America heading toward nuclear war...

The Cuban Missile Crisis

The recent events involving the Russian invasion of Crimea and the Ukraine by Vladimir Putin stir vivid memories for Baby Boomers. By placing military forces in a sovereign country, Putin has taken aggressive action which comes as something of a surprise to the rest of the world. This has placed America in a very precarious position. 

An equally nervous era occurred over 50 years ago when United States President John F. Kennedy faced a somewhat similar conflict with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. Let’s hop into the Wayback Machine and revisit the events surrounding the Cuban Missile Crisis.

This crisis consisted of a 13-day confrontation during the month of October in 1962. The primary players in this tense standoff were the Soviet Union and Cuba (on one side) and the United States on the other. This event is considered to be the time during which the Cold War came closest to turning into a nuclear war.

But let’s briefly examine what led to this tense situation. We can trace its beginning back to the fact that the United States had placed some of their nuclear missiles in Italy and Turkey—aimed at Moscow. These missiles presented a perceived threat to the Soviets.

To make matters worse, the earlier attempted overthrow of Fidel Castro in Cuba by the United States had failed. Then, in 1962, in order to prevent any future attempts by the United States in this effort, Khrushchev decided to install some of his missiles in Cuba. A secret meeting in July of that year between Khrushchev and Castro resulted in an agreement allowing the Soviets to construct several missile sites on the island, and that project began later that summer.

The United States Defense Intelligence Agency noticed what was happening in Cuba, and on October 14, 1962, an Air Force U-2 flew over the area and snapped incriminating photographs of the installation, which included medium-range and intermediate-range ballistic nuclear missiles at the site.

Although President Kennedy considered launching an air and sea attack on Cuba, it was determined that a military blockade was a better choice and announced that the United States would not permit any additional weapons to be delivered to Cuba. In addition, he demanded that the existing missiles be dismantled and returned to the USSR.

Kennedy held little hope that the Kremlin would agree to his demands and expected a military conflict in response. In fact, Khrushchev sent a letter to Kennedy on October 24, 1962, stating that the blockade of sea and air space constituted “an act of aggression that was propelling human kind into the abyss of a world nuclear-missile war.”

Fortunately, in a secret communication, Kennedy and Khrushchev initiated a proposal to resolve the crisis. However, during these tense negotiations, and unaware of the secret deal on the table, Soviet ships attempted to run the blockade. This served to increase tensions to the point that orders were sent to US Navy ships to fire warning shots, and then open fire.

The tension increased when, on October 27, a Soviet missile crew shot down a U-2 plane. This action could have resulted in immediate retaliation from Kennedy, but he decided to hold off and let the negotiations continue.

Finally, on October 28, 1962, Kennedy reached an agreement with Khrushchev in which he agreed that the Soviets would dismantle their missiles in Cuba and return them to the Soviet Union. In exchange, Kennedy agreed that the United States would never invade Cuba. In addition, he agreed to dismantle the US nuclear missiles in Italy and Turkey. 

The blockade formally ended at 6:45 pm EST on November 20, 1962. This crisis made clear the necessity for a direct communication method between the United States and the Soviet Union and resulted in the Moscow-Washington Hotline being implemented.

The world was watching America back then to see what we would do. Today, the world has its attention on Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin. Let's hope that Putin doesn't decide to escalate his aggression and place the world in an even more precipitous position.