Cuban Missile Crisis :: essays research papers fc

The world will never be the same since October of 1962. It is now known as the Cuban projectile Crisis. The U.S. learned that the Soviets were building nuclear missile bases on Cuba because the Soviets wanted to adjacent the missile gap. Even though the Soviet Union promised they would non essay to place nuclear weapons in Cuba, they put them there anyway in hopes that the U.S. would non find out until it was too late to do anything around it. The ploy almost worked. The nuclear bases were very near completion when a U.S. U-2 spy plane discovered the bases. The world held its breath as these events unfolded sooner their eyes If any decision had have been different, it might have conduct to WW III. That is not a very comforting thought, knowing that we were so closedown to a nuclear holocaust. Many believe Kennedy made the correct decision, I stand with that group Others believe we should have conducted surgical strikes against the bases to show we would not tolerate a thre at that close to our own shores. Kennedy was probably conservative about strikes because of the Bay of Pigs invasion which had failed so miserably just a year before. The Bay of Pigs invasion was an attempt by the U.S. to remove Castro from office. We fortify and trained about 2000 Cuban exiles for this job. The hope was that a general rebellion would begin, and Castro would be removed from office by his own people and not by any United States personnel. What cost the success of the mission was that the U.S. neglect to provide air cover for the troops. Of the 2000 troops, 300 were killed and the rest were taken prisoner. Evidently, Kennedy did not want another Bay of Pigs, so he elected to demonstrate a naval blockade. He must have made the right choice, because we are still here today. An advantage that the U.S.S.R. had if we had not found the missile bases in time, would have been the first strike capability. This does not necessarily average the ability to strike first, nee dless to say, any country can do that It means the ability to strike first and disarm the opponent at the same time. If the U.S.S.R. had active nuclear missile bases in Cuba, many Americans feared that the Soviets could seduce an attempt take out our air bases without our even realizing it until it was too late.