The Cuban Missile Crisis 1959 - 196

Why was the US opposed to Castro’s revolution?

Cuba lies only 145 kilometers from the coast of Florida. The US considered the island of Cuba to be within the sphere of influence and it was determined that the government should reflect and protect US interests.

The US had an agreement with Cuba allowing it to establish a naval base at Guantanamo Bay, plus, the Platt Amendment of 1901 stipulated that the US would ‘exercise the right to intervene for the preservation of Cuban independence’

It was clear that the US administration intended to decide what constituted Cuban independence and when a government was or was not ‘adequate’.

Castro takes power

On 7th January, realising that Batista had lost the support of most Cubans, the US reluctantly recognised the new government of Fidel Castro, which had taken power after fighting a guerrilla war campaign for 7 years.

Initially Castro insisted that he was not a Communist. In April 1959, he visited the US in the hope of getting economic assistance for the far-reaching reforms he believed Cuba needed.

Castro’s revolutionary reforms involved nationalisation of US economic interests, and most pro-US Cubans decided to move to the US. The US government tried to limit Castro’s reforms by refusing him economic assistance unless he followed guidelines set out by the International Monetary Fund. So Castro turned to the Soviet Union, which offered aid in February 1960.

How did the US deal with the ‘threat’ of Castro?

The US decided to deal with this situation in two ways:

• economically, by proclaiming an embargo on all exports to Cuba except for foodstuff and medicine

• militarily, by organising an invasion force of Cuban exiles to overthrow Castro

Why was the Bay of Pigs invasion a failure?

In March 1960, Eisenhower approved a CIA plan to overthrow Castro. It involved training Cuban refugees for an invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs. Kennedy inherited the plan and approved it.

It ended in the capture of 1214 of the original 1400 invaders. These prisoners were later released in return money from the USA.

This was a severe humiliation for Kennedy and his administration. However, the CIA was more to blame for the failure. It underestimated the strength of popular support for Castro in Cuba: it had counted on an uprising against Castro, which never happened. Plus the exiles had a shortage of ammunition and air cover. The US did not give any aerial support to keep away from the event.

The results of the Bay of Pigs

It was very humiliating for Kennedy and made him lose a lot of prestige within the USA.

Castro’s support within Cuba increased and his position was strengthened.

Other Latin American governments and peoples were outraged and the episode revived fears of US imperialism in the area.

It further strengthened Cuba’s ties with the USSR. After the attack Castro declared himself a Marxist-Leninist and concluded a defensive alliance with the USSR.

Operation Mongoose

The USA continued its efforts to reverse the Cuban revolution through covert action.

It involved the sabotage of economic targets e.g.sugar plantations, petroleum installations,assassination plots against Castro and other Cuban leaders, and the diplomatic isolation. Cuba was expelled from the OAS in 1962.

Why did Khrushchev put missiles in Cuba

In 1962, Khrushchev decided to put intermediate range ballistic missiles into Cuba.

He wrote in his memoirs that the reason was to protect Cuba and also because ‘it was high time America learned what it feels like to have her own land and people threatened.’ The US had missiles in Turkey and putting missiles in Cuba at a similar distance was seen as a way of redressing the balance.

Why was the presence missiles so intolerable to the US?

It increased the Soviets’ first strike capability. It meant that warning time for missiles fired at the US would be far less than from within the Soviet Union.

To the US public it seemed that the balance of power had changed. ‘Offensive missiles in Cuba have a different psychological and political effect in this hemisphere than missiles in the USSR pointed at us,’ - Kennedy

How was the Cuba crisis linked to the Berlin Crisis?

Kennedy also believed that Khrushchev’s actions were part of a Soviet plan to put pressure on America to get out of Berlin.This increased tensions further, as Kennedy believed that his decisions would affect not only Cuba, but also Berlin, and thus Europe.

The Naval Blockade around Cuba

Kennedy summoned a crisis management team, ExComm to deal with the threat of missiles in Cuba. This began ‘The Thirteen Days’. Kennedy rejected calls from the military for an immediate air strike followed by an invasion of Cuba and ordered instead a naval blockade of the island. It was the establishment of the ‘quarantine’ around Cuba to prevent the delivery of any nuclear warheads to the island.

Khrushchev ignored the quarantine, and Soviet ships containing missiles headed for Cuba. However, on the 24th Oct. the ships returned to the USSR.

The end to the crisis

On the 26th Oct. Khrushchev sent a telegram to Kennedy saying that the Soviet Union would remove the missiles in return for a US pledge not to invade Cuba. Before Kennedy could respond , Khrushchev sent a second, more demanding, letter to the US government insisting on the inclusion of the removal of Turkish missiles in any deal over Cuba.

The crisis further escalated after a US U-2 plane was shot down over Cuba, this action occurred under Cuban military leaders without authorisation from the USSR.

Kennedy continued to see military action as a last resort and, on the advice of the US ambassador to the Soviet Union, he decided to accept Khrushchev’s first offer and ignore the second. Kennedy’s brother agreed to the removal of Turkish missiles however this action remained secret.

Castro’s reaction

Castro was furious with Khrushchev’s handling of the affair. He was not consulted about the final deal concerning the missiles - or over his agreement with Kennedy to withdraw the Soviet bombers and troops that had been sent to help the Cuban army. He was also left with the US base a t Guantanamo Bay, while US missiles were removed from Turkey.

Khrushchev had to work hard in the ensuing months to rebuild his relations with Castro and the Cuban regime, and prevent a Sino-Cuban alliance developing.

The impact of the Cuban Missile Crisis

• A hotline was established between the USSR and USA to make immediate communication easier

• Both sides realised the danger of nuclear war. Following the crisis they signed the Limited Test-Ban Treaty in 1963 and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968.