 starter activity
Name these events
and explain how they
increased Cold War
tension
 starter activity
U2 spy plane, 1960
Hydrogen bomb, 1952
Polaris, 1960
Sputnik, 1957
Oppenheimer, 1945
Gagarin, 1961
Why did the Cuban
Missile Crisis occur?
 Aims
To identify the causes of the Cuban
Missile Crisis
To assess Kennedy’s options
 Your task

Read p.105-107 and make a list of the reasons
why tensions increased over Cuba in the late
1950s and early 1960s.
Captured soldiers after Bay of Pigs, 1961
Growing tensions




Revolution in Cuba led by
Fidel Castro & Che Guevara
threatened US influence over
the island
Nationalism – Castro wanted
to assert the sovereignty of
Cuba
Business – US businesses
were seized
Communism – Castro
converted to Communism in
1961
Che Guevara & Fidel Castro
Growing tensions


Political embarrassments - Bay of Pigs Incident
(1961)
USSR involvement – trading partner & weapons
supplier to Cuba, U2 spy planes spotted missile
bases on island
How were the US threatened by Cuba?
Threats


Monroe Doctrine (1823) – Latin America was
part of US sphere of influence and outside
European intervention
Russian missiles of Cuba were within reach of
US mainland & nearly all major cities, including
Washington & New York
Vienna Summit
Berlin Wall
Bay of Pigs
All the above events happened in 1961. How might they have shaped Kennedy’s
reaction to the CMC?
Read p. 107-8 and note the reasons why
Khrushchev may have wanted to get
involved in Cuba
Khrushchev’s motive





Expand Communism worldwide
Cuba could be a useful trading partner
Test Kennedy –new president fresh from Vienna
Summit, Berlin and Bay of Pigs
To gain upper hand in the arms race – close
missile gap, reduce likelihood of a US ‘1st strike’
To trap USA – draw Kennedy into a nuclear war
(didn’t hide weapons)
Read source E – why do you think McNamara (Defence Secretary)
thought Cuba was primarily a domestic problem?
 Role play task

Work in groups. You are advisers to the
President. You have to reduce the five options
to just two for the President to choose between.
When you have made your decision explain why
you have rejected the three you have.
 Homework

Read about the events
of the Cuban Missile
Crisis in Phillips,
p.106-110 and create a
timeline of the events
in your notes.
 Extension


Watch ‘13 Days’ (or read Robert Kennedy’s
book of the same title) and assess how accurate
the treatment of events is.
Read Gaddis, p.75-8 and Isaacs, p.204-230 and
supplement your notes.
 Plenary
Explain why each of the men above were to
blame for the Cuban Missile Crisis. Who was
most to blame?