The Causes Of The Cuban Missile Crisis

1882 Words8 Pages

The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 was a direct and dangerous confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Ultimately, this was the moment when the two superpowers came closest to nuclear conflict. This crisis was unique in a number of ways; it represented the convergence of several trends in the U.S foreign policy, one of which was the long time assumption of a hegemonic role in the western hemisphere. The dramatic crisis was also characterized by the fact that it was primarily played out at the White House and the Kremlin level with relatively little input from the respective bureaucracies typically involved in the foreign policy process. However, the Soviet Unions demand to have an important …show more content…

Both countries began to view each other with suspicion; primarily because Cuba felt the United States was exercising unfair economic hardship on Havana, and because the US felt Castro was leading towards communist ties. This was not helped by the United States image of the Castro regime, which Eisenhower felt was one of a repressive communist dictatorship that is aggressive, expansionistic, and hostile to U.S interest . Ironically, Eisenhower’s administration welcomed Castro’s revolution initially, as Batista’s regime was known for its brutal dictatorship and …show more content…

The realization of nuclear war, in many ways, was a wake up call for America, the Soviets and the world. Certainly, both countries contributed to the causes of the Cuban Missile crisis, but it is hard to argue that both superpowers anticipated such a crisis. The nationalization of American Companies, the Bay of Pigs fiasco and the discovery of suspected missiles in Cuba by US spy planes were the main contributors to the Cuban Missile crisis. Luckily for the two superpowers, they were able to come to an agreement in which Khrushchev proposed to destroy his nuclear capabilities if America withdrew their missiles from Turkey. If this had not been reached, the picture today would be bleak. Therefore, there is no doubt that these causes led to the Cuban Missile crisis