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A Rhetorical Analysis Of The Cuban Missile Crisis

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History has a tendency to repeat itself. A prime example is the German’s invasion of Russia in World War II, which draws parallels to the Napoleonic conquest of 1812. Today this trend continues in Afghanistan. The current American situation appears to have come to a similar crossroad that plagued the Russian and British conquests that preceded it; and unfortunately, will reach the same result. The Cuban Missile Crisis was landmark event in human history, brought upon by geopolitical tension between the two global Super Powers in 1962. The current political rhetoric leaves me to speculate the likely hood of a similar situation arising is possible.
The Cuban Missile Crisis was the result of tensions that manifested after the Potsdam Agreement. …show more content…

Khrushchev demanded that France, Great Britain, and the United States give West Berlin to East Germany with in six-months (Belfer Center). After repeating letting the deadline slip, Khrushchev needed to reestablish leadership within his party and show NATO the Soviets’ resolve (Belfer Center).
After the revolution, Castro started buying mass quantities of small arms from any country willing to sell. The doubling of the revolutionary army was done amidst fears of an uprising that would remove Castro from power (Belfer Center). At first, Cuba was not interested in the global super power competition. Castro was even dismissed by the Russians, but as Cuba made reforms that striped land from American interests; the Russians took notice. As the political distance between Cuba and the United States grew, the Soviets seized the opportunity to establish a communist presence in the Caribbean (Belfer …show more content…

These forces were arrayed against a vastly more powerful U.S. nuclear arsenal of 203 ICBMs, 1,306 long-range bombers with 3,104 nuclear warheads, and 144 SLBMs—all told, about nine times as many nuclear weapons as the U.S.S.R. Nikita Khrushchev was acutely aware of America’s huge advantage not just in the number of weapons but in their quality and deployment as well” (Schwarz, 2014).
Photo from: Harvard Kennedy School, Belfer Center for Science and International affairs
I chose a map that was likely presented to President Kennedy at an Ex Comm. meeting in October, 1962. The projection depicts different ranges of Soviet offensive weapons in Cuba. Although not to scale, the 2200 nautical mile (NM), and the 1020 NM ranges show the expected range of a medium range ballistic missiles SS-4, and intermediate-range ballistic missiles SS-5 missile in 1962 (CIA). The 630 NM range indicates the largest round trip distance an IL-28 bomber could fly (Belfer Center). These weapons were dismantled and shipped to Cuba in one of the most well executed deception plans yet to date

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Khrushchev’s time in power is especially known for being the period where the maximum level of tension was exerted between the two superpowers. Indeed, the two times world war III was the closest were the standoff at checkpoint Charlie in 1961 and the Cuban missile crisis in 1952, which were conducted during his service as head of the USSR. During the Checkpoint Charlie standoff, several American and Soviet tanks stood 75m away on each side of the border, aiming at each other, for 16 hours, until they, one by one, left the zone. Such tension was repeated during the Cuban Missile crisis, which was due to the implantation of Soviet medium-length ballistic nuclear-warhead missiles in Cuba, within Striking range of the US. They led to the instauration of the Moscow – Washington hotline, often called “red telephone”, which was intended to be used as fast and reliable means for the two powers to share crucial information or to negotiate in the case of an emergency, to manage to avoid the accidental start of a nuclear war.

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The support for Cuba provided the Soviets with several political and diplomatic advantages, and became an immediate threat in the eyes of the American government. On October 14, a U2 spy plane flying over Cuba took pictures of potential nuclear missiles that were examined by many government officials. Eventually, the missiles were deemed not nuclear, but still capable of reaching the United States. Two days later, President Kennedy was briefed on the dire situation and immediately assembled the National Security Council to determine how to address the issue.

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America, fearing for their own safety, then put a quarantine around Cuba, not allowing any ships with weapons to enter. (Doc D) Tensions were high, with both capitalist and communist nations having the potential to launch a nuclear strike against the other. After some time, the Soviets decided to retreat. They removed their missiles from Cuba and the threat of a nuclear war subsided.

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John F. Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis John F. Kennedy acted to the best of his ability to solve the Cuban Missile Crisis, whether his powerful speeches, creating a committee, or his agreements with Khrushchev. The crisis began on October 15, 1962, when the Soviet Union placed nuclear missiles in Cuba, only ninety miles from Florida. The United States reacted by putting a quarantine, which did not imply a declaration of war like a blockade did, around Cuba. The Soviets then withdrew the missiles, ending the crisis. During the crisis, Kennedy took many important actions that led to the final agreement.

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Findings Analysis In 1962 nuclear war seemed inevitable to the world, it was the first time nuclear war was hanging on a thread. The Cuban Missile Crisis presented a threat to the world, in which the USSR planted nuclear missiles on Cuba. (Source B).America’s response was to threaten launching nuclear missiles at the Russians. Kennedy clearly stated that he is prioritising on the security of the United States and of the southern hemisphere.

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The Soviets did this to scare the United States, during this time the U.S. and the Soviets came very close to starting another world war. Luckily the Soviet Union agreed to remove the missile sites in Cuba. The Soviet Union chose to fight for communism, in the hope of spreading the Soviet Union choose actions that would make an impact on others

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The new Cuban government confiscated American-owned private property and tried to incite Communist revolutions in other Latin American countries. Castro accused the US of undermining his government, leading Congress to pass legislation in June 1960 enabling President Eisenhower to take retaliatory measures, including cutting off sugar purchases from Cuba and imposing an embargo on all exports except for food and medicine. In January 1961, just before President John F. Kennedy's inauguration, Eisenhower broke diplomatic ties with Cuba. (Schaff,

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Closer to the United States, conflict erupted in Central America as Khrushchev attempted to provide Cuba military weapons. This “was the moment when the two

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Firstly, Cuba and the Soviets already had a very bad relationship with the United States. Research shows that, “Another key factor in the Soviet missile scheme was the hostile relationship between the United States and Cuba.” (“Cuban Missile Crisis”) The quote makes the statement in the second sentence true. The United States did not agree on how the government in Cuba was run and tried to overthrow it before but did not win.

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the right to have military bases in Cuba, the right to intervene in Cuban affairs and granted the U.S. concessions to agricultural lands, mines, and public utilities. Castro was infuriated by the U.S. exploitation of Cuba because he noticed that while U.S. corporations grew rich, the Cuban people lived without land to grow crops on, lived in poverty, suffered high unemployment rates, and paid high rents and utilities. In order to better the Cuban people’s lives Castro realized that he needed to break relations with the U.S. in order to nationalize the Cuban economy by taking back the telephone companies, reducing electricity rates, and instituting agrarian reforms. Castro’s speech at the U.N. shows that Castro was always angered at U.S. exploitation of the Cuban economy, which illustrates that Castro planned to nationalize the U.S. economy and sever relations with

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After World War 2, relations between former allies, the United States of America and Soviet union, broke down and brought about an error, the Cuban Missile

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Late president Nikita Khrushchev (from USSR), agreed to assist Castro and took immediate action. He installed missiles in Cuba, which the US thought was a threat to the security of their nation. In summary, I think that this was a defensive move by the Cubans. I most definitely agree with

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The Kennedy Administration knew the Soviet Union was putting ballistic missiles into Cuba because they had pilots flying over Cuba. They spied on them by taking aerial photographs. This was important because of how close, 90 miles, they were to the US. US cities would only have 5 minutes of warning from the range of the MRBMs.

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I believe that Krushchev intended to erect missiles in Cuba to bargain with the USA, because they had the confidence and would have the possibility to gain American concessions. But this can be contradicted with

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The Soviet Union had always disagreed with the number of nuclear weapons that were placed strategically from sites in Western Europe and Turkey by the U.S., and they see the missiles in Cuba as a way to deter the U.S. from further action towards them. Another important factor in the Soviet nuclear missile plan was the bad relationship between the U.S. and Cuba. The Kennedy administration had already launched one attack on the country of Cuba with the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. Fidel Castro and Khrushchev saw the missiles as a means of preventing further attacks from the

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