Cuban Missile Crisis

  • The Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962 was a pivotal confrontation between the US and the USSR, marked by the deployment of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba following Fidel Castro's overthrow of the US-backed Batista government

  • The crisis escalated tensions stemming from US suspicions of Castro's communism and the failed Bay of Pigs invasion

  • Soviet Premier Khrushchev justified the missiles as protection for Cuba and a counter to US missiles in Turkey

  • President Kennedy formed the Executive Committee of the National Security Council (EXCOMM) to devise a response, ultimately choosing a naval blockade, or "quarantine," to halt further Soviet shipments. While Soviet ships initially advanced, six turned back, leading to a tense standoff despite continued missile sites in Cuba.

timeline

  • 1959:

    • Policies of Cuba

      • Castro’s power

      • Batista’s supporters were executed

      • Castro visits USA to discuss package of USA for his industrialization program

      • USA will only give money if Cuba follows guidelines of IMF

      • Request of loan from OAS also turned down

      • Agrarian Reform law — which appropriates land and bans land ownership by foreigners is introduced

    • Actions of the USA