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1962 began
on a good note for US Soviet relations. On February 10th shot down
U-2 pilot, Francis Gary Powers, was released. The Soviet failing
in Berlin though still dismayed Khrushchev. It had been an embarrassment
that lead to the erection of the Berlin Wall the year before. While
on vacation on the Black Sea, Khrushchev could look over and see
Turkey. He had known that American missiles base were contained
within its border. He felt it was time to place nuclear missiles
in the backyard of the Americans. Cuba with its new leader Fidel
Castro was only 90 miles from the Florida coast. In doing so Khrushchev
thought he could re-assert Soviet power and at the least use the
missiles as a bargaining chip in exchange for the American missiles
in Turkey. |
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Khrushchev resented the US for their
treatment of the USSR at the end of WWII. He felt in the past "dark
forces" prevented peace among the two. In particular Rockefeller,
Dulles, and Hoover. He liked JFK on a personal level and saw him
as a means of achieving peace in contrast to his dealings with Eisenhower
and Nixon. Yet, he also felt JFK was a weak President for the failed
Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba. For these reasons Khrushchev decided
to embark the USSR on Operation "Anadyr", the placing of Soviet
missiles and troops in Cuba, in October. He wanted the Americans
to swallow their own medicine. |
Prior to the launching of Anadyr the Soviets experienced increased
civil unrest. This was the result of an announced doubling in price
of State Controlled goods such as meat, sausage, and butter on May 31st.
This resulted in a dramatic decreased in the amount of disposable income
available to the common Soviet worker. This lead to dissent in the form
of leaflets and graffiti around Moscow. KGB accounts claimed to have
collected double of the anti-government propaganda as compared to the
year before. This eventually lead to worker uprisings in some areas.
On June 1st a group of workers in Novakerkassk, overthrew the Soviet
communist regime and took up refugee in the factories. Khrushchev sent
Mikoyan and Kozlov to bring the crowd back under Soviet control. They
failed and on June 2 Khrushchev ordered the Red Army in to retake the
factories. 23 were shot dead and were hundreds arrested. General Issa
A. Pliyev was in charge of regaining control of Novakerkassk and as
a reward for his loyalty. Khrushchev appointed him head of the Soviet
contingent that was to be sent to Cuba.
The entire medium range missile force, with the capability to knock
out any target within the continental US with the exception of Washington
state, was placed under the control of Nikita Sergeevish. All the tactical
nuclear missiles or lunas were at Pliyev's disposal in the event of
an American invasion to prevent the capture of the medium range missiles.
On October 4th the first ship of a fleet carrying 42,000 troops and
42 missiles arrived in Cuba.
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Khrushchev did not inform any of his Warsaw Pact
allies or even Dobrynin Soviet ambassador to the US. The missiles
were to be operational by October 25th. U-2 reconnaissance of
Cuba thought managed to take photographs of Soviet missile installations
on October 15th. The pictures were presented at the UN to Soviet
representative,Gromyko, who had no knowledge of Khrushchev's planned
installation of missiles in Cuba.
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The Cuba Missile Crisis boiled down the "Black week" in which the threat
of nuclear war was never more eminent. Khrushchev ultimately wanted
US missiles out of Turkey, but was willing to accept any settlement
if it came to the brink of war. Communication difficulties further hindered
and prevent the conveying of intentions by both sides. The only means
of judging the other side was by action
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At the time US military advisors encouraged JKF to
resolve the situation with an invasion of Cuba, which never got
past a mock landing of 40,000 Marines on a Florida beach. This still
intimidated Kruschev who was certain that Americans would invade.
JFK decided instead to place a naval blockade on Cuba. All Soviet
ships were to be boarded, searched, and turned around if they possessed
any Soviet military equipment. This kept the situation out of the
eyes of the media. |
| On October 27th a U-2 was shot down,
killing pilot Maj. Rudolf Anderson, Jr. This heightened the situation
and illustrated the breakdown between the Cubans and Soviets. The
Soviet forces had been ordered not to fire upon US spy planes, while
Castro had ordered his air defenses to shot down any plane that
flew over Cuba. Khrushchev worried about the advent of war caused
by miscommunication and as a result sent a message to Pliyev telling
him not to use his tactical nuclear weapons. |
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The Crisis ended on October 28th at 6:00
PM Moscow time when Khrushchev announced the withdrawal of all Soviet
arms from Cuba. He did not even inform Castro of his decision. While
removing the missiles form Cuba Khrushchev order all missiles to
be placed above deck so those American pilots could count them. |
Never had the two countries come so close to nuclear war. This lead
to a new era in the Cold War in which both sides agreed not to place
each other's troops in direct conflict. Détente would become the new
international relations process between the two super powers.
The following were links I found interesting
The first has audio recordings of JFK discussing the Missile Crisis
with his staff and advisors http://www.hpol.org/jfk/cuban/
The second is of a site that has a fun simulator in which you can be
Khrushchev, Kennedy, or Castro during the Cuban missile crisis http://library.thinkquest.org/18355/the_cuban_crisis_simul.html
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