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Cuban Missile Crisis Research Paper

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In 1959, the Cuban Missile Crisis began with the Bay of Pigs, when a guerilla warlord named Fidel Castro overthrew the current dictator of Cuba, General Fulgencio Batista. Originally, Castro promised the people of Cuba democracy, instead he instituted a socialist dictatorship. Over 100,000 Cubans fled their home with many coming to America in order to seek shelter from Castro’s regime. In April 1961, the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) had a plan to invade Cuba using exiles as a trained Army personnel. This was to keep the United States involvement as covert as possible in hopes that the invasion would overthrow Castro and insert a US favored government.
After the failure of the Bay of Pigs, the Soviet Union started to increase economic and …show more content…
Tensions increased on 27 October when Cuban air defenses shot down a U-2 piloted by Major Rudolf Anderson. The Joint Chiefs of Staff recommended an immediate air strike against Cuba, but President Kennedy decided to wait. The increasing tempo in the military, however, continued unabated. While United States military preparations continued, the United States agreed not to invade Cuba in exchange for removal of Soviet missiles from the island. Secretly, the United States also agreed to remove American missiles from Turkey. The Soviets turned their Cuban-bound ships around, packed up the missiles in Cuba, and dismantled the launch pads. As the work progressed, the Air Force started to deploy aircraft back to home bases and lower the alert status. The Cuban Missile Crisis brought the United States and the Soviet Union dangerously close to nuclear war; the world breathed a sigh of relief when it ended. The strategic and tactical power of the United States Air Force, coupled with the will and ability to use it, provided the synergy to deter nuclear war with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic and convince the Soviet leaders to remove the nuclear weapons from

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