Cuban Missile Crisis

Throughout the course of American history, the Presidents have had to make tough decisions that would ultimately make or break our country. The Cuban Missile Crisis was one of these moments in American history, John F. Kennedy's decisions ultimately saved the world, as we know it. Kennedy's challenge was to save the world from a nuclear holocaust between the Soviet Union and the United States of America. The White House responded to the challenge of Soviet missiles and aircraft in Cuba with a process for dealing with a forthcoming threat and the issues of a defensive war. Things to look at are what exactly caused the United States to interact in such hostile negotiations with the Soviet Union? How Kennedy was able to come to such decisions, knowing if he upset the Soviets there could have been a nuclear outbreak. How did these decisions prove to be the correct result? While making decisions Kennedy would have to choose the best one that was the most risky, but least likely to start a nuclear war. Although John F. Kennedy's decisions during the Cuban Missile Crisis were looked at as controversial, his decisions ultimately proved to be the decisions that best ended the crisis.

To further understand the Cuban Missile Crisis one must understand what caused the dilemma. One of the men behind the crisis is known as Fidel Castro; Castro quickly rose to power overthrowing the American supported dictator of Cuba, Fulgencio Batista. Once Castro acquired his power, he began to make Cuba a new communist nation in the Western Hemisphere. This worried the United States, having a Communist power so close to United States borders proved to be bothersome for the government and the people of the nation. Leaders like Castro who were extreme radicals could never be predicted and were always under the careful and cautious American eye. Castro did manage to sneak in a deal while the United States was not watching. He made a deal with a communist power the Soviet Union. He allowed the Soviet Union to harbor their advanced nuclear weaponry and space satellites on the small island only ninety miles away from United States borders; in return, the Soviet Union would buy Cuba's sugar exports, because the United States stopped all trade with Cuba cutting them off from their main source of economy. These deals went unnoticed for quite some time, and soon the United States caught wind of the transactions and they put their foot in the door. Their involvement would cause a long and brutal thirteen days of negotiation and strategic planning for both world powers. The decisions made in those thirteen days could have potentially ended the world, as we know it; each country had enough nuclear weaponry to destroy each other, and any countries bordering them. All it took was the will of one man to save two great nations and the world, John F. Kennedy.

The decisions made by Kennedy proved to be the ones that kept the United States out of a third World War that neither country was prepared for. The hypocrisy in the west was ultimately the cause of the tensions. The United States had intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM's) stationed in Turkey; these missiles were pointing directly at the Soviet Union. When the Soviets tried to play the United States game the American hypocrisy took full effect and demanded that the Soviets return their missiles to their homeland. The United States however never planned to take their missiles out of Turkey, still leaving the Soviets in a cause for concern.

John F. Kennedy's daunting task was to save the United States from a World War 3. In order to do such things Kennedy would have to remember that his actions represented the United States as a whole, and could potentially upset Khrushchev and the rest of the Soviet Union. There was a full debate within the administration, many tried to voice their opinions, and the decisions did however stay within the president's office . Kennedy was faced with decisions on how to deal with the Soviet problem in Cuba. These choices ranged from diplomatic pressure to a full force invasion of Cuba. Regardless Kennedy would have to make a wise choice that would have a high chance for success, but also not be too hazardous.

Kennedy had multiple choices and tools that he could have used to stop the Soviet Union and their brigade of nuclear weaponry. Kennedy's tools ranged from diplomatic pressure, to naval blockades, to even a complete invasion of Cuba using all military personnel. The use of diplomatic pressure was Kennedy's number two tool; it struck fear in the Premier of the Soviet Union Nikita Khrushchev. The United States used this fear to their advantage, the tried to make Khrushchev give into their demands. The United States demanded that the Soviets remove all of their intercontinental missiles without causing a public confrontation. In addition, the United States demanded that there be no military actions from Cuba or the Soviets, if there was a military stir up then there would be a commotion of "public emotions." Intense diplomatic pressure from the United States proved to have positive outcomes; the most major outcome was the public's ignorance of the scenario. Since the public did not have much knowledge of the situation, public opinion remained normal. This allowed the United States to choose measures that are more drastic such as an air strike of all the known Cuban missile sites. The United States Air Force would be the military force to carry out these air strikes. There was a problem, the Air Force did not know where all the missile sites were, and if they did not destroy all the missile sites then retaliation was very likely to come from the Cubans and Soviets. Kennedy was also worried because it was very likely that the Soviets had harbored nuclear missiles in their submarines, this would ultimately lead to a devastating retaliation. An air strike was out of the question even though many of the members from ExCOMM (Executive Committee) were supporters of the idea, but the Commander in Chief was not. Without the support of the Commander in Chief, the plan was out of the question. The next plan was a warning, by sending a message to Khrushchev warning him of the grave danger that he and Cuba were in maybe he would back down. This would not work; Fidel Castro was an extreme radical and would fight to the end. Castro would not quiver to the thought of the United States invading Cuba, because he knew that he had an entire Soviet army behind him, along with a highly skilled Cuban Army. Kennedy had to keep these scenarios in mind before making a decision. Instead of an air strike, Kennedy had the choice of a full-fletched invasion of Cuba fighting both the Cuban and Soviet military. The United States military was still recuperating after a brutal World War 2. However, the United States was not alone; remember the