The Cuban Missile Crisis
The U.S.S.R. capitalized on President John F. Kennedy’s weakness to push the world to the brink of nuclear war.
In October 1962, U.S. officials discovered that the U.S.S.R. was building missile systems in Cuba, close enough to strike U.S. soil. For 13 days, Kennedy and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev faced off to see which superpower would flinch first.
The Bay of Pigs
In April 1961, three months after President Kennedy took office, a small force of Cuban exiles invaded Cuba at the Bahia de Cochinos (Bay of Pigs) to overthrow communist dictator Fidel Castro. The U.S. had pledged to assist the exiles with a naval fleet and warplanes, and Kennedy had approved the plan.
But Castro anticipated the invasion, having announced on Radio Havana that Kennedy’s recent State of the Union address indicated “a new attack on Cuba by the United States.” When the invasion faltered, Kennedy withheld the promised naval and air support, and all the invaders were either killed or captured. Humiliated, Kennedy had to negotiate for the captives’ release.
The Bay of Pigs debacle was the result of a lack of training, planning, communication, and equipment. This fiasco damaged U.S. prestige among its allies and increased tensions between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. It also enabled Castro to denounce the U.S. as aggressors and strengthen his ties to the Soviets. Soviet Premier Khrushchev saw this as a sign of Kennedy’s weakness and began planning to arm Cuba more heavily.
Signs of Weakness in Europe
Khrushchev’s assessment that Kennedy could be easily intimidated was enhanced at a 1961 summit meeting between the two leaders in Vienna, where even Kennedy admitted that Khrushchev had pushed him around. This emboldened the Soviets to tighten their grip on Eastern Europe, which led to the building of the Berlin Wall.
The Berlin Wall separated communist East Berlin from democratic West Berlin in East Germany. The wall stopped the desperate flow of refugees from the East to the West. West Berliners expressed frustration that Kennedy did nothing to stop the wall from being built. Even though there was little that Kennedy could have done since the wall did not justify going to war, the presumption that Kennedy allowed the wall to go up enhanced his reputation as a weak leader.
This prompted the Soviets to make their biggest gamble of the Cold War: installing offensive nuclear weapons in Cuba.
The Missile Discovery
On October 14, 1962, photographs taken by U-2 spy planes revealed 65 Soviet missile sites in Cuba. These included not only intermediate-range ballistic nuclear missile sites (IRBMs), but also surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) protecting the sites. These bases were capable of launching missiles that could destroy major U.S. communications systems before a retaliatory strike could be ordered. The missiles could also strike many major U.S. cities and kill tens of millions of Americans within minutes.
Executive Committee Meeting to Discuss the Discovery of Missiles in Cuba
When Kennedy received the photographs on October 16, he immediately consulted with his advisors and cabinet. A response to this threat was needed to both protect the U.S. and stop Soviet expansion in the Western Hemisphere. If Kennedy did nothing, then Americans would live under the threat of nuclear attack at close range, and the country’s international reputation would be permanently weakened. It would also embolden world communism. If the U.S. attacked Cuba, it could spark a nuclear war with the U.S.S.R.
Kennedy’s cabinet was almost evenly divided on what his response should be. Some urged an immediate air strike and invasion. Some urged having the United Nations impose sanctions on Cuba and the U.S.S.R. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy proposed a naval blockade of Cuba to prevent the importation of materiel needed to complete the weapons systems. Robert Kennedy’s proposal was based on a CIA report contending that a blockade would not ignite a war if the president could prove that it was a direct response to Soviet aggression. Perhaps more importantly, a blockade could give the Soviets the opportunity to withdraw on their own terms and avoid a direct confrontation.
The Negotiations
After listening to various opinions, President Kennedy delivered a televised address on October 22. He announced that the Soviets had installed missile bases in Cuba, capable of sending nuclear missiles 1,000 miles into the U.S. Kennedy warned that any attempt to place nuclear weapons in Cuba would be considered a threat to the U.S., and while the U.S. did not seek war, it would not tolerate the installation of Soviet missiles in Cuba.
To stop the missile installation, Kennedy proclaimed a naval blockade, or “quarantine,” under which all ships arriving in Cuba would be inspected by the U.S. Navy. The Soviets were given until October 24 to dismantle the systems already in place, and Kennedy ordered the military to prepare for an invasion if the Soviets did not comply. After the speech, Kennedy began negotiations with Khrushchev through an intermediary from ABC News.
Kennedy insisted that Khrushchev return to the “earlier situation” before the missile bases had been installed. As Soviet ships approached Cuba, Khrushchev warned that the U.S.S.R. would not accept the blockade. People around the world anxiously awaited a confrontation as the ships drew nearer.
On October 26, Khrushchev sent a secret message to Kennedy offering to withdraw the missile bases in exchange for a U.S. pledge not to invade Cuba. Shortly after sending this message, Khrushchev sent a second message demanding that the U.S. also dismantle its missile bases in Turkey. But Kennedy pretended not to have received it while accepting the terms of the first.
Castro urged Khrushchev to launch a “pre-emptive” nuclear attack on the U.S., but Khrushchev refused. The U.S. tried to negotiate with Castro through Brazilian intermediaries, but Castro refused. When Khrushchev agreed to dismantle the missile sites based on Kennedy’s pledge not to invade Cuba, Castro was enraged.
The Agreement
Ultimately a secret deal was struck, under which the U.S.S.R. would dismantle the missile sites in Cuba and the U.S. would not invade Cuba. In addition, a telephone hotline between Washington and Moscow would be installed to ensure better communication, and a nuclear test ban treaty would be negotiated. And the U.S. secretly agreed to Soviet demands to dismantle its bases in Turkey, mainly because the sites were obsolete due to advances in nuclear submarine technology.
Radio Moscow announced that the missiles in Cuba would be crated and returned to the U.S.S.R., and Khrushchev ordered the Soviet ships heading to Cuba to turn back from the U.S. blockade line. The U.S. blockade of Cuba ended on November 20. The “Cuban Missile Crisis” brought the world closer to nuclear war than ever before, and its resolution brought immense relief.
Aftermath
Kennedy’s handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis proved to Khrushchev that the president was not as weak as previously believed. The U.S. media hailed Kennedy as a tough young leader who forced the mighty U.S.S.R. to back down. However, little was mentioned about how Kennedy’s prior weakness played a key role in starting this crisis in the first place.
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a humiliation for the U.S.S.R., which had been goaded by Cuba into overextending itself and was forced to withdraw. When Soviet intelligence revealed that the U.S. Navy could have destroyed the Soviet Atlantic fleet in minutes, the U.S.S.R. began modernizing and expanding its navy. Moreover, intelligence from a Soviet defector showed that U.S. nuclear weaponry was far superior to the Soviets’, despite Kennedy’s false campaign claim of a “missile gap” in the Soviets’ favor.
The U.S. success prompted many Cubans to flee to the U.S., where many flourished in a capitalist economy while Cuba languished in poverty under communist oppression. However, it also caused the highest increase in U.S. military expenditures since the Korean War, and it emboldened U.S. military leaders to urge even more spending to stop the spread of communism. This, combined with Kennedy’s determination to maintain his new tough image, soon turned U.S. attention to Vietnam.
