The Cuban Missile Crisis ‘Within the Past Week Unmistakable Evidence Has Established the Fact That a Series of Offensive Missile Sites Is Now in Preparation on [Cuba]

CHAPTER 4 THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS ‘Within the past week unmistakable evidence has established the fact that a series of offensive missile sites is now in preparation on [Cuba]. The purposes of these bases can be none other than to provide a nuclear strike capacity against the Western hemisphere … It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union.’ PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY, 22 OCTOBER 19621 PAGES INtroDuctioN On 1 January 1959, left-wing The Cuban Missile Crisis was rebels under the leadership of an escalation in the tensions Fidel Castro seized control of between the two superpowers, Cuba. As Castro’s ideology and which one historian called the policies veered towards socialism, ‘most dangerous crisis of the Cold Castro drew the ire of the United War.’ 2 Only by standing on theSAMPLE States. Embargo, invasion and edge of the abyss could the USA assassination attempts followed. and USSR see that their rivalry Castro was forced to seek had taken humanity to the brink economic and military security of extinction. A period of détente from another world power: the followed, which saw greater Soviet Union. Soviet Premier communication between the two Khrushchev decided to install superpowers, and a tentative nuclear missiles on Cuba to step towards placing limits on the intimidate the United States. This most dangerous weapon mankind was the catalyst for the Cuban has ever devised. U-2 reconnaissance spy plane photograph of Soviet ships Missile Crisis. unloading equipment for a nuclear missile base in Cuba. 98 99 OVERVIEWOVERVIEW KEY QUESTIONS IN THIS CHAPTER / KEY EVENTS KEY PLAYERS KEY TERMS • When did Castro come to power FIDEL CASTRO EOMXC M in Cuba? colD war The Korean War • Leader of Cuba during the Crisis Short for ‘executive committee.’ • Why did the United States put (1950–53) TENSIONS The government body set up by economic pressure on the BETWEEN THE USA • Born in 1926; became involved in radical student The Vienna President Kennedy to advise him on Castro regime? AND THE USSR politics while studying law at university conference and how to respond to the deployment • Jailed after leading a raid on an army barracks • When did Castro adopt the Berlin Wall of Russian nuclear missiles in (1961) on 26 July 1953 socialism and request military THE cubaN Cuba. support from the Soviet Union? The strategic REVOLUTION • Released two years later, he organised a small army to take • Why did the Soviet Union deploy arms race (1 JANUARY 1959) control of Cuba. In 1959 his small group of rebels seized Havana DEFCON nuclear missiles in Cuba, and from the corrupt Batista regime Short for ‘defence condition,’ DEFCON refers to the five levels of how did the United States THE baY OF PIGS • Castro’s left-wing policies incensed the United States and forced readiness for war for US military respond? INvasioN (APRIL him to establish closer links with the Soviet Union forces. DEFCON 1 means the nation • How did the stand-off over the 1961) • Agreed to let the Russians install nuclear missiles in Cuba in 1962 Removal of is at war. During the Cuban Missile missiles almost lead to World • Castro continued to rule Cuba after the Crisis until poor health missiles from Crisis, the US Air Force was placed War III? forced him to step down from office in 2008. THE thirteeN DAYS Cuba and Turkey at DEFCON 2. • How was the Crisis resolved? OF THE cubaN The United States JOHN F. KENNEDY MISSILE CRISIS agrees not to ICBM (OCTOBER 1962) invade Cuba • Kennedy—also called Jack or JFK—was Abbreviation for ‘intercontinental president of the United States during the Crisis The ‘hotline’ ballistic missile.’ A missile with a D ÉTENTE: AN established • Born in 1917; served in the US Navy during nuclear warhead that can be fired World War II and then entered politics at targets on the other side of the AGREEMENT The Limited BETWEEN THE US Nuclear Test Ban • He won an extremely narrow election victory in globe. AND USSR Treaty (1963) 1960 to become America’s thirty-fifth president BRINKMANSHIP • During his term in office he faced a number of PAGESinternational crises: the Bay of Pigs invasion, the construction of The strategy of bringing your the Berlin Wall and the Cuban Missile Crisis opponent to the point of actual conflict, such as a nuclear war, and KEY EVENTS • He was assassinated on 22 November 1963 in Dallas, Texas. forcing them to back down in order NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV to gain an advantage. • Premier of the Soviet Union during the Crisis DETERENCE 1963 • Pursued a policy of brinkmanship with the The idea that a nation possesses United States over the Cold War hotspots of enough weapons, and the 1945 1961 5 AUGUST West Berlin and Cuba willingness to use them, to convince The Limited • Perceived as having backed down during the other nations not to attack them. 16 JULY 17–19 1962 Nuclear Test 1949 Crisis, Khrushchev was forced to resign in 1964 US detonates APRIL Ban Treaty DÉTENTE signed • Died of a heart attack in 1971. first atomic 29 AUGUST 1959 The Bay 16–28 S The reduction in tension between SAMPLE K bomb of Pigs OCTOBER two nations, taken from the French USSR 22 HISTORICAL INQUIRY ILLS detonates its 1 JANUARY invasion The thirteen word for ‘release’ or ‘relaxation’. 6 & 9 AUGUST NOVEMBER With a partner, create eight to twelve inquiry questions under the first atomic days of Fidel Castro F Nuclear 13 AUGUST the Cuban JFK is general heading of ‘The causes and consequences of the Cuban MAD bomb seizes power O bombs Khrushchev assassinated Missile Crisis.’ Keep your inquiry questions in mind as you read the Acronym for ‘mutual assured in Cuba Missile CUS dropped on orders the Crisis information and work through the activities in this chapter. Here destruction.’ The idea that in the Japan construction are three examples to help you get started: event of a nuclear attack, the target of the Berlin 1. How did the US react to Castro’s policies and actions in Cuba? nation will have enough nuclear Wall weapons remaining to destroy its 2. Why did Khrushchev deploy nuclear missiles in Cuba? opponent. This theoretically makes 3. What were the outcomes of the Crisis for the key leaders and nuclear war impossible, as neither nations involved? side can win. 100 SECTION A: COMPETING IDEOLOGIES TWENTIETH CENTURY 2: POST-WAR CHALLENGES 101 CHAPTER 4: THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS THE CUBAN REVOLUTION FIDEL CASTRO: ‘A revolution is not a bed of roses. A revolution is a struggle between the future and the past.’ BTA A IST ’S GOLDEN TELEPHONE Batista gave American companies a great deal of TROUBLE IN THE TROPICS freedom over the way they operated in Cuba. IT&T, an American telecommunications company that Cuba had been a Spanish colony until the Spanish–American War of 1898. controlled all the phone lines in Cuba, was allowed THE SPANISH– While Cuba technically then became an independent nation, it quickly came AMERICAN WAR to charge extremely high rates for phone calls. As a under the economic and political dominance of the United States. Under the Platt sign of their gratitude, IT&T gave Batista a working, Amendment, the United States reserved the right to intervene in Cuban affairs, gold-plated telephone. It now sits in the Museum of with troops if necessary, and supported several corrupt regimes. The United States the Revolution in Havana as a symbol of American THE PLATT also maintained a military base at Guantánamo Bay. In 1933, Colonel Fulgencio complicity in Batista’s opulence and corruption. AMENDMENT Batista overthrew the existing government and, as head of the army, effectively A TIVITY controlled the five-man presidential committee. Batista was President of Cuba C 1940–44 and, after a long stay in the United States, seized control of Cuba in CREATIVE WRITING 1952 through a military coup. This occurred three months before an election The year is 1961 and you have just been FULGENCIO BATISTA Batista feared he would lose. He suspended individual liberties and favoured appointed curator of the Museum of the wealthy landowners over the poor. Batista’s regime also brutally suppressed Revolution in Havana. Write the text for a sign political opponents. In a speech in October 1960, Senator John F Kennedy to accompany the phone explaining America’s SOURCE 4.02 3 exploitation of Cuba since 1898. This should be claimed that ‘Batista murdered 20,000 Cubans in seven years’. Batista allowed Batista’s gold-plated telephone. American businesses to control the Cuban economy and reap enormous profits. about 300 words in length. He also encouraged the Mafia to establish casinos in the capital city, Havana. While Batista had the support of a small group of wealthy businessmen and THE UNITED STATES AND SOURCE 4.03 plantation owners, most Cuban people detested the corruption of his regime THE ISLAND OF CUBA MAP showiNG and by the mid-1950s resistance groups had emerged. One was led by a middle- PAGES Cuba’S proXIMITY class law student named Fidel Castro. On 26 July 1953, Castro and a group of TO THE UNITED his followers attacked an army barracks. The raid was unsuccessful and Castro STATES was captured. After two years in prison, Castro was released and fled to Mexico. He founded a revolutionary group named after the date of the attack on the barracks—the 26th of July Movement—and started planning another attempt to overthrow the Batista regime.4 He returned to Cuba in 1956 with a small group of followers.

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