notes
- American’s supported a corrupt regime under Fulgencio Batista until the Cuban revolution in 1959
- Fidel Castro took over
- Aligned with the Soviets
- The Bay of Pigs (Failed invasion of Cuba)
- 1962 Soviets begin to put Nuclear weapons into Cuba (Noticed by U2 spy planes)
- The US had 3 options:
- Diplomatic solution (negotiated settlement)
- A conventional attack (air attack followed by invasion)
- A naval blockade
- Robert Kennedy, attorney general, convinced Security Council to go with blockade
- Ships turn around at the quarantine
- 2 Letters sent from Khrushchev to Kennedy
- Brinkmanship ensues (U.N. gets involved)
- Russians pull out of Cuba in exchange for a removal of missiles in Turkey at a later date
- Directly resulted in the Partial Test Ban Treaty of 1962
- Hot line, phone that president could pick up and talk to leader of Soviets
Summary
The US did a very good job at stopping the spread of communism throughout the world but in some places they weren't successful. Cuba aligned with the soviets and joined the Communist regime. The soviets came as far as putting nuclear warheads in Cuba. The US found out through there U2 spy planes. The US decided that they were going to land on Cuba and liberate it until JFK pulled out at the last minute and did not provide air support to the attacking forces. He did this because he had made a deal with the soviets to take his missiles out of turkey if they took them out of Cuba.
Quote
"It was a perfectly beautiful night, as fall nights are in Washington. I walked out of the president's Oval Office, and as I walked out, I thought I might never live to see another Saturday night." -- Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, recalling the Cuban Missile Crisis
Subjunctive question
If the US hadn't intervened in Cuba would the Russians have bombed the US?