1. The Cuban Missile Crisis By Mike Bruno, Pat Martin, Mike Bene, and Cameryn Richards

2. Fidel Castro Background: Castro was born in Southeastern Cuba and attended the School of Law at the University of Havana, where his main focus was politics. After his graduation in 1950, Castro began to practice law and became a member of the reformist Cuban People’s Party, called Ortodoxos, who were against the former Cuban President, Batista. America wanted Batista in power because he wasn’t a communist, and Castro had relations with the Soviet Union.

3. Political Reign Castro, as the undisputed revolutionary leader, became commander in chief of the armed forces in Cuba’s new provisional government, and became premier or head of the government in 1959 under a new president, Manuel Urrutia. After Urrutia’s retirement, Castro came to power with the support of the majority of the Cuban City Dwellers. He promised to restore the 1940 constitution, create an honest administration, reinstate full civil and political liberties, and undertake modern reforms. Once Castro was in power, he began to pursue more radical policies. Cuba’s private commerce industries were nationalized, sweeping land reforms were instituted, and American business and agricultural estates were annexed.

4. Since Castro took power from Batista, he established a relationship with the Soviet Union, making the United States very cautious about Castro and his policies. The United States wanted to invade Cuba at the Bay of Pigs using Cuban exiles called the La Brigada as expendable troops. The original plan and the counterattack were both destroyed by Castro’s troops, and had little results overall. Bay of Pigs

5. Because Russia was allies with Cuba, they stored their missiles in Cuba. In their defense for placing missiles there, they claimed that the United States had their missiles in Turkey, right besides Russia, so they put their missiles in Cuba, right beside the United States. The United States feared that another World War would start because of this conflict. Because of this, the United States quarantined Cuba to prevent any trading or potential conflicts. On October 16 th, 1962, the United States learned that the missiles in Cuba were assembled to fire at the United States. In a period named The Thirteen Days, the people of the United States thought the world was going to end because of the missiles. This fear went on until October 28 th, where an agreement was made that stated if the Russians took their missiles out of Cuba, the Americans would fall back on their invasion of Cuba, and remove their missiles from Turkey as well. The United States kept this promise, except for removing their missiles in Turkey. The Cuban Missile Crisis http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLxgeINIBEM&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1