• Home Page
  • The Individual Level Of Analysis: The Cuban Missile Crisis

The Individual Level Of Analysis: The Cuban Missile Crisis

Improved Essays
Show More
In order to truly get a grasp of this crisis, we need to look at the individual level of analysis. Sure, we could argue that the state level is the best way to explain it by talking about the type of government that each side had, their historical background, or even even talk about public opinion. Or we could talk about the two strategies that the US proposed; destroy the missiles or create a blockade. Or even the systemic level of analysis by talking about the balance of power and hegemonic stability, but in all in all, it comes down to the individual running the state that sets the stepping stones for the future of the state. In the individual level of analysis, decisions are made by the individual leader and that was certainly the case in the Cuban Missile Crisis. Sure, Kennedy created the ExComm, but ultimately, he made the final decision. …show more content…
Also, human nature is the primary focus in the individual level of analysis. If we look closer into this, Kennedy and Khrushchev both had different ways of thinking, but at the end, they came to a resolution that a nuclear war wouldn’t benefit either side. Kennedy urged his people that a blockade would be the best way to resolve the crisis and if not, it would give them to come up with the best resolution. Sure enough, Khrushchev sent 2 messages. The first one was a peaceful agreement in which Russia would remove the missiles from Cuba if the US removed them from Turkey. The second was that Russia would attack if their people were harmed. Kennedy knew what he wanted, but he didn’t fully trust Russia. Kennedy didn’t want America to make the first strike mainly because America is a democracy; it isn’t a justifiable thing for us to do so he planned out carefully what needed to be done and executed the plan

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Cuban Missile Crisis Dbq Analysis
    • 586 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Cuban Missile Crisis Dbq Analysis

    The naval blockade was the least aggressive option that the US weighed; however, it stilled posed risks. If the Soviet Union didn't respond to the blockade, then the US would be forced into taking more aggressive measures. Khrushchev's 2nd letter to President Kennedy (which was ignored) stated that the USSR would remove the missiles in Cuba if the United States (partnered with the United Nations,) would remove the missiles in Turkey. This didn't happen. President Kennedy replied to the letters sent by Khrushchev by ignoring the second letter.…

    • 586 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Nuclear War Dbq Analysis
    • 918 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Nuclear War Dbq Analysis

    Three of these scenarios were under surprise attack of Soviet bomber missiles while the in the fourth scenario they were on full alert (Document 3). This document showed that most of the estimated fatalities were around 85 million while the fourth scenario had around 46 million fatalities (Document 3). Even though the gap is considerable between the two it is still many lives to be lost. One of the major reasons for the study to demonstrate the need for better security and defense against Soviet attacks (Document 3).This would show the true dangers of a nuclear war between the Soviet Union and America, and how much lives would be affected. This helps justify President Kennedy statement because it shows how a nuclear war has a complete lack of disregard for human…

    • 918 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Why Did John F. Kennedy Use The Cuban Missile Crisis?
    • 545 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Why Did John F. Kennedy Use The Cuban Missile Crisis?

    October 1962 marked the beginning of a massive standoff between two powers in the wake of Cold War hostility. The American government was informed that a nuclear capable Soviet Union had established a weapons silo in Cuba. With nuclear weaponry only a mere 90 miles from American shores, a political uproar would soon ensue. President John F. Kennedy announced such news on the twenty-second of October, along with his plan of enacting a naval blockade around the coastal island. This plan demonstrated American readiness to bestow military action to prevent any and all potential threats to national security.…

    • 545 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Cuban Missile Crisis 1960s
    • 461 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Cuban Missile Crisis 1960s

    One significant Cold War event of the 1960s included the Cuban Missile Crisis. Broadly, this crisis was a thirteen day conflict in 1962 involving the United States and the Soviet Union regarding the installment of Soviet airstrike missiles in Cuba. This situation was globally televised and was the nearest the Cold War had ever come to a nuclear war. Tension between superpowers, Fidel Castro, and the Bay of Pigs Invasion led this event to unfold as it did and the event took the Western bloc in an entirely new direction. Leading up to the crisis, the tension between the United States and Russia heightened because each superpower was in constant competition over the space race and the arms race in terms of nuclear testing.…

    • 461 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Great Essays

    John Fitzgerald Kennedy's Political Influences
    • 1505 Words
    • 7 Pages

    John Fitzgerald Kennedy's Political Influences

    Upon discovering Russia’s nuclear missiles in Cuba, RFK initially wanted to bomb and invade Cuba. However, he did not want to repeat his brother’s mistake with the Bay of Pigs incident, so he negotiated peacefully with the Soviets. Thus, diminishing the nuclear threat Russia possessed. Kennedy eventually admitted his impulses would not correctly undermine the nuclear threat in Cuba.…

    • 1505 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
    Read More
  • Superior Essays

    Why Is John F Kennedy Successful
    • 1345 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Why Is John F Kennedy Successful

    According to Smith (2003), “[on] September 4, President Kennedy revealed the presence of ground-to-air antiaircraft missiles in Cuba and warned the Soviet Union not to install offensive weapons in Cuba,” in which the Soviets did not listen too (266). The Kennedy administration went into a state of crisis management that took them in many different directions. Most of the administration was torn between invading Cuba…

    • 1345 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Dbq Arms Race
    • 1199 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Dbq Arms Race

    By 1962 both countries arms had easy access to their rivals, showing a progression in the level of danger that the arms race exposed the world to. However, stakes were so high at this point that the risk of the arms race caused Kennedy and Khrushchev to rely on diplomacy to an even higher degree. During the crisis, the two sides exchanged many letters and other communications, both formal and "back channel. " Khrushchev sent letters to Kennedy on October 23 and 24 indicating the deterrent nature of the missiles in Cuba and the peaceful intentions of the Soviet Union. On October 26, Khrushchev sent Kennedy a long rambling letter seemingly proposing that the missile installations would be dismantled and personnel removed in exchange for United States assurances that it or its proxies would not invade Cuba.…

    • 1199 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Great Essays

    In The Name Of Democracy By Thomas Carothers
    • 2055 Words
    • 9 Pages

    In The Name Of Democracy By Thomas Carothers

    Section A: Identification and Evaluation of Sources One of the sources that I used is a book titled In the Name of Democracy by Thomas Carothers. It is an examination of U.S. policy in Latin America during the Reagan era. Carothers provides information on U.S. involvement using interviews with United States officials and his own perspective as a former State Department lawyer. Also, the book provides information on the effects of removing the communist influence. This source is created so the information about the effects of the U.S policy in Latin America could be shared to the public.…

    • 2055 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays
    Read More
  • Superior Essays

    The Black Saturday: The Key Day In The Entre Crisis
    • 1530 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The Black Saturday: The Key Day In The Entre Crisis

    The same day a U-2 was shot down over Cuba and another one was strayed over the Soviet territory. The U-2 was shot not by the orders of Moscow, in fact, it was initiated not even by the Soviet commanders. Kennedy was not sure how to react to such moves and the head of the Air Force have proposed an immediate bombing of the island. Luckely so, JFK has called for a pause for a couple of days before the planes left the runway. Kennedy first wanted to communicate Khrushchev, and due to the lak of a telephone line, the communication was taking up to several hours in a situation where every minute was so important.…

    • 1530 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
    Read More
  • Superior Essays

    Rhetorical Analysis Of The Cuban Missile Crisis
    • 1512 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Rhetorical Analysis Of The Cuban Missile Crisis

    Constraints have, “power to constrain decision and action needed to modify the exigence.” In the case of Kennedy’s Cuban Missile Crisis speech, the constraints are inartistic. The constraints are based on documentation and facts from new surveillance and intelligence and Kairos conversations with Soviet Union officials. It is important that the constraints in the Cuban Missile Crisis speech were grounded in fact. By Kennedy defining the events in Cuba as a crisis it was necessary to provide concrete evidence to support the urgency of his decisions to act on the existence of missiles in Cuba.…

    • 1512 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Cuban Missile Crisis Impact
    • 1221 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Cuban Missile Crisis Impact

    According to foreign policy analyst, Nina Harchigian (n.d.), all big emerging national powers share common concerns - free trade, economic growth, prevention of terrorism, and efforts to stymie nuclear proliferation - which would include the USSR. Finding such concerns within the USSR with communication with their national leader, the US President at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis, John F. Kennedy, was able to come to a diplomatic resolution with the opposing nation. With effective use of diplomacy ultimately saving not only the US but the entire globe from nuclear war, there was a shift in international practice evident within the US foreign policy that can be largely attributed to the Cuban Missile Crisis. Examples of such a shift in the foreign policy include the newer alternative to threatening counterattack - diplomatic 'isolation ' of rogue states - and 'encouragement ' of an agreeable ideology rather than the 'containment ' of a disagreeable ideology (Shawn Grimsley, n.d.), which by nature concludes that diplomacy should be considered in higher priority than military action. While such evidence could be arguably a result of the Cold War as a whole, rather than the Cuban Missile Crisis alone, there was evidently a large increase in emphasis on the importance of quick and clear communication between nations,…

    • 1221 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Superior Essays

    The Assassination Of John F Kennedy Assassination
    • 1883 Words
    • 8 Pages

    The Assassination Of John F Kennedy Assassination

    The American people became upset even more when President Kennedy made an announcement that the United States of America was on the brink of war because of the proximity of Cuba to America. President Kennedy stated in this announcement to the country that if any missile was launched from Cuba it would be treated as a Soviet attack on the United States (Randall). These tensions needed to be settled. Americans and Kennedy could not keep worrying about how Cuba could severely hurt Americans because of how close Cuba was to America. Kennedy would have succeeded at his job had he been able to do so.…

    • 1883 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Cuban Missile Crisis
    • 1356 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Cuban Missile Crisis

    The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 was a dangerous confrontation between the US and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. This is when the US and Soviet Union came the closest to nuclear warfare. The situation was different in a number of ways, featuring confirmations and non supported directions as well as direct communications and miscommunications between both the US and Soviet Union (Office). The overwhelming conflict was also being judged by the fact that it was basically played out at the White House and the Kremlin level with very little say from the respective organizations typically involved in the foreign policy stages (Office).…

    • 1356 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Superior Essays

    What Are The Consequences Of The Cuban Missile Crisis
    • 1056 Words
    • 4 Pages

    What Are The Consequences Of The Cuban Missile Crisis

    The Cuban missile crisis is an event that would have led to possible human extinction, due to high tension between the U.S., and Russia and is important to us today because it illustrates the sometimes pivotal role of personality in politics, in addition to also being a case of study for future presidents that might have to make similar decisions in a time of high crisis. The Crisis started when the United States found out that only 90 miles away from the coast of Florida, the…

    • 1056 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
    Read More
  • Brilliant Essays

    Cuban Missile Crisis Ideology
    • 1482 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Cuban Missile Crisis Ideology

    Although the US claimed there was no missile gap between the two, the USSR was clearly behind in the race. This was particularly fearful for the Soviet Union who did not want the US to launch a first strike from Turkey which was merely 150 miles away. The decision made by Khrushchev to build launch sites in Cuba is likely because “Khrushchev was attracted by the idea of appearing to gain greater military strength relative to US”(IBID, 168). This came from domestic issues brewing in the USSR, where it is was essential to appear strong and convince both the citizens of the Soviet Union and the rest of the world that socialism was equally if not stronger than the US and their democracy. Therefore, all weaknesses, in this case military, needed to be concealed and so the idea the USSR were now on par with the US in nuclear missiles arguably encouraged Khrushchev to continue gaining greater military strength.…

    • 1482 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Brilliant Essays
    Read More

Related Topics

Ready To Get Started?
Discover
Company
Follow
©2024 Cram.com
Privacy Policy |  About Ads |  Site Map |  Advertise  | 
  • Cookie Settings