Process Paper
1
When we first began to brainstorm, we made the conscious decision to reach out farther than a literal definition of an explorer and instead wanted to focus on an encounter or an exchange. While thinking about significant encounters in history, the Cuban Missile Crisis popped into our minds. After gaining some broader knowledge on our topic through basic Internet and literary investigations, our primary goal developed into filling any gaps or discrepancies that we had missed in our research. Once we came across some profound documents stressing the achievements of John F. Kennedy, we narrowed the focal point of our research to include contrasting opinions of the methods the U.S. and the Soviet Union used during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Through this research, we explored how and why the United States government made the decisions that they did, as well as events that contributed to the different decisions made. For example, by chance we stumbled upon a drawing made by Robert F. Kennedy depicting the different approaches the ExComm members felt should be taken to control the missile problem. Right from the start, we knew that we wanted to create a website, because we are both strong writers and visually creative thinkers. Also, in a more practical sense, we wanted to be able to work on our project in any location or on any device without being hindered by the barriers of a physical presentation or a documentary. During the Cold War in 1962, increasingly hostile interactions between Cuba and the U.S., in addition to the failed Bay of Pigs mission carried out by the United States Central Intelligence Agency, caused Fidel Castro, Cuban President, to fear an invasion by the American government. As a result, Castro allied with the communist Soviet Union, whose goals were to spread Soviet sphere of influence into Latin American territory. The Soviet Union, with explicit permission from Castro, began placing missiles and other nuclear weapons in Cuba. When President John F. Kennedy and the United States government discovered the Soviet nuclear weapons, they completely understood how perilous the encounter was and thus assembled an elite group of men with a plethora of political views and experiences to form the Executive Committee of the National Security Council, or ExComm. Throughout the Crisis, this group played a key role in making important decisions for the United states and for John F. Kennedy. While many members had conflicting opinions about how to handle the situation,
description
This our process paper for our National History Day project
Transcript of Process Paper
When we first began to brainstorm, we made the conscious decision to reach out farther than a literal definition of an explorer and instead wanted to focus on an encounter or an exchange. While thinking about significant encounters in history, the Cuban Missile Crisis popped into our minds. After gaining some broader knowledge on our topic through basic Internet and literary investigations, our primary goal developed into filling any gaps or discrepancies that we had missed in our research. Once we came across some profound documents stressing the achievements of John F. Kennedy, we narrowed the focal point of our research to include contrasting opinions of the methods the U.S. and the Soviet Union used during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Through this research, we explored how and why the United States government made the decisions that they did, as well as events that contributed to the different decisions made. For example, by chance we stumbled upon a drawing made by Robert F. Kennedy depicting the different approaches the ExComm members felt should be taken to control the missile problem.
Right from the start, we knew that we wanted to create a website, because we are both strong writers and visually creative thinkers. Also, in a more practical sense, we wanted to be able to work on our project in any location or on any device without being hindered by the barriers of a physical presentation or a documentary.
During the Cold War in 1962, increasingly hostile interactions between Cuba and the U.S., in addition to the failed Bay of Pigs mission carried out by the United States Central Intelligence Agency, caused Fidel Castro, Cuban President, to fear an invasion by the American government. As a result, Castro allied with the communist Soviet Union, whose goals were to spread Soviet sphere of influence into Latin American territory. The Soviet Union, with explicit permission from Castro, began placing missiles and other nuclear weapons in Cuba. When President John F. Kennedy and the United States government discovered the Soviet nuclear weapons, they completely understood how perilous the encounter was and thus assembled an elite group of men with a plethora of political views and experiences to form the Executive Committee of the National Security Council, or ExComm. Throughout the Crisis, this group played a key role in making important decisions for the United states and for John F. Kennedy. While many members had conflicting opinions about how to handle the situation,
