Cuban Missiles Crisis 1962 Lesson starter: In what ways were America involved in Cuba? (3 marks) Today we will understand the Cuban Missiles Crisis
Background
By 1960, the two powers had enough nuclear missiles to wipe out the world They still worried this was not enough Each side created nuclear deterrents Making sure your side could still strike back even if they were attacked by nuclear weapons MAD – Mutually Assured Destruction
Cuba 90 miles off US coast Ruled by dictator Batista USA controlled Cuba during those years Batista’s rule became too brutal – USA cut off arms in 1957 USA helped put new leader Fidel Castro in power By time he had overthrown Batista, Castro was Communist
US/Castro friendship ended Castro nationalised businesses owned by US Castro blamed USA for Cuba’s poverty He asked the USSR for money USA refused to buy Cuba’s sugar – USSR swaps sugar for oil and machinery
Events The Bay of Pigs
The Bay of Pigs 1961 John F Kennedy was told of a CIA plan to overthrow Castro and gave it the go-ahead Disastrous
17 April of Castro’s opponents land at Cochinos Bay with arms given to them by US The rebels told the CIA that Cubans would join them to fight Castro and they didn’t Group are badly trained and poorly equipped They had out of date maps They were outnumbered 300 to 1 Within 3 days, all invaders in prison or dead Kennedy furious with CIA
Results of the Bay of Pigs Invaders had been defeated so easily that Castro was now more popular Castro saw USA as a threat and asked Khrushchev for help
Why is the Cuban/USSR friendship a worry for America? Because Cuba is 90 miles from America USSR could attack USA from Cuba
Events Missile Sites
1962 – USA keeps watch over Cuba CIA Agents report Soviet ships are seen heading to Cuba Ships being unloaded September – USSR admit supplying arms to Cuba Say they are for Castro’s defence only USSR didn’t need to launch missiles from Cuba – had ICBM
Oct 1962 Kennedy finds out Khrushchev lied U2 Spy plane sees rocket launching sites being built on Cuba Missiles could be fired at any American city Kennedy faced difficult decision Cold War was at it’s height – USSR seemed to be winning
Kennedy's Speech
Kennedy's options 1.Do nothing 2.Offer to remove US missile bases in Turkey in exchange for Cuban ones 3.Blockade Cuba (by putting ships around it) 4.Launch an air attack on missile sites 5.Invade and Occupy Cuba
Sources – p25 purple book
Kennedy decided to blockade Cuba with US Navy No guarantee USSR would tolerate this USA got nuclear missiles ready – unknown to anyone else Kennedy appears on TV Oct 22 to announce blockade Also asked Khrushchev to stop supplying missiles Told USSR he would regard an attack as the start of war
Everyone thought the USSR would not be given an ultimatum 24 Oct – 12 Soviet ships headed for Cuba turned round Work continued on missile sites in Cuba Krushchev sent Kennedy two letter He wanted US missiles out of Europe Stumbling blocks: US Navy board a USSR ship U2 spy plane shot down again No action taken by either side
Khrushchev and Kennedy had struck up a secret deal JFK would remove some missiles from Europe if Khrushchev took Cuba’s missiles removed
Results of the Crisis 1.Two countries had come close to war 2.Direct telephone line set up in 1963 from Moscow – Washington DC to avoid war 3.Test Ban Treaty – USA, USSR and UK agree to stop testing all nuclear missiles in the atmosphere (not by China or France) 4.Khrushchev thought Cuba had been a USSR success – USSR disagreed – removed from power 1963