The Cuban Missile Crisis

1. The Cuban Missile Crisis

2. Definitions of the Crisis Today, it is known to Americans as “the Cuban missile crisis,” to Soviets as “the Caribbean crisis,” and to Cubans as “the October crisis.” At no other time in history has the world come so close to nuclear war.

3. Setting the Stage • The Truman Doctrine • The Marshall Plan • Containment • The Domino Theory • The Berlin Blockade • The Berlin Wall Why are these events so important when trying to understand the Cold War? Based on your knowledge of the Cold War, outline the reasons why your historical policy or event helped increase the tension at the outset of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

4. CMC Official Causes • Castro’s Revolution in Cuba • Deterioration in US-Cuban relations • Failure of Bay of Pigs • Secret Soviet-Cuban accord, August 1962: medium-range missiles installed and defended by Soviet troops

5. THE SPACE RACE

6. History of “Nukes” • In the 1950’s Britain, France, and the USSR all have nuclear weapons.

7. “Trinity and Beyond”Chronology of First Five Nations With Nuclear Weapons 1945 July 16 U.S.U.S. explodes the world's first atomic bomb, the ‘Trinity Test’, at Alamogordo, New Mexico. 1949 August 29 U.S.S.R.Soviet Union detonates its first atomic bomb, ‘Joe 1’, at Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan. It’s a copy of the Fat Man bomb and had a yield of 21 kilotons. 1952 October 3 UKFirst British atomic bomb, ‘Hurricane’, was tested at Monte Bello Islands, Australia, with a yield of 25 kilotons. 1960 February 13 FRANCEFirst French nuclear test occurs at Reganne, Algeria, in the Sahara Desert. ‘Gerboise Bleue’ had a yield of 60-70 kilotons. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1964 October 16CHINAChinaexplodes its first atomic bomb at the Lop Nor test site on the northeastern edge of the Tarim Basin in the XinJiang Province. It was an uranium 235 implosion fission device named ‘596’and had a yield of 22 kilotons.

8. The arms race begins…. • Both countries began developing their weapons so as to be able to ‘outgun’their opponents. This meant: • developing more powerful weapons • Having more of one weapon than the other side

9. WHY NUCLEAR WEAPONS? • Cheaper than having a large army • They were a deterrent. • The idea was to have so many missiles that they could not all be destroyed. If one side attacked then it knew that the other could retaliate. This was known as MAD – MUTUAL ASSURED DESTRUCTION. • For some the Arms Race was a test of the strengths of Capitalism v communism

10. “Missiles & Machines of War” USN F-8 Crusader SS-4 "Sandal" 1000 km USAF RF-101 SS-5 "Skean" 2000 km USAF U2

11. 1960: The biggest nuclear bomb ever built: “Tsar-bomba”, “Big Ivan”, “Kooz’ka’s Mother” (from old Russian proverb, much liked by Khrushchev: “We’ll show you Kooz’ka’s mother!”

12. October 1961: The world’s biggest H-bomb tested at Novaya Zemlya Island, the Arctic, explosive power – 57 mt

14. Why was there a nuclear arms race? USSR 76 IBMs 700 Medium range bombers 1,600 bombers 38,000 Tanks 12 Nuclear submarines 495 Conventional submarines 0 Battleships and cruisers US 450 ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missile) 250 Medium range missiles 2,260 Bombers 16,000Tanks 32 Nuclear submarines 260 Conventional submarines 76 Battleships and carriers

15. Gen. Curtis B. LeMay, Chief of the Strategic Air Command, advocated all-out nuclear war to destroy Soviet Union and Red China • JFK asks “If your plans for general [nuclear] war are carried out as planned, how many people will be killed in the Soviet Union and China?” • Answer: • 275 mln. instantly • 325 mln. after 6 months • Up to 600 mln. total for Europe and Asia*

16. The Bay of Pigs Invasion • The 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion was an unsuccessful attempt at invasion following the Cuban Revolution that saw Fidel Castro come to power • It was planned and funded by the United States • The invasion was carried out by armed Cuban exiles in southwest Cuba. • This action accelerated a rapid deterioration in Cuban-American relations worsened by the Cuban Missile Crisis the following year.

17. The Cuban Missile Crisis – A Chronology • October 14: U2 recon. flight over Cuba spots sites installing nuclear missiles • October 15: Presence of missiles is confirmed • October 16-22: President Kennedy is notified, EXCOMM is created and secret deliberations on what should be done begin • October 22: Kennedy tells the nation of his plan for blockade and quarantine

18. Range of Weapons

19. Chronology Continued • October 24: Naval quarantine begins and successfully changes course of many Soviet ships • October 25: One Soviet ship challenges naval quarantine; Kennedy lets it pass • October 25: At the UN, Adlai Stevenson directly challenges the Soviet ambassador to admit to the existence of missiles • When the ambassador refuses, Stevenson wheels out pictures of the missile sites

20. The Aerial Photos

21. Chronology Con’t • October 26: Soviets raise possibility for a deal: if we withdraw missiles will America promise not to invade Cuba? • October 27: Soviets demand that Americans also withdraw missiles from Turkey • Major Anderson’s plane is missing over Cuba, presumably shot down; U.S. recon plane strays over Soviet airspace • Kennedy tells Khrushchev that he will accept the proposal of the 26th, Kennedy tells his brother to tell the Soviet Ambassador that though the Turkey missiles would not be part of the bargain, they would be removed in time • October 28: USSR agrees to withdraw missiles

22. Why Cuba Mr. Krushchev? • Brinkmanship • An opportunity to close the missile gap—Currently far behind U.S. in terms of number of missiles • Protect Cuba – Castro had begun relations with the USSR • Reciprocity: The U.S. has missiles pointing at the Soviets (ie. Turkey)

23. Anadyr Planning The Soviet decision to place missiles on Cuba, 1962 In August 1962, a secret Soviet–Cuban Treaty was signed permitting the USSR to place missiles in Cuba. Over the next few weeks, the Soviets began secretly to deploy medium-range nuclear missiles in Cuba. 40,000 Soviet troops, anti-aircraft batteries, short-range battlefield rockets and MIG-21 fighter planes would defend these.

24. Anadyr required : 43,000 troops to defend Cuba ( all disguised as Cubans and taught some commands in Spanish) 164 nuclear weapons, of which (as was recently revealed): 42 were already put on intermediate-range missiles, ready to be launched at US targets 9 were on tactical missiles, ready to be used against an invading US force

25. The key reasons for this highly dangerous operation were to: ● Gain a base from which the US could be threatened by medium-range Soviet missiles WESTERN HEMSIPHERE ● Correct the strategic imbalance caused by the construction of NATO missile bases in Turkey, which could reach the major industrial and population centres of the Soviet Union ● Defend Cuba’s socialist revolution, since the Soviets saw the revolution as a major success for Marxism–Leninism, and its defeat would, as Mikoyan told Castro, ‘throw back the revolutionary movement in many countries’.

26. The American Response • Kennedy and Congress had already passed a resolution stating the placement of nuclear weapons in Cuba would no be tolerated • They realized they had to act quickly before the missiles were active • They had a number of choices at their disposal – This has become known as the “Escalation Ladder”

27. How was the Cuba crisis linked to the Berlin Crisis? An added dimension of this crisis was that Kennedy also believed that Khrushchev’s actions were part of a Soviet plan to put pressure on America to get out of Berlin. Kennedy said to British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan on 22 October, ‘I need not point out to you the possible relation of this secret and dangerous move on the part of Khrushchev to Berlin’; and to his advisers he pointed out that, ‘Our problem is not merely Cuba but it is also Berlin.’ This, of course, increased the tension further, as Kennedy believed that his decisions would affect not only Cuba, but also Berlin, and thus Europe.

28. The crisis took the terrifying form that it did because … of a simple American misunderstanding that can stand as a metaphor for much of the early cold war. • The officials in Washington thought that their Soviet opponents were playing a complicated game of diplomatic chess, with the various pawns on the international board – Czechoslovakia,Korea, Germany, Egypt, Indochina, and now Cuba – being subtly moved around to the calculate advantage of the Moscow principles. In fact, however, the Soviet leaders – first Stalin now Khrushchev – were not playing chess. They were playing poker. They had a weak hand and they knew it … So they bluffed. The outcome of the Cuban crisis would not have been very different if the Americans had realized sooner which game they were in; but the risks encountered along the way would have been much reduced. • Tony Judt, The Crisis: Kennedy, Khrushchev and Cuba in Reappraisals, Reflections on the Forgotten

29. Czechoslovakia,Korea, Germany, Egypt, Indochina, and now Cuba Korea Indochina Germany Czechoslovakia Cuba

30. 638 ways to kill Castro • Part of the operation Mongoose • The poisoned cigar • The Mafia ice cream plot • The exploding seashell plot and the poisonous diving suit plot • The paramour • The poison pen • Character assassination through LSD-like drugs or debearding

31. The Escalation Ladder • Do Nothing • Go to the United Nations • Naval Blockade • Strategic Air strike • Full Invasion of Cuba Which policy do you think the USA should have employed with the Soviets? In groups of 5 or 6 which I will choose – make a case for your option.

32. Why was “Do Nothing” not an option? • The Truman Doctrine prevented it • The weapons were too dangerous to American safety • Kennedy would be perceived as weak by the Soviets – This could empower them to make another move on Berlin or another contentious European location • Kennedy would be committing political suicide at home

33. PROS Using the United Nations for diplomacy which is good Validates the United Nation’s role in global politics CONS Takes too long Could appear indecisive Too many interest groups Russia and the United States both have veto powers on the Security Council – hard to reach a consensus Go to the UN? DECISION: Good option in conjunction with another choice

34. PROS Its not war and it is a show of strength without missiles A Naval quarantine is an effective way of turning away missiles CONS Puts the United States in direct confrontation with the USSR Sinking a soviet ship is an act of war Naval Blockade DECISION: Safer than an air strike or full invasion

35. PROS Will effectively knock out Soviet missiles Good show of American strength CONS When Soviet missiles are destroyed it is likely that Soviet soldiers will die as well – this is an act of war Strategic Airstrike DECISION: Option number two but would prefer not to use it

36. PROS The United States secures Cuba and ensures nuclear safety from the country The United States sends a clear message to the Soviets to stay out of the west CONS A full invasion would surely kill Soviet soldiers which would be considered an act of war The nuclear consequences could be disastrous Invasion DECISION: Too risky, can only be used as a last resort

37. What Happened? • On October 26 the Soviet Union offered to withdraw the missiles in return for a U.S. guarantee not to invade Cuba or support any invasion. • On October 27 the USSR called for the withdrawal of U.S. missiles from Turkey in addition to the demands of the 26th. • The crisis peaked on the 27th, when a U-2 (piloted by Major Rudolph Anderson) was shot down over Cuba and another U-2 flight over Russia was almost intercepted when it strayed over Siberia all the while Soviet merchant ships were nearing the quarantine zone. • Kennedy responded by publicly accepting the first deal and then sent Robert F. Kennedy to the Soviet embassy to privately accept the second deal. The fifteen Jupiter missiles in Turkey would be removed six months later. • The Soviet ships turned back, and on October 28 Khrushchev announced that he had ordered the removal of the Soviet missiles in Cuba. The decision prompted then Secretary of State Dean Rusk to comment, "We were eyeball to eyeball, and the other fellow just blinked." • Satisfied that the Soviets had removed the missiles, President Kennedy ordered an end to the quarantine of Cuba on November 20.

38. The rivalry of Personalities: Frame of Refernces • Be Khrushchev https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8hLWDdvBm8 • Be Castro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHVpuhApSC0 • Be Kennedy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJuKpf_8IJ0

39. Further Thought Was it really possible that the USA and the USSR would use nukes? How much of the threat was real and how much of it was fueled by the press and governments? Was this a defining moment in the Cold War? Was there a balance of power shift?