Decision making in the midst of a crisis is a vital and essential task that many elected officials encounter amid their time in office. The specific thesis that will be discussed throughout this text tries to draw upon particular concepts and ideas of foreign policy analysis, such as the groupthink concept, the individual as a decision maker, and rational choice theory to represent differentiating approaches taken to the Bay of Pigs Invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis in the midst of the Kennedy administration. In addition, it will hope to reveal the degree to which this evolution proved critical to the effective resolution of the 1962 crisis. Both, the Bay of Pigs invasion and The Cuban Missile Crisis nearly caused a nuclear war between …show more content…
Fidel Castro was the new communist leader of Cuba; the US wanted to take him out of power in order to present a non-communist government that supported the US. This was a failed attempt as the US’s level of involvement was automatically uncovered - which lead to inner allegations, the blame of the CIA by the general public, and the loss of the US’s reliability. The US’s strategy of the Bay of Pigs Invasion was essentially impacted by the beginning of the Cold War. From the US’s perspective, the reason for this invasion was to prevent communism from reaching the US nation. Also, some say it was revenge for the shooting of the U-2. Furthermore, the invasion was also a way to guard their supply of crude …show more content…
A state’s security much of the time lies on the capability of its leader(s) to manage it effectively through a crisis. GROUPTHINK Groupthink is a wonder that various scientists and researchers have reprimanded for imperfect choices and decisions amid the most recent decades. Groups tend to settle on most critical policy decisions as opposed to individuals; it is imperative to consider the impact of the groupthink concept on decision making in a crisis. Furthermore, when looking at both of the national security crises, the question of whether indicators of groupthink happen to be related to a poor quality decision making process will be examined. Amid the Bay of Pigs operation, the decision making process was of low quality nd brought about negative consequences, absence of accomplishment of the objective and no suspension of the crisis as a whole. The government at the time appeared to learn significantly from the Bay of Pigs Invasion experience, and subsequently the decision making process during the Cuban Missile Crisis was of much better quality and prompted positive results when the crisis ended – even though this was a pressuring time period that almost lead to nuclear damage. Presently, from this specific case, some may say that the government had gained more knowledge from their mistakes made in the past and developed into an improved group of decision