The Cuban Missile Crisis

One of the biggest worries that the American government had during the 1950’s

and the 1960’s was the expansion of Communism. Therefore, the policy of containment was a key component of the Cold War and the overall attitude that the United States had towards the Soviet Union at the time. Even though Communism did not spread to every single corner of the globe one could still say that the execution of the policy of containment was a failure. In the Korean War the United States lost thousands of lives in an attempt to save South Korea from the Communist threat of North Korea. What simply began as a conflict between two neighboring countries grew into a full-scale war between some of the greatest superpowers at the time. As the Americans entered the war along with its allies from NATO it soon had to face the Soviet Union, China, and other members of the Warsaw Pact. Although the Americans were indeed successful  in their attempt to contain Communism they still had to pay a gruesome price. The worst blunder in the execution of the policy of containment took place in Vietnam. In a conflict that stretched over a period of almost twenty years the United States wasted troops, resources, and time in a hopeless attempt to save South Vietnam from the Communist threat that was being posed by North Vietnam. At the end of the war the Americans suffered a humiliating defeat, a defeat that would cost the Americans more than any other defeat they suffered during the Cold War. After their victory the Communist Vietnamese not only took control of South Vietnam but they also gained control of other countries in Southeast Asia. The Americans had feared for a long time that a Communist victory in Vietnam would result in the expansion of Communism in Asia and that it would lead to the creation of a Communist bloc in Southeast Asia. Now their worst nightmare had just become reality.

American Soldiers In Vietnam

While their execution of the policy of containment was not working too well

in Asia the Americans also had other countries to worry about. The Soviets were absolutely determined that their ideology would spread to all continent, and that soon other countries would choose their political system over American capitalism. One of these countries was Cuba, a close Latin American neighbor. After seizing power of Cuba in 1959, leftist revolutionary leader Fidel Castro aligned himself with the Soviet Union. As soon as Castro aligned himself with the Soviet Union the country of Cuba became highly dependent on the Soviet Union. In fact, they received much of their military and economic aid from the Soviets. Fidel Castro was very proud and quite open on his relationship with the Soviet Union. He believed that creating an alliance with the Soviet Union would help him protect Cuba and make Cuba a powerful nation. It would also give the Americans second thoughts about ever attacking Cuba.

Despite Cuba’s relationship with the Soviet Union, the Americans still did not

look at the small island as a menace to their homeland security. However, this all changed when the Soviets decided to station some of their nuclear armament in Cuba. These weapons were being placed at a launch point that was just 90 miles south of Florida. If the Cubans ever decided to launch some of these weapons they could have inflicted some serious damage on the United

States. Such an action represented an extremely aggressive move by the Soviets. Up to that point the United States had enjoyed an edge over the Soviets in terms of nuclear armaments for two reasons. One was simply because the United States had more nuclear weapons than the Soviets. The second reason was because the Soviets could not place any of their bombs at a place near the United States. However, the Americans had placed many weapons in Turkey and in western Europe. From there the Americans would fire and still cause great damage on the Soviet Union. Now that the Soviets were placing some of their bombs close to the United States they were trying to even out the playing field. They wanted to make sure that the Americans were not the only ones who had their nuclear weapons dangerously close to their enemy. The Americans were not going to let the Soviet Union get away with it that easily. They knew that letting the Soviets get away with placing missiles in Cuba would show weakness from their part. It would also cause the American government to risk the lives of millions of Americans. However, it would become very difficult for President Kennedy and his advisors to come up with a plan on how to force the Soviets to remove their weapons from Cuba. Doing so in a careless way could have caused great friction between both sides and led to the destruction of many homes and the deaths of millions of American and Soviet citizens.

At first there were many options that President Kennedy and his cabinet had

in order to deal with the crisis. One of the options was the direct invasion of Pigs Bay. However, they quickly realized that an invasion was costly, difficult to plan, and simply a risk that was not worth taking. One of the other options was to place an embargo on Cuba. In other words, the Americans would no longer let the Soviets ship any more nuclear weapons into Cuba. By stopping the influx of bombs into Cuba and establishing control of the nation the Americans were now able to show that they were in control of the overall situation. President Kennedy took it a step further by ordering the removal of the bombs from those sites and the destruction of the nuclear launch points. It was a bold move by President Kennedy, but it helped the Americans establish their supremacy in Latin America. It also gave the Americans back the advantage they had over the Soviets during the Cold War. Once again the Americans would be able to compete in this arms race while at the same time holding an advantage in the weapons being constructed and the amount of weapons that were being deployed within striking distance of their foes.

All in all, the Cuban Missile Crisis could have arguably been the single most

important event in the Cold War. It helped ease the tensions for once between different countries. It made Khrushchev and Kennedy realize that the absolute last thing they wanted in this world was war. In addition, it was a somewhat successful attempt at containing the spread of Communism in Latin America. Today there are more capitalist countries in Latin America than there are Communist countries. Furthermore, the result of the Cuban Missile Crisis is the reason why today leaders of Cuba and leaders of the United States are able to interact and conduct negotiations. It is the reason why we can still hope that the relationship between the United States and Cuba can be strengthened and fixed once and for all.