The Cuban Missile Crisis

1. Kennedy described Wednesday, Oct. 24 and Saturday, Oct. 27 as the darkest days of the crisis. Use the information on page 350 to explain why.

These two days, being the days when there was a faceoff at the American blocade of Cuba and when there was an incident whihc involved an American plane beiong shot down, were the days when conflicts caused war to be as realistic of a possability as it ever was.

2. Do you think that nuclear war was ever a possibility in this crisis?

I think it was a very valid possability. Both countrys had the ability to devistate eachother, and tentions between the two were just about as high as possible without full scale war breaking out.

3. Is Source 26 a Soviet or an American cartoon? Explain your answer by referring to the details in the cartoon.

I would think that the cartoon was an American one, because the Soviet leader is depicted as sweating heavily, whale JFK looks calm and collected.

4. Using Source 27 list any evidence you can find for and against each of the explanations.

Why did the Soviet Union place nuclear missiles on Cuba?
To bargain with the USA
This is a likely reason, because it happened.

To test the USA
This is likely because at the time the US was not in very good standing with the world stage.

To trap the USA
This suggests that the USSR was trying to start a nuclear war, but because this never actually happened, it is unlikely this is a valid reason.

To get the upper hand in the arms race
This is a very likely reason because with the missles so close to the US it would be very easy for the USSR to launch an attack.

To defend Cuba
It is unlikely this was the reason because the USSR was makeing such a public deal about the missles being there. They were makeing a statement of somemkind.


5. Choose the explanation(s) that you think best fit what you have found out about the crisis. Explain your choice.

I feel it was a mixture of trying to gain the upper hand in the arms race and to bargin with the US. They did even the score of the arms race by haveing ready to launch missles in such close geographical proximity to the US. Also, they could use this as a way to bargin the US into removeing some of their missles, which would also be helpful in the arms race between the two superpowers.

The U.S. Attempts to Contain Cuba

1. Why was Cuba so important to the United States?

Cuba was important to America because of its closeness to the US both economically and geographically. Its importance grograpahically was important because of a military base the US had on the island.

2. Why do you think the Americans chose to equip Cuban exiles rather than invading themselves?

It was too dangerous to directly invade the USSR friendly Cuban nation because this could have been taken as an act of war by the Soviet Union, which could have caused a nuclear war.

3. Why did the invasion fail?

The invasion failed because the US did not provide the necessary air support to the Cuban rebels. Tey were outnumbered and faceing a much stronger, better equipped, and better trained adversary without the help they depended on.

4. Compare Source 17 on page 345 (in the Arms Race.pdf reading) with Source 24 on page 348. Describe how the Soviet Union missiles on Cuba changed the Cold War balance of power.

The USSR's ability to have missles in Cuba took away the US advantage of stratigic missle location. Before this point, the US had missles that could strike the Soviet Union in a very short amount of time, but after this the USSR had missles that could be equally quick and devistateing if ever used.