Inquiry activity on the Cuban Missile Crisis as part of Unit 10 The Cold War
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis is considered the climax of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States. The crisis, which occurred in 1962, consisted of a standoff between U.S. president John F. Kennedy and Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev over the Soviet plan to install nuclear missiles on the island nation of Cuba, just 100 miles away from Florida. The crisis elucidated [explained] the vulnerability of the United States to nuclear attack, an unsettling threat from a neighbor in the Americas.
Ultimately, Kennedy and Khrushchev defused the crisis with the following agreement: on October 28, Khrushchev decided to withdraw the nuclear arms from Cuba on the condition that the United States declared publicly that it would not attack Cuba and privately withdrew its nuclear arsenal from Turkey. Castro was unaware of those negotiations, which reveals the degree to which Cuba was viewed as a minor player by the Soviet Union.
Although the Cuban Missile Crisis lasted only 13 days, its repercussions were considerable. Having come closer to nuclear war than ever before, both the United States and the Soviet Union were more cautious about offensive deployment of nuclear arms during the remainder of the Cold War. The crisis also served to expose an American vulnerability to nuclear attack that had not been evident previously. Yet another consequence of the Cuban Missile Crisis was the economic embargo that the United States has imposed on Cuba since 1962.
Map of the western hemisphere showing the full range of the nuclear missiles under construction in Cuba, used during the secret meetings on the Cuban Missile Crisis. (Oct 1962)
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Think of the options available to President Kennedy regarding the Cuban Missile Crisis.
- diplomatic approach
- airstrike against the missiles
- naval blockade
Which option would you choose and why?
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A cartoon published in Britain 17 October 1962.
President Kennedy is on the left while Khrushchev is on the right. "Pruning" means "cutting back".
What is the message of this cartoon? Use details of the cartoon and your knowledge of the event to explain your answer.
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Read this excerpt on brinkmanship from the Encyclopedia Britannica:
Brinkmanship - foreign policy practice in which one or both parties force the interaction between them to the threshold of confrontation in order to gain an advantageous negotiation position over the other. The technique is characterized by aggressive risk-taking policy choices that court potential disaster.
Although the practice of brinkmanship has probably existed since the dawn of human history, the origin of the word comes from a 1956 Life magazine interview with former U.S. secretary of state John Foster Dulles, in which he claimed that, in diplomacy, “The ability to get to the verge [brink] without getting into the war is the necessary art...if you are scared to go to the brink, you are lost.” In response, American politician and diplomat Adlai Stevenson derided [criticized] Dulles’s “brinkmanship” as reckless.
Why is the Cuban Missile Crisis considered an example of brinkmanship? Explain.
