The Cuban Missile Crisis

1. The Cuban Missile Crisis

2. Memo from the CIA on the Bay of Pigs Invasion (1961) J.D. Esterline became director of a task force to direct the Cuban project on January 18, 1960. He reported to Richard M. Bissell, although Bissell's principal aide, Tracy Barnes, acted for Bissell about 50 percent of the time. This memo outlined the preparations for military action against Cuba. “The question of whether the incoming administration of President-Elect Kennedy will concur in the conduct of the strike operations outlined above needs to be resolved at the earliest possible time.” “Recommendation. That the strike operation be conducted in the latter half of February, and not later than 1 March, 1961.” Esterline Barnes Bissell

3. Memo from the CIA on an Invasion of Cuba (1961) • In the minutes from a meeting to discuss possible action in Cuba, again the desire to learn what the Kennedy Administration’s stand would be on action in Cuba is emphasized. • It also expresses a reluctance to land U.S. forces in Cuba. • “Mr. Mann said… he had talked with members of the Latin American diplomatic corps and had indicated to them that the (US) wanted to know whether the OAS system could prevent Castro's exportation of communism… They wanted to know first where the Kennedy administration and the Quadros administration would stand.” • “The Secretary then commented on the enormous implications of putting U.S. forces ashore in Cuba and said we should consider everything short of this, including rough stuff, before doing so.”

4. Bay of Pigs Map

5. Joint Chiefs of Staff Conference with President Kennedy (January 1961) • Once Kennedy was in office, the looming threat of Cuba had to be dealt with. • This memo discusses the looming threat in Cuba and the need to take strong action soon. • “The President asked what the Chiefs think should be done regarding Cuba. General Lemnitzer replied, recalling that the initial plans were for clandestine operations… the clandestine forces are not strong enough.” • “General Decker added that this action should be taken under a recognized Cuban leader, and, unfortunately, we do not have one at present… Admiral Burke agreed that there is lack of a leader to rally around, and that we need somebody to fill this role.” • In the audio clip, Kennedy expresses the intent of his administration to fight Communism in the western hemisphere. Kennedy on The Bay of Pigs

6. Ernesto Che Guevara: Mobilizing the Masses for the Invasion (28 March 1961) • This speech was made to sugar workers in Santa Clara twenty days before the Bay of Pigs invasion. • “We have to remind ourselves of this at every moment: that we are in a war… where the two adversaries - this tiny champion of the Caribbean and the immense imperialist hyena - are face to face and aware that one of them is going to end up dead in the fight.” • “It will mean the beginning of the end of colonial domination in America, that is, the definitive beginning of the end for North American imperialism.” • “The murder of Patrice Lumumba is an example of what the empire is capable of when the struggle against it is carried on in a firm and sustained way. Imperialism must be struck on the snout once, and again, and then again, in an infinite succession of blows and counter-blows. That is the only way the people can win their real independence.” Guevara Lumumba

7. Fidel Castro: Second Declaration of Havana (4 February 1962) • The Cuban Revolution of 1959 was a broadly based nationalist revolution against a corrupt government. • It was lead by Fidel Castro. He apparently had the support of most Cubans in his broad based "provisional government". • By 1962, after the US began to give "covert" assistance to Cuban exiles opposing the revolution, Castro had adopted Marxism-Leninism as the ideology of the Cuban Revolution. • “What is Cuba's history but that of Latin America? What is the history of Latin America but the history of Asia, Africa, and Oceania? And what is the history of all these peoples but the history of the cruelest exploitation of the world by imperialism?”

8. A. Adzhubei: Account of Visit to Washington to the CPSU (12 March 1962) • This memo outlines a conversation Adzhubei had with President Kennedy regarding Cuba. • “(Kennedy) paused a little and said: ‘How is Che Guevara?’ I answered that he didn't seem to look bad, although I didn't see him often, and asked him in turn, why was the president suddenly interested in one of the participants of the Cuban revolution? ‘I read some dispatches to the press,’ answered Kennedy. In turnI remarked: ‘You are interested in the events in Cuba, that is your right. But when we read that the USA plans to invade Cuba, we don't think that this is your right.’ ‘We are not planning an invasion of Cuba,’ Kennedy answered…” • “…Kennedy remarked sharply: ‘We will not meddle with events in Cuba.’ ‘It's a very big shame, Mister President,’ I said to him, ‘that your words are not allowed to be published in the newspapers.’

9. Malinovsky & Zakharov: Memo on Deployment of Soviet Forces to Cuba (24 May 1962) Malinovsky • This memo was the first general plan for the deployment of Soviet nuclear missiles to Cuba prepared by the General Staff, in response to a request by Khrushchev. • It was discussed at a CPSU Presidium (Politburo) and unanimously approved. • “The Ministry of Defense proposes…to deploy on the island of Cuba a Group of Soviet Forces comprising all branches of the Armed Forces…” • “To send as part of the Group of Forces in Cuba in July-August…Two regiments of FKR (16 launchers) with PRTB, with their missiles and 5 special [Trans: nuclear] warheads for each launcher. Range of the FKR is up to 180 km.” Zakharov

10. President John F. Kennedy: Statement on Cuba (September 4, 1962) • JFK states that the Soviet Union is aiding the Communists in Cuba, but they have yet to violate any treaties. • “Information has reached this Government in the last four days from a variety of sources which establishes without doubt that the Soviets have provided the Cuban Government with a number of anti-aircraft defense missiles… extensive radar and other electronic equipment… (and) several Soviet-made motor torpedo boats carrying ship-to-ship guided missiles…” • “There is no evidence of any organized combat force in Cuba from any Soviet bloc country; of military bases provided to Russia; of a violation of the 1934 treaty relating to Guantanamo; of the presence of offensive ground-to-ground missiles; or of other significant offensive capability either in Cuban hands or under Soviet direction and guidance. Were it to be otherwise, the gravest issues would arise.”

11. Malinovsky & Zakharov: Soviet Memo Authorizing Use of Nuclear Weapons in Cuba (8 September 1962) “To the Commander of the Group of Soviet Forces in Cuba: For the purpose of strengthening of the Group of Soviet Forces in Cuba and increasing [its] capability to fight against the enemy landing, [we] are sending you additional means: • squadron of plane-carriers IL-28 (6 planes and 6 nuclear bombs407 H) with PRTB • three battalions of "Luna" (6 launchers, 12 missiles, 12 special warheads and 24 conventional missiles) with PTRB In a situation of an enemy landing on the island of Cuba… when the destruction of the enemy is delaying [further actions] and there is no possibility of receiving instructions from the USSR Ministry of Defense, you are permitted to make your own decision and to use the nuclear means of the "Luna," IL-28 or FKR-1 as instruments of local warfare for the destruction of the enemy on land and along the coast in order to achieve the complete destruction of the invaders on the Cuban territory and to defend the Republic of Cuba.”

12. Soviet Missile Installation in Cuba (1962) Low-level photograph of 6 Frog (Luna) missile transporters under a tree at a military camp near Remedios

13. Ranges of Nuclear Missile Launches from Cuba

14. Soviet Statement on Potential Cuban Attack by U.S. (11 September 1962) • In this statement issued by the Soviet government, they express their concern over the calling-up of US reservists. • They state that any action in Cuba would lead to a nuclear confrontation while maintaining their motivations for peace. • “The Government of the U.S.S.R. deems it necessary to draw the attention of the governments of all countries and world opinion to the provocations the United States Government is now staging, provocations which might plunge the world into the disaster (of) a universal world war with the use of thermonuclear weapons.” • “The President of the United States asked Congress to permit the call-up of 150,000 reservists to the armed forces…Such a step… cannot be assessed otherwise than a screen for aggressive plans and intentions of the United States itself … This is a provocation against the peace, this is done in the interests of war, in the interests of aggression.”

15. Director of Central Intelligence McCone: Memo (11 October 1962) • This memo details information regarding intelligence photographs of Soviet bombers being transported to Cuba. • Concern is expressed by the President regarding the dissemination of this information to the public prior to the election. • “I then showed the President photographs of the crates which presumably… were carrying… Soviet medium bombers, and were deck loaded on a ship which had arrived in Havana in the early days of October. The President requested that such information be withheld at least until after elections as if the information got into the press, a new and more violent Cuban issue would be injected into the campaign and this would seriously affect his independence of action. “

16. Malinovsky: USSR, directive, TOP SECRET Order to Pliyev (22 October 1962) • This is a Top Secret Russian military order to increase combat readiness in Cuba to assist the Cuban Army in the event of a US invasion. “TROSTNIK -to comrade PAVLOV In connection with possible landing on Cuba of Americans participating in maneuvers in the Caribbean Sea, undertake urgent measures to increase combat readiness and to repel the enemy by joint efforts of the Cuban Army and all Soviet troop units, excluding Statsenko's weapons and all of Beloborodov's cargo.” Pliyev

17. JFK: Letter to Chairman Khrushchev (22 October 1962) • In this letter to Chairman Khrushchev Kennedy states the US position on Berlin and Cuba. • The President expresses his desire for a peaceful resolution, but insists that action will be taken if necessary. • “The United States could not tolerate any action on your part which in a major way disturbed the existing over-all balance of power in the world.” • “I publicly stated that if certain developments in Cuba took place, the United States would do whatever must be done to protect its own security and that of its allies.” • “I hope that your Government will refrain from any action which would widen or deepen this already grave crisis and that we can agree to resume the path of peaceful negotiation.”

18. JFK: Report to the American People on the Soviet Arms Buildup in Cuba (22 October 1962) Questions to consider: • 1)What does Kennedy claim is the purpose of the missile bases on Cuba? • 2)What did the U.S.S.R. claim was the type of aide they were providing Cuba? • 3)What steps did Kennedy authorize to be taken? • 4)What does he state will be the result of a missile attack by Cuba on any nation in the western hemisphere? • 5)What does he call upon Khrushchev to do? This was the announcement made to the public by Kennedy on the build-up of Soviet arms in Cuba.

19. Chairman Khrushchev: Letter to President Kennedy (24 October 1962) • In Khrushchev’s response to President Kennedy’s letter, the Chairman outlines the reasons for his refusal to submit to the President’s “arbitrary demands.” • “Just imagine, Mr. President, that we had presented you with the conditions of an ultimatum which you have presented us by your action. How would you have reacted to this? I think that you would have been indignant at such a step on our part.” • “You, Mr. President, are not declaring a quarantine, but rather are setting forth an ultimatum and threatening that if we do not give in to your demands you will use force.” • “The Soviet Government considers that the violation of the freedom to use international waters and international air space is an act of aggression which pushes mankind toward the abyss of a world nuclear-missile war.”

20. The Cuban Crisis (1962) Questions to consider: • 1) What steps did the U.S. take to hinder weapons shipments to Cuba? • 3) What does this clip claim Castro has been doing to prepare for invasion? • 4) What was Castro’s reaction to UN weapons inspectors? • 5) How was the U.S. able to determine that Cuba had missile bases? • 6) What organization pledged their support of U.S. action? This newsreel story details the events of the Cuban Missile Crisis to date.

21. Fidel Castro: Letter to Premier Khrushchev (26 October 1962) • In this letter, Castro informs Khrushchev of an imminent invasion. • He goes on to describe how it will be met by the Cuban people and makes suggestions as to the Soviet Union’s action in such a case. • “From an analysis of the situation and the reports in our possession, I consider that the aggression is almost imminent within the next 24 or 72 hours.” • “The morale of the Cuban people is extremely high and the aggressor will be confronted heroically.” • “If… the imperialists invade Cuba with the goal of occupying it, the danger that that aggressive policy poses for humanity is so great that… the Soviet Union must never allow the circumstances in which the imperialists could launch the first nuclear strike against it.”

22. Crisis Eases: Wary U.S. Awaits Missile Removal (29 October 1962) Questions to consider: • 1)Who is arriving at the UN to represent the U.S.S.R.? • 2)Who is the acting Secretary General of the UN at this time? • 3)What role is U Thant playing in negotiations? • 4)Who will supervise the removal of missile sites in Cuba? This is a newsreel story in which Russian Kusnetsov arrives at the UN and meets with U Thant.

23. Missile Bases: Castro Balks At U.N. Team (1 November 1962) Questions to consider: • 1)From where is U Thant returning? • 2)What does he predict about the dismantling of missile bases in Cuba? • 3)When will the process be complete? • 4)What will happen to the missiles there? • 5)What does the Whitehouse announce about the Naval Quarantine? In this newsreel story, U Thant returns to NY from meeting with Castro regarding Cuban Missile Crisis. He speaks to press about his meeting and his findings there.

24. MultimediaCitation • Slide 2: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/CIAesterline1.jpg • http://www.cia.gov/csi/studies/winter98_99/page104.gif • http://www.cia.gov/csi/studies/winter98_99/page95.gif • Slide 3: http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/forum/castro.jpg • Slide 5: http://area51specialprojects.com/images/50large.jpg • http://www.earthstation1.com/pgs/kennedys/des-JFK_after_bay_of_Pigs_April_61.wav.html • Slide 6: http://www.msu.edu/~daggy/cop/images/00000130.gif • http://www.marxists.org/glossary/people/l/pics/lumumba-patrice.jpg • Slide 7:http://www2.chass.ncsu.edu/slatta/hi453/images/chefidel.jpg • Slide 8: http://images.encarta.msn.com/xrefmedia/sharemed/targets/images/pho/t059/T059107A.jpg • Slide 9: http://www.ets.ru/images/pk000083.jpg • http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=b87oc07vljo5?dsname=Wikipedia+Images&dekey=Matvei+zakharov.jpg&sbid=lc12a&linktext= • Slide 10: http://www.american.edu/media/images/Photos/kennedy%20speech.jpg • Slide 11: http://www3.hpu.edu/kalamalama/archive/2507/IMAGES/PHOTOS/A-bomb.jpg • Slide 12: http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/cuba_mis_cri/46.jpg • Slide 14: http://www.doane.edu/Dept_Pages/Education/Portfolios/Borer/New%20Folder/2.jpg • Slide 15: http://www.cia.gov/cia/information/tour/dcihall.html • Slide 16: http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resources/csi/glantz3/images/079.jpg • Slide 17: http://teachpol.tcnj.edu/amer_pol_hist/fi/000001b2.jpg • Slide 18: http://www.archive.org/details/1962-10-22_The_Red_Threat • Slide 19: http://www.pittsford.monroe.edu/directory/~decarlo/regents/Regents_Review/CWAsia.jpg • Slide 20: http://www.archive.org/details/1962-10-25_The_Cuban_Crisis • Slide 21: http://www.coas.uncc.edu/latinamerican/latinhistory/National/AgeBack/AgeBack2.jpg • Slide 22: http://www.archive.org/details/1962-10-29_Crisis_Eases • Slide 23: http://www.archive.org/details/1962-11-01_Missile_Bases