The thirty-fifth president of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy has been widely acclaimed for addressing many different conflicts and controversies. Fifty years later, John F. Kennedy is recognized for his achievements regarding civil rights and for his handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Kennedy is viewed as the savior of the world, having successfully prevented nuclear war between the aggressive Soviet Union, as history reports the story. This anti-communist, anti-Soviet president led the United States through a period of superiority against the Soviet Union after the president influenced Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev to remove Soviet nuclear missiles situated on the island of Cuba located merely 90 miles off the coast of Florida …show more content…
Following the country’s adoption of communism, Cuba became the subject of tremendous military aggression. For America, the communist transformation induced fear in the United States of the growing spread of communism worldwide. Following the Revolution, Cuban-American relationships dissolved. Relationships turned bitter as Cuba developed strong relationships with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and as the United States repeatedly attempted to assassinate Castro (“The Cuban Missile Crisis Timeline”). As President Kennedy was inaugurated, he approved a perilous plan to invade Cuba through the Bay of Pigs, Cuba. Although Cuba defended Castro and prevented a successful invasion, Castro sought protection from the Soviet Union (Bohning). In 1962, Prime Minister Castro and “Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev reached a secret agreement…to place Soviet nuclear missiles to deter any future invasion attempt” (“The Cuban Missile Crisis, October 1962”). Defense of the Cuban island was integral for the Soviet Union and Fidel Castro, encouraging the communist leaders to place strategic nuclear missiles in Cuba for defensive purposes. Nuclear missiles would function as a device to intimidate the United States and deter future attempts at invasion or attack against the Cuban regime. For Cuba, the missiles were a key development for the sake of national security, establishing Cuba as a stronger country against a superpower (Stern,