The United States is constantly confronted with challenging issues in regards to power, foreign policy, and interactions with other countries. These issues have lasted from when the United States was founded to now. An example is in October of 1962. From October 14, 1962, to October 28, 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred. In May 1960, Soviet Union's Premier Nikita Khrushchev began to send ballistic missiles to Cuba. These missiles placed a threat on the United States. The United States had to make difficult decisions on how to stop the Soviet Union from advancing. In the end, they interfered with the Soviet Union by blockading Cuba. This led to a thirteen day confrontation among the United States and the Soviet Union, named the Cuban Missile …show more content…
Some were negative, but most were positive. First, one of the negative outcomes was the relationship between the United States and European countries. This is because the United States left them unknowing of what was going on during the Cuban Missile Crisis; a crisis that could have led to an atomic war. The next negative outcome was their relationship with the Soviet Union. At first, their relationship was a little unsteady, however, less than a year after, the United States and the Soviet Union signed an agreement to end aboveground nuclear testing. They also put in efforts to improve their relationship and prevent another conflict like that from happening again. Then in 1968, they signed a non-proliferation treaty. This meant that the countries could not increase the amount of nuclear weapons they had. Next, the United States power grew throughout the world. This was because they were able to avoid a nuclear war and get the missiles out of Cuba. Lastly, President Kennedy’s power grew. This is because he believed his predecessor, President Eisenhower’s foreign policy was incompetent, slow moving, and thoughtless. So he wanted to control foreign policy through informal contracts within the foreign affairs bureaucracy. President Kennedy’s foreign policy stated, “Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” President Kennedy was able to use his foreign policy to get the United States out what could have been a nuclear war. This caused President Kennedy to gain more popularity and power because he was able to avoid a war and make a compromise with Russia. He also rejected advice on going to war and destruction from many American people and showed them that he could create positive outcomes. After the Cuban Missile Crisis,