Cuban Missle Crisis
By Sam Smith
Cuban Missle Crisis
Cuban Missle Crisis
The Cuban Missle Crisis also known as the " October Crisis " was a 13 day confrontation in October 1962 between the Soviet Union and the United States over Soviet ballistic missles that could hit major US buildings and cities and were set up in Cuba thanks to Communist leader Fidel Castro who had close ties with the soviets. It played out on television worldwide and was the closest the Cold War had become to turning into a full fledge nuclear war that possibly could have ended civilization as we know it today. In response to the failed Bay of Pigs invasion by Cuban exiles trained and supported by the CIA of the United States and JFK, along with American missles placed in Italy and Turkey against the USSR with Moscow in range, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev agreed to Cubas request to put nuclear missles their to protect them against further and future harrassment of Cuba. An agreement was reached during a secret meeting between Khrushchev and Fidel Castro in July and construction of the missles began that summer. The United States confirmed this when an Air Force U-2 spy plane spotted the missles and the construction sites on a surveillance trip over Cuba. The United States established a military blockade of Cuba to prevent any more missles from entering. It announced that they would not permit offensive weapons to be delivered to Cuba and demanded that the weapons in Cuba be dismantled and returned to the Soviet Union. Finally after days of very very tense negotiations JFK and Khrushchev came to an agreement that stated the USSR would dismantle and remove their missles if the United States did the same to the missles in Italy and Turkey as well as promising to never invade or attack Cuba. After all missles had been removed the Cuban blockade was revoked and also pointed out a need for direct communication from Moscow to Washington DC and created a nuclear hotline so they could communicate any time 24/7.