Saturday, November 2, 2013

November 2, 1962 - JFK Announces USSR would Dismantle Cuban Missile Sites

On November 2, 1962 President John F. Kennedy and Nikita S. Khrushchev, the Soviet leader came to an agreement which concluded the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Cuban Missile Crisis was a conflict between The United States and Cuba when President John F. Kennedy ordered a blockade of Cuba due to the discovery that Soviet Nuclear Missiles were being constructed on the island. This conflict could have played a huge role in today’s everyday life had the situation not been handled cautiously. Had there been conflicting views and no reached agreements by the two parties, nuclear war was destined to occur. [1]

President Kennedy was first informed of the construction of Soviet Missiles in Cuba on October 16,1962. Speaking on the topic of missiles being constructed in Cuba; Kennedy administration officials have said that the Soviet leader acted for “global strategic reasons” and Khrushchev himself claimed that he was “primarily motivated by the desire to defend the Cuban revolution, and his ally Fidel Castro, from aggression by the United States.” [2] Then finding out about the construction of missiles, Kennedy decided to take action and place a naval blockade around Cuba. The main purpose of this blockade was to prevent the Soviets from bringing in more military supplies to Cuba. [3]

It had seemed that a satisfactory resolution for both Kennedy and Khrushchev in this crisis was becoming more and more farfetched. Khrushchev sent a letter to Kennedy demanding that the United States agree to remove its Jupiter missiles from Turkey in exchange for a Soviet removal of missiles from Cuba. Kennedy then made a bargain with Khrushchev, sending a letter assuring Khrushchev that the United States would speedily take out its missiles from Turkey, but only on the basis of a secret understanding, not as an open agreement that would appear to the public, and to NATO allies, as a concession to blackmail. [4] Many details involving the agreement to take the U.S. missiles out of Turkey remain in question to this day.

Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, met in his office at the Justice Department with Soviet ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin to settle the discrepancy once and for all. The agreement between the two sides have raised many questions and confusion over the years. U.S. officials have mandated that neither John nor Robert Kennedy promised to withdraw the Jupiters in exchange for the removal of Soviet missiles in Cuba, but that Robert Kennedy informed Dobrynin that he had planned to remove the American missiles in any event. However, many scholars of the Cuban Missile Crisis throughout the years have strongly suspected that Robert F. Kennedy relayed a pledge from his brother to take out the Jupiters from Turkey in exchange for the Soviet removal of nuclear missiles from Cuba, so long as Moscow kept the swap secret. [4]

- Troy S. and Luke M.




[1] “JFK announces a blockade of Cuba,” The History Channel website, http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/jfk-announces-a-blockade-of-cuba (accessed Nov 1, 2013).
[2] Dobbs, Michael. "Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)." The New York Times, . http://www.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/c/cuban_missile_crisis/index.html (accessed November 1, 2013).
[3] For thirteen days in October 1962 the world waited—seemingly on the brink of nuclear war—and hoped for a peaceful resolution to the Cuban Missile Crisis.. working paper., John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Mueseum. http://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/JFK-in-History/Cuban-Missile-Crisis.aspx
[4] Hershberg, Jim. Anatomy of a Controversy . working paper., The George Washington University, 1995. The National Security Archive http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/cuba_mis_cri/moment.htm.



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