Cuban Missile Crisis What Happened

Cuban Missile Crisis

What happened during the Cuban Missile Crisis and why is it an important case of Cold War confrontation?

The Cuban Missile Crisis refers to a major confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War in 1962 regarding the deployment of Soviet-supplied nuclear missiles in Cuba.

The crisis emerged in the backdrop of strained relations between the U.S. And the revolutionary government of Cuba under Fidel Castro, who had developed close relations with the Soviet Union following a U.S. trade embargo and an unsuccessful CIA-sponsored invasion at the Bay of Pigs by Cuban exiles in 1961. The Soviets began to secretly deploy nuclear missiles in Cuba in 1962 assuming that a "liberal" America would take no action. The missiles, which placed most major U.S. cities within range of nuclear attack, were first discovered by U.S. spy planes on October 14. The U.S. military suggested an air strike on the missile sites but the advice was rejected by Kennedy because of the danger of a full-scale nuclear war. Kennedy finally decided on a naval blockade around Cuba; he went public on October 22, announcing the discovery of the missiles, the naval blockade, and warning of a "full retaliatory response" if missiles were fired from Cuba. In the tense days that followed, Khrushchev offered to withdraw the missiles in exchange for a U.S. pledge not to invade Cuba and to remove U.S. missiles deployed in Turkey. Kennedy privately assured the Soviets about withdrawal of missiles from Turkey but publicly gave only a non-invasion pledge. The crisis was averted when Khrushchev, also wary of the danger of a nuclear confrontation, announced on October 28 that he would remove the missiles from Cuba in return for a U.S. pledge not to invade. ("Cuban Missile Crisis, 2006; Hershberg, 1995)