JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis
Fifty-one years ago this month Americans were in the grips of the fear of nuclear war. From October 14th to the 28th, an international drama known as the Cuban missile crisis. October of 1962 is generally regarded as the time when the Cold War came closest to turning into a nuclear conflict.
In the first two years of the Kennedy administration, the US had placed nuclear missiles in Turkey, aimed at Moscow. This along with a failed US attempt to overthrow the Cuban regime (known as the "Bay of Pigs Invasion") in May 1962 caused Nikita Khrushchev to propose the idea of placing Soviet nuclear missiles on Cuba to deter any future invasion attempt. During a meeting between Khrushchev and Fidel Castro that July, a secret agreement was reached and construction of several missile sites on the island of Cuba began in the late summer.
These preparations were soon discovered by the Central Intelligence Agency, which on October 14 had an Air Force-operated U-2 aircraft to scan the suspected areas in Cuba. This mission obtained clear photographic evidence of medium-range and intermediate-range ballistic nuclear missiles on the ground.
The United States considered attacking Cuba by air and by sea. But after extensive consideration of his options, President John F. Kennedy decided on a military blockade instead. It was called a "quarantine". The US announced that it would not permit offensive weapons to be delivered to Cuba, and it demanded the dismantlement and return of Soviet weapons back to the USSR.
At 5:00 pm EDT on October 22, 1962 (51 years ago today) President Kennedy met with Congressional leaders to discuss his decision. Many of the congressmen were opposed to a blockade and called a stronger response. In Moscow, US Ambassador Kohler informed Chairman Khrushchev on the pending blockade and told him that Kennedy would be addressing to the American people that evening. Before the speech, US delegations met with Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, and French President Charles de Gaulle to brief them on the US intelligence and their proposed response. All expressed support of the US position. That evening at 7:00 pm EDT, President Kennedy delivered a nation-wide televised address on all of the major networks announcing the discovery of the missiles. Kennedy said:
It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union... To halt this offensive buildup, a strict quarantine on all offensive military equipment under shipment to Cuba is being initiated. All ships of any kind bound for Cuba, from whatever nation or port, will, if found to contain cargoes of offensive weapons, be turned back. This quarantine will be extended, if needed, to other types of cargo and carriers. We are not at this time, however, denying the necessities of life as the Soviets attempted to do in their Berlin blockade of 1948.
The Kennedy administration did not expect that the Kremlin would agree to their demands, and prepared for a military confrontation. On October 24, 1962 in a letter from Premier Khrushchev to President Kennedy, the Soviet leader said that the US blockade constituted "an act of aggression propelling human kind into the abyss of a world nuclear-missile war". But in secret back-channel communications, the President and Premier initiated a proposal to resolve the crisis.
While these negotiations were taking place, several Soviet ships attempted to run the blockade. Orders were sent out to US Navy ships to fire warning shots and then open fire if the Soviet ships continued. On October 27, a U-2 plane was shot down by a Soviet missile crew. Kennedy continued the negotiations.
The confrontation ended on October 28, 1962, when Kennedy and United Nations Secretary-General U Thant reached an agreement with Khrushchev. Publicly, the Soviets would dismantle their offensive weapons in Cuba and return them to the Soviet Union, subject to United Nations verification, in exchange for a US public declaration and agreement never to invade Cuba. Secretly, the US also agreed that it would dismantle all US-built Jupiter IRBMs, armed with nuclear warheads, which were deployed in Turkey and Italy against the Soviet Union.
After the removal of the missiles and Ilyushin Il-28 light bombers from Cuba, the blockade was formally ended at 6:45 pm EST on November 20, 1962. The intense negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union pointed out the necessity of a quick, clear and direct communication between Washington and Moscow. As a result, a direct telephone link between the leaders of the two countries was established.
In the first two years of the Kennedy administration, the US had placed nuclear missiles in Turkey, aimed at Moscow. This along with a failed US attempt to overthrow the Cuban regime (known as the "Bay of Pigs Invasion") in May 1962 caused Nikita Khrushchev to propose the idea of placing Soviet nuclear missiles on Cuba to deter any future invasion attempt. During a meeting between Khrushchev and Fidel Castro that July, a secret agreement was reached and construction of several missile sites on the island of Cuba began in the late summer.
These preparations were soon discovered by the Central Intelligence Agency, which on October 14 had an Air Force-operated U-2 aircraft to scan the suspected areas in Cuba. This mission obtained clear photographic evidence of medium-range and intermediate-range ballistic nuclear missiles on the ground.
The United States considered attacking Cuba by air and by sea. But after extensive consideration of his options, President John F. Kennedy decided on a military blockade instead. It was called a "quarantine". The US announced that it would not permit offensive weapons to be delivered to Cuba, and it demanded the dismantlement and return of Soviet weapons back to the USSR.
At 5:00 pm EDT on October 22, 1962 (51 years ago today) President Kennedy met with Congressional leaders to discuss his decision. Many of the congressmen were opposed to a blockade and called a stronger response. In Moscow, US Ambassador Kohler informed Chairman Khrushchev on the pending blockade and told him that Kennedy would be addressing to the American people that evening. Before the speech, US delegations met with Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, and French President Charles de Gaulle to brief them on the US intelligence and their proposed response. All expressed support of the US position. That evening at 7:00 pm EDT, President Kennedy delivered a nation-wide televised address on all of the major networks announcing the discovery of the missiles. Kennedy said:
It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union... To halt this offensive buildup, a strict quarantine on all offensive military equipment under shipment to Cuba is being initiated. All ships of any kind bound for Cuba, from whatever nation or port, will, if found to contain cargoes of offensive weapons, be turned back. This quarantine will be extended, if needed, to other types of cargo and carriers. We are not at this time, however, denying the necessities of life as the Soviets attempted to do in their Berlin blockade of 1948.
The Kennedy administration did not expect that the Kremlin would agree to their demands, and prepared for a military confrontation. On October 24, 1962 in a letter from Premier Khrushchev to President Kennedy, the Soviet leader said that the US blockade constituted "an act of aggression propelling human kind into the abyss of a world nuclear-missile war". But in secret back-channel communications, the President and Premier initiated a proposal to resolve the crisis.
While these negotiations were taking place, several Soviet ships attempted to run the blockade. Orders were sent out to US Navy ships to fire warning shots and then open fire if the Soviet ships continued. On October 27, a U-2 plane was shot down by a Soviet missile crew. Kennedy continued the negotiations.
The confrontation ended on October 28, 1962, when Kennedy and United Nations Secretary-General U Thant reached an agreement with Khrushchev. Publicly, the Soviets would dismantle their offensive weapons in Cuba and return them to the Soviet Union, subject to United Nations verification, in exchange for a US public declaration and agreement never to invade Cuba. Secretly, the US also agreed that it would dismantle all US-built Jupiter IRBMs, armed with nuclear warheads, which were deployed in Turkey and Italy against the Soviet Union.
After the removal of the missiles and Ilyushin Il-28 light bombers from Cuba, the blockade was formally ended at 6:45 pm EST on November 20, 1962. The intense negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union pointed out the necessity of a quick, clear and direct communication between Washington and Moscow. As a result, a direct telephone link between the leaders of the two countries was established.