Kennedy and cuban missile crisis 2011
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Transcript of Kennedy and cuban missile crisis 2011
QW 3-7-11
What two things changed the election of 1960 in Kennedy’s favor?
What did Nixon say Kennedy lacked?
Kennedy As President As Kennedy Entered the
White House, the nations dangerous rivalry
In the fall of 1962, the tension would reach a boiling point
The Cuban Missile crisis as the standoff came to be called was the most dramatic Kennedy faced
Crisis over Cuba
First test of Kennedy’s nuclear policy came just 90 miles off the cost of Florida
Crisis over Cuba
Few days before he took office, Eisenhower had cut off relations with Cuba because a revolutionary leader – Fidel Castro had declared himself a communist and welcomed aid from the Soviet Union
Kennedy Seeks Greater Containment
During his campaign Kennedy had criticized Eisenhower for not being concerned enough about the Soviet threat
He said the Soviets are winning the race for allies in the third world.
Kennedy Seeks Greater Containment He blasted
Republicans for letting communism reach America’s doorstep in Cuba.
So the Democrats would not be seen as soft on communism, Kennedy took an especially hard line
Kennedy Seeks Greater Containment
Eisenhower had relied on massive retaliation to deter soviet aggression but the Soviets had built their stockpile of nuclear weapons and had the long range missile to launch them.
Instead Kennedy developed the Flexible Response Policy Strengthen nations non-nuclear forces by
building a stronger military.
The Cuban Dilemma
The U.S. was suspicious of Castro’s intentions but nevertheless recognized the new government
Batista had been unpopular and corrupt and many Americans viewed Castro as a freedom fighter
When Castro’s government took control of three oil refineries owned by American and British firms, the relations between the two countries deteriorated.
The Cuban Dilemma
Castro also broke up commercial farms into communes that would be worked by formerly landless peasants.
American sugar companies which controlled 75% of the crop land in Cuba, appealed to the U.S. government for help
Congress responded by erecting trade barriers against Cuban sugar
The Cuban Dilemma
To put his reforms into action, Castro relied increasingly on Soviet aid
Castro’s charisma won many supporters in Cuba as did his willingness to stand up to the United States
Many other Cubans felt betrayed, they saw him as one dictator who replaced another
About 10% of the Cuban population went into exile in the U.S. where a counter movement began
The Bay of Pigs In the summer of 1960, Eisenhower gave the CIA permission to secretly train hundreds of Cuban exiles for an invasion of Cuba.
The U.S. hoped this would trigger a mass uprising against Castro that would overthrow him.
Kennedy learned about this operation 9 days after his election
He had his doubts about the plan but supported it
The Bay of Pigs On April 17, 1961
some 1400 Cuban exiles landed on the Bay of Pigs island, but nothing went as planned
An air strike carried out two days before had failed to knock out the Cuban air force, although the CIA had reported that it had.
The Bay of Pigs
A small advance group sent to distract Castro never reached shore, when it finally landed they faced 20,000 Cuban troops, backed up by Soviet tanks and aircraft.
The Bay of Pigs
The troops surrounded the exiles, killed some and took others prisoner.
Castro turned it into a public relations triumph with the media saying, “The North American mercenaries look like fools to our friends, rascals to our enemies and incompetent to the rest.”
The Bay of Pigs
The disaster left Kennedy embarrassed. He negotiated a deal with Castro for the surviving commandos and ultimately paid a ransom of $53 million in food and medical supplies
The Cuban Missile Crisis Castro had a
powerful ally in Moscow – Khrushchev who promised to defend Cuba with Soviet arms
The Cuban Missile Crisis
During the summer of 1962 the flow of Soviet weapons to Cuba including nuclear missiles increased greatly.
Kennedy first responded with a warning that the US would not tolerate the presence of offensive nuclear weapons
The Cuban Missile Crisis In October American U-2
planes provided the president with evidence that the Soviets were secretly building missile bases on Cuba and that some contained missiles ready to launch
The missiles could reach U.S. cities within minutes
But wait… why did the Soviets do this?
The Cuban Missile Crisis In 1961, one year prior the
U.S. had deployed 15 missiles in Turkey aimed at Western USSR cities including Moscow.
As a result the Soviets placed missiles in Cuba
On October 22, Kennedy delivered a speech to inform an anxious nation of the existence of Soviet missile sites in Cuba and his plans to remove them
A Blockade..kinda Kennedy ordered a naval
blockade of Cuba to stop the Soviets from delivering the missiles
Had to call it a Quarantine, as a naval blockade is an act of war
Also that the missiles already in Cuba needed to be dismantled
As the Soviet ships headed towards the blockade the US braced for war
The Cuban Missile Crisis Kennedy made it clear that
an attack from Cuba would be an all out attack on the USSR.
For the next six days the world faced the terrifying possibility of nuclear war.
After much deliberation between the Soviet Union and Kennedy's cabinet, Kennedy agreed to remove all missiles set in Turkey on the border of the Soviet Union in exchange for Khrushchev removing all missiles in Cuba.
The Solution
Soviet missiles were promptly removed from Cuba; in return
Kennedy pledged not to invade Cuba.
US also made a secret promise…
The Solution Privately, through secret talks between
Attorney-General Robert Kennedy and Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin, he also agreed to Khrushchev’s demand that he pull the U.S. Jupiter missiles out of Turkey (they were obsolete anyway).
The Soviets let up their pressure for Berlin; and a test-ban treaty was signed in 1963, but the nuclear arms race escalated.
One could say the crisis ended in a draw.