P11 - Cuba 1959 - 1963

Bay of Pigs invasion 1961

Planned during Eisenhower time but Kennedy inherited it

-goal was the overthrow of Castro and the establishment of a non-communist government friendly to the United States

• 15000 military exiles to land in CUBA to start a coup, but Castro’s forces stopped them

-was a humiliation + disaster

Castro Fidel

A communist nationalist who was a Cuban revolutionist + politician that became leader in 1959-1976

-Protected Cuba from American Imperialism

Operation Mongoose

30th November 1961

-General Edward Lansdale headed the plan to overthrow Castro

Oplan 312 + Oplan 314

Oplan 312 - air strike plan

Oplan 314 - land based invasion

Operation Quick Kick

March 1962

U.S. Navy and Marine Corps had gone to Puerto Rico to stage a large-scale military operation

-4,000 men, 79 ships and 300 aircraft.

Nuclear missiles

Rodion Malinovsky (Khrushchev’s defence minister) said Cuba wouldn’t last for more than a week

1962 -deployed Soviet Nuclear missiles in the mountains

-supported them politically, economically, and militarily

Operation Anadyr

Provided plans, Bombers + 14,000 ground troops

-Short + medium ranged missiles reaching 1100-2800 KM

Having missiles at Cuba would reduce the threat of the missile gap, and USA’s long ranged missiles, redressing the imbalance

Linkage strategy

Khrushchev wanted to develop a linkage between Cuba and Berlin but failed

-failed to remove the western power, so had implications of the Eastern Bloc’s security

13 day missile crisis

-14th October - U-2 spy plane found evidence of a major nuclear build up of R-12 missiles at San Cristobal

October 16th 1962

Kennedy informed by Bundy (national security advisor) of Soviet nuclear developments

-an EXComm (executive committee of national security council) advisory committee formed

-”Hawks”- called for US military action

-”Doves”- favoured a diplomatic approach

• US can’t risk splitting NATO or look uninterested in Europe

Naval Blockade / Quarantine

McNamara’s (defence sec) idea to prevent missile flow to Cuba

-US bases were also put on high alert for possible military strike against Cuba or Soviet attack on West Berlin

24th October

-Khrushchev labelled it as an “act of aggression, pushing mankind to an abyss of world nuclear-missile war”

On the 24th, the first Soviet ship to reach the quarantine either stopped in the water or turned back

Jupiter missiles

Kennedy willing to negotiate to place missies in Turkey, creating a similar threat on the level of Cuba

bargaining chip

26 October

Kennedy keeping options to use force to overthrow Castro and remove the missiles

-Khrushchev sent a telegram, looking for a compromise, suggesting US to make a Non-invasion pledge, and in turn Cuba missiles removed

• Castro however still convinced of a US attack so ordered anti-aircraft forces to fire at reconnaissance planes

U-2 Spy planes shot down

News of a spy plane shot down over Cuba, with Major Rudolf Anderson dead, so USA determined to respond with attacks against Soviet-75 anti-aircrafts in Cuba

Telegrams

-Khrushchev sent 2 telegrams (26th, 27th) to redefine the conditions of the previous telegram

-Kennedys Strat was to ignore the second letter and respond to the first

Meeting

Dobrynin (Soviet ambassador) + Kennedy met, stating US willing to remove missiles in Turkey but not instantly

-Couldn’t be viewed as a concession to the public, as can’t let US Nato allies to see that the US had been pressured , so important that NATO was told no secret agreement had been reached

28th October

diplomacy was a success as all missiles removed

-Castro was unhappy with the inspections that occurred of the missiles sites once dismantled , and on the Soviet ships contents

Significance

-world had got closer to nuclear war, but little evidence to say either leader to allow it to occur

-model for future methods + “Hotline” created in 1963 connecting the Kremlin and White House

-Moscow ban treaty October 1963 (Treaty banning nuclear weapons test in the atmosphere, space, underwater) - control over nuclear arms

-Cuba still communist

-Us containments + Truman Doctrine failed