as Kennedy, a WWII combat veteran, using his experience to stop the plans of Eisenhower, someone who had never been in combat during his entire military career.
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George
Centre Hastings
ON Canada
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Cuban Missile Crisis begins.
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Saner heads did prevail and Khrushchev deserves credit for that as well. The back room negotiations were a diplomatic triumph for both sides.
It matters little if the missiles in Turkey were obsolete. The fact is that the US had missiles very close to the USSR homeland which was precisely the situation that had the US upset about the USSR missiles in Cuba.
It certainly was a tense period for me. We were sent home from school at noon on the Friday and told to "be with your parents".
George
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NYGiant
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Cuban Missile Crisis begins.
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George, recall that the Soviets were already ringed by Strategic Air Command bases since the late 1940s, and there was NATO's nuclear sharing policy. The strategic situation for the USSR was always bad in those days. The Turkish Jupiters were very slow to prepare to launch and that was very obvious. This is one of the reasons JFK gave them up so readily as well — they were going to be phased out anyway.
I don't know if I'd believe anything that came out of the Soviet/Russian archives about this.
We in the States looked at this as a Cold War maneuver to get the Allies ( GB, France and the US) out of Berlin.
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NYGiant
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Cuban Missile Crisis begins.
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A continuation of the topic....
In a televised speech of extraordinary gravity, President John F. Kennedyannounces on October 22, 1962 that U.S. spy planes have discovered Soviet missile bases in Cuba. These missile sites—under construction but nearing completion—housed medium-range missiles capable of striking a number of major cities in the United States, including Washington, D.C.
Kennedy announced that he was ordering a naval “quarantine” of Cuba to prevent Soviet ships from transporting any more offensive weapons to the island and explained that the United States would not tolerate the existence of the missile sites currently in place. The president made it clear that America would not stop short of military action to end what he called a “clandestine, reckless and provocative threat to world peace.”
What is known as the Cuban Missile Crisis actually began on October 14, 1962—the day that U.S. intelligence personnel analyzing U-2 spy plane data discovered that the Soviets were building medium-range missile sites in Cuba. The next day, President Kennedy secretly convened an emergency meeting of his senior military, political, and diplomatic advisers to discuss the ominous development. The group became known as ExComm, short for Executive Committee. After rejecting a surgical air strike against the missile sites, ExComm decided on a naval quarantine and a demand that the bases be dismantled and missiles removed. On the night of October 22, Kennedy went on national television to announce his decision. During the next six days, the crisis escalated to a breaking point as the world tottered on the brink of nuclear war between the two superpowers.
On October 23, the quarantine of Cuba began, but Kennedy decided to give Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev more time to consider the U.S. action by pulling the quarantine line back 500 miles. By October 24, Soviet ships en route to Cuba capable of carrying military cargoes appeared to have slowed down, altered, or reversed their course as they approached the quarantine, with the exception of one ship—the tanker Bucharest. At the request of more than 40 nonaligned nations, U.N. Secretary-General U Thant sent private appeals to Kennedy and Khrushchev, urging that their governments “refrain from any action that may aggravate the situation and bring with it the risk of war.” At the direction of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. military forces went to DEFCON 2, the highest military alert ever reached in the postwar era, as military commanders prepared for full-scale war with the Soviet Union.
On October 25, the aircraft carrier USS Essex and the destroyer USS Gearingattempted to intercept the Soviet tanker Bucharest as it crossed over the U.S. quarantine of Cuba. The Soviet ship failed to cooperate, but the U.S. Navy restrained itself from forcibly seizing the ship, deeming it unlikely that the tanker was carrying offensive weapons. On October 26, Kennedy learned that work on the missile bases was proceeding without interruption, and ExComm considered authorizing a U.S. invasion of Cuba. The same day, the Soviets transmitted a proposal for ending the crisis: The missile bases would be removed in exchange for a U.S. pledge not to invade Cuba.
The next day, however, Khrushchev upped the ante by publicly calling for the dismantling of U.S. missile bases in Turkey under pressure from Soviet military commanders. While Kennedy and his crisis advisers debated this dangerous turn in negotiations, a U-2 spy plane was shot down over Cuba, and its pilot, Major Rudolf Anderson, was killed. To the dismay of the Pentagon, Kennedy forbade a military retaliation unless any more surveillance planes were fired upon over Cuba. To defuse the worsening crisis, Kennedy and his advisers agreed to dismantle the U.S. missile sites in Turkey but at a later date, in order to prevent the protest of Turkey, a key NATO member.
On October 28, Khrushchev announced his government’s intent to dismantle and remove all offensive Soviet weapons in Cuba. With the airing of the public message on Radio Moscow, the USSR confirmed its willingness to proceed with the solution secretly proposed by the Americans the day before. In the afternoon, Soviet technicians began dismantling the missile sites, and the world stepped back from the brink of nuclear war. The Cuban Missile Crisis was effectively over. In November, Kennedy called off the blockade, and by the end of the year all the offensive missiles had left Cuba. Soon after, the United States quietly removed its missiles from Turkey.
The Cuban Missile Crisis seemed at the time a clear victory for the United States, but Cuba emerged from the episode with a much greater sense of security.The removal of antiquated Jupiter missiles from Turkey had no detrimental effect on U.S. nuclear strategy, but the Cuban Missile Crisis convinced a humiliated USSR to commence a massive nuclear buildup. In the 1970s, the Soviet Union reached nuclear parity with the United States and built intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of striking any city in the United States.
A succession of U.S. administrations honored Kennedy’s pledge not to invade Cuba, and relations with the communist island nation situated just 80 miles from Florida remained a thorn in the side of U.S. foreign policy for more than 50 years. In 2015, officials from both nations announced the formal normalization of relations between the U.S. and Cuba, which included the easing of travel restrictions and the opening of embassies and diplomatic missions in both countries.
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George
Centre Hastings
ON Canada
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Cuban Missile Crisis begins.
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The last paragraph may be dated. The US still imposes sanctions on Cuba that have seen it seek support from other nations like the USSR in the past.
I was not hopeful when Pres. Obama's attempts to normalize relations were cast asunder by the reversal orchestrated by he who we are not to mention on this forum.
Has Biden rescinded the move by the previous administration to apply the Helms-Burton Act with vigour? This allows US nationals, Cuban descendants or otherwise to sue anyone or any entity that profits by its use of assets seized in Cuba during the revolution. I know that my country and others have protested to the WHO because this action by the US government is considered illegal.
Certainly there is political unrest in Cuba. How could there not be? It is as the US hoped, that Cuba would implode from unrest caused by abject poverty directly related to the embargo.
George
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