The Cuban Missile Crisis
by Krysta CardinaleOctober 22, 1962, started one of the longest weeks in history. What came to be known as the Cuban Missile Crisis began when the United States discovered the presence of Soviet built missile bases on the nearby island of Cuba. This week, in early fall, was when the world came the closest it has ever been to nuclear warfare.
The evidence of the Cuba Missile Crisis was incontrovertible. Aerial cameras in the American Military reconnaissance planes made remarkable photographs of a medium range ballistic missile base which documents the Soviet Offensive build up in Cuba. The defense department said that there were eight to ten missile bases in Cuba.
This threat of nuclear weapons in Cuba was quickly recognized. Cabinet members, military, and congressional leaders were summoned to meet with President John F. Kennedy. Cuba’s secret missile bases were not the only concern. It was reported that Cuban dictator Fidel Castro wanted the US Naval base at Guantanamo. Fearing attack, dependents of armed forces personnel stationed at the base were withdrawn. Two thousand marines were ordered in as reinforcements. In a televised address on October 22nd, President Kennedy warned that the missile bases would provide a nuclear strike capability against the western hemisphere and outlined his plan to end the Cuban Missile Crisis, a “Naval Blockade.”
John F. Kennedy: “To hold this offensive buildup, a strict quarantine on all offensive military equipment under shipment to Cuba is being initiated.”
Kennedy warned that all ships bound for Cuba would be stopped and searched. Those found to have offensive weapons as part of their cargo would be turned back, by force if necessary. Despite the warning, the Soviet Union’s Khrushchev ordered his navy ships to stay their course. The world anxiously watched as the high-powered show down continued with all out nuclear disaster hanging in the balance. America held its collective breath as the President reiterated what was at stake.
John F. Kennedy: “Shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the western hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on The United States requiring a full retaliatory response upon The Soviet Union.”
As The Soviet ships with their nuclear missiles cruised full steam ahead towards the US Naval Blockade, the world braced itself for a deadly confrontation. In Washington, Kennedy’s staff worked round the clock in an effort to prevent an inevitably devastating war. Due to the dire nature of the standoff, The President requested an emergency meeting of The United Nations.
While the US agreed to talk, it stood firm for the removal of the offensive weapons. The Soviet representative, Valerian A. Zorin, announced he would veto a draft of a resolution introduced by the US, calling for the removal of the weapons. In Washington, the Organization of American States lined up almost unanimously behind President Kennedy’s call for the blockade. This extraordinary session demonstrated the greatest western hemisphere solidarity since World War II.
Fearing that Khrushchev might give in to the increasing international pressure and abandon Cuba, Fidel Castro mobilized thousands of Cuban troops. As Castro was fighting to keep his new missiles, Khrushchev unexplainably relented to Kennedy’s unflinching stance. In the 11th hour, the President received word that the Soviet Premier agreed to all of his demands. The Soviet ships were turned back; as quickly as the Cuban Missile Crises had begun, it was over. The Soviet leader had tested his younger counterpart, and realized that Kennedy would not back down. In a test of wills, the world two super powers had squared off at the Cuban Missile Crisis and in the end, the Soviet Union blinked first.
The goal was not the victory of might, but the vindication of rights, not peace at the expense of freedom, but both peace and freedom in that hemisphere. Washington and the rest of the world will always remember breathing just a little easier at the end of the Cuba Missile Crisis on that last Sunday of October 1962.
