Cuban Missile Crisis Speech Analysis

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From the Mayflower Compact to the Emancipation Proclamation, there have been numerous documents throughout American history that have impacted the country. These documents have caused wars, alliances, hatred, relief, and much more. While many of them occurred long ago, they have each influenced the country we see today. Some of these documents gave advice that was obeyed, while others were completely ignored. The choice to embrace or overlook this advice is what causes changes to arise. There are five specific historical documents in the Essential American Documents and Speeches book that have impacted America or should have been heeded better; Albert Einstein’s “Letter to Franklin Delano Roosevelt,” John F. Kennedy’s “Cuban Missile Crisis Speech,” Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Farewell Address, Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “Four Freedoms” Speech, and Abraham Lincoln’s “The Gettysburg Address.”

In Albert Einstein’s “Letter to Franklin Delano Roosevelt,” he explains the importance of uranium in Germany
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Kennedy. This speech revealed the secret presence of Soviet intermediate-range nuclear missiles on Cuba. Due to the fact that Cuba is only ninety miles from U.S. shores, these missiles were a huge threat on the country. Kennedy’s speech seeks the peaceful withdrawal of those missiles by saying, “I call upon Chairman Khrushchev to halt and eliminate this clandestine, reckless, and provocative threat to world peace and to stable relations between our two nations.” Six days after this speech was given, the missiles were in fact removed from Cuba. It is safe to say that the Cuban Missile Crisis Speech had a huge impact on the deportation of the missiles. Both Americans and Soviets were sobered by the crisis, and the parties signed two treaties related to nuclear weapons. Although the Cold War was far from over, this speech may have prevented extreme

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