Cuban Missiles Crisis 1962

Lesson starter:

In what ways were America involved in Cuba? (3 marks)

In this section we will…

• Understand why Cuba was a concern to the USA

• Identify the reasons behind the failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion

• Understand the events of the Cuban Missiles Crisis

I can…

• Answer an 8 mark essay question on the events of the Cuban Missile 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 1952-59• 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

• Cuba/ USSR become very close

EventsThe 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 1961• 1500 of Castro’s opponents

land at Cochinos Bay sponsored by USA

• 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• They had out of date maps• They were outnumbered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• ‘full moon’ issue• 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 and support

Why is the Cuban/USSR friendship a worry for

America?• Because Cuba is 90 miles from

America• USSR could attack USA from Cuba

EventsMissile 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 nothing2. Offer to remove US missile bases in

Turkey in exchange for Cuban ones3. Blockade Cuba (by putting ships

around it)4. Launch an air attack on missile sites5. Invade and Occupy Cuba

• Kennedy decided to blockade Cuba with US Navy

• Called it a ‘quarantine’• 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

• Khrushchev sent Kennedy two letters

• He wanted US missiles out of Turkey

• Stumbling blocks:• US Navy board a USSR

ship• US 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

• 1962-63 missiles removed

Results of the Crisis

1. Two countries had come extremely close to war – closest they had ever been

2. Direct telephone line set up in 1963 from Moscow – Washington DC to avoid future conflict

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

In this section we will…

• Understand why Cuba was a concern to the USA

• Identify the reasons behind the failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion

• Understand the events of the Cuban Missiles Crisis