Cuban Missile
Crisis
Done by:
Alvin Leow 4P101
Cai Qizheng 4P102
Keifer Lim 4P1
Contents
 Basic
Information (Summary of the crisis)
 Background Information
 The Cuban Missile Crisis
 The impacts on US-USSR relations
Basic Information
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Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as October
Crisis or Caribbean Crisis
Was a confrontation between the United
States, Soviet Union and Cuba
October 1962
Soviet governments secretly began to build
bases in Cuba for a number of medium-range
and intermediate-range ballistic nuclear
missiles (MRBMs and IRBMs) with the ability to
strike most of the continental United States.
Basic Information
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In the end…
Soviets dismantled their offensive weapons in
Cuba and returned them to the Soviet Union,
subject to United Nations verification
U.S. publicly declared and agreed never to
invade Cuba.
Secretly, the U.S. agreed that it would
dismantle all U.S.-built Thor and Jupiter IRBMs
deployed in Europe and Turkey.
So what happened?
Background Information
(USSR)
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In 1962, the Soviet Union was desperately behind
the United States in the arms race.
Soviet missiles were only powerful enough to be
launched against Europe but U.S. missiles were
capable of striking the entire Soviet Union.
In late April 1962, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev
conceived the idea of placing intermediaterange missiles in Cuba.
A deployment in Cuba would double the Soviet
strategic arsenal and provide a real deterrent to a
potential U.S. attack against the Soviet Union.
Background Information
(Cuba)
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Meanwhile, Fidel Castro, who assumed power
in Cuba after the Cuban Revolution, was
looking for a way to defend his island nation
from an attack by the U.S.
Ever since the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in
1961, Castro felt a second attack was
inevitable.
Consequently, he approved of Khrushchev's
plan to place missiles on the island. In the
summer of 1962 the Soviet Union worked
quickly and secretly to build its missile
installations in Cuba.
Background Information
(United States)
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After the Cuban Revolution Fidel Castro Cuba
allied with the USSR. However, US would not allow
a Latin American country to ally openly with the
USSR.
This defied the Monroe Doctrine; a United States
policy which, originally conceived to limit
European power's involvement in the Western
Hemisphere, expanded to include all other major
powers.
The aim of the doctrine is to make sure the United
States is the only hegemonic power in the
Americas and keeping all others out of its
"backyard".
Background Information
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Bay of Pigs Invasion was launched in April 1961 under
President John F. Kennedy by Central Intelligence Agencytrained forces of Cuban exiles but the invasion failed and
the United States were embarrassed publicly.
Afterward, former President Dwight D. Eisenhower told
Kennedy that “the failure of the Bay of Pigs will embolden
the Soviets to do something that they would otherwise not
do.”
The half-hearted invasion left Soviet premier Nikita
Khrushchev and his advisers with the impression that
Kennedy was indecisive and, as one Soviet adviser wrote,
"too young, intellectual, not prepared well for decision
making in crisis situations ... too intelligent and too weak."
U.S. covert operations continued in 1961 with the
unsuccessful Operation Mongoose
The Crisis starts…
Beginning of the Crisis
 For
the United States, the crisis began on
October 15, 1962 when reconnaissance
photographs revealed Soviet missiles
under construction in Cuba.
 Early the next day, President John
Kennedy was informed of the missile
installations. Kennedy immediately
organized the EX-COMM (A group of his
twelve most important advisors) to handle
the crisis.
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The U.S. had no plan in place because U.S. intelligence had been
convinced that the Soviets would never install nuclear missiles in
Cuba. The EXCOMM quickly discussed several possible courses of
action, including:
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No action.
Diplomacy: Use diplomatic pressure to get the Soviet Union to
remove the missiles.
Warning: Send a message to Castro to warn him of the grave
danger he, and Cuba were in.
Blockade: Use the U.S. Navy to block any missiles from arriving in
Cuba.
Air strike: Use the U.S. Air Force to attack all known missile sites.
Invasion: Full force invasion of Cuba and overthrow of Castro.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff unanimously agreed that a full-scale attack
and invasion was the only solution. They believed that the Soviets
would not attempt to stop the U.S. from conquering Cuba.
Kennedy was skeptical.
Beginning of the Crisis
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After seven days of guarded and intense debate
within the upper echelons of government, Kennedy
concluded to impose a naval quarantine around
Cuba. He wished to prevent the arrival of more
Soviet offensive weapons on the island.
On October 22, Kennedy announced the discovery
of the missile installations to the public and his
decision to quarantine the island. He also proclaimed
that any nuclear missile launched from Cuba would
be regarded as an attack on the United States by
the Soviet Union and demanded that the Soviets
remove all of their offensive weapons from Cuba.
The Crisis Deepens
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During the public phase of the Crisis, tensions began to
build on both sides. Kennedy eventually ordered low-level
reconnaissance missions once every two hours.
On the 25th Kennedy pulled the quarantine line back and
raised military readiness to DEFCON 2. Then on the 26th EXCOMM heard from Khrushchev in an impassioned letter.
He proposed removing Soviet missiles and personnel if the
U.S. would guarantee not to invade Cuba. October 27 was
the worst day of the crisis. A U-2 was shot down over Cuba
and EX-COMM received a second letter from Khrushchev
demanding the removal of U.S. missiles in Turkey in
exchange for Soviet missiles in Cuba.
Attorney General Robert Kennedy suggested ignoring the
second letter and contacted Soviet Ambassador Anatoly
Dobrynin to tell him of the U.S. agreement with the first.
Easing of tensions
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Tensions finally began to ease on October 28
when Khrushchev announced that he would
dismantle the installations and return the
missiles to the Soviet Union, expressing his trust
that the United States would not invade
Cuba.
Further negotiations were held to implement
the October 28 agreement, including a
United States demand that Soviet light
bombers be removed from Cuba, and
specifying the exact form and conditions of
United States assurances not to invade Cuba.
The End of the Crisis
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Two weeks after the agreement, the Soviets
had removed the missile systems and their
support equipment, loading them onto eight
Soviet ships from November 5–9.
A month later, on December 5 and 6, the
Soviet Il-28 bombers were loaded onto three
Soviet ships and shipped back to Russia.
The quarantine was formally ended at
6:45 pm EDT on November 20, 1962.
The End of the Crisis
 Eleven
months after the agreement, all
American weapons were deactivated
(by September 1963).
 An additional outcome of the
negotiations was the creation of the
Hotline Agreement and the Moscow–
Washington hotline, a direct
communications link between Moscow
and Washington, D.C.
Let us go through some
pictures to gain a better
understanding of the Cuban
Missile Crisis…
This area shows the two different types of aircraft that were used for lowlevel recon. The top plane is the Navy F-8 Crusader, while the bottom is a
Air Force RF-101. These planes were used in crucial low-level missions on
October 23, 27 and in others throughout the crisis. They were outfitted
with special KA-18A stereo strip camera that was designed for highspeed, low-level, reconnaissance.
This picture is of the most common high-level recon
aircraft used before, during, and after the crisis. The U2 was the most used recon aircraft in service before
being retired for the SR-71 Blackbird.
The SS-4 "Sandal" is an intermediate
range missile that can destroy
targets up to 1000 km from its
launch site.
This liquid fuelled, relatively
vulnerable and inaccurate missile,
was first deployed in 1959.
The SS-5 "Skean" followed it in 1961
and has a similar sized warhead but
double the range. Some 275 SS-4s
remained until 1982 in the Soviet
Union's arsenal along with a handful
of SS-5s. Both of these missiles can
carry a wide variety of warheads
including chemical, nuclear, and
conventional.
The SS-4 and SS-5 missiles were the
primary Soviet missile systems based
in Cuba. Together, they had a
range capable of reaching most of
the continental United States. An
American operative took the top
picture of an SS-4 while it was on
parade in Moscow. It is the only
close up picture of the missile
system that I have ever seen.
Ships with Missiles
These ships were
photographed in port with
missile parts being unloaded.
This was further proof of the
increased military build up on
the island of Cuba.
Communication
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The Cuban Missile Crisis highlighted the importance of a
clear and direct system of communication between
Moscow and Washington.
During the crisis, the two leaders communicated with each
other through letter writing, which proved to be a very slow
form of communication, particularly in such a tense time.
So, in 1963, an agreement was reached, the Hot-line Treaty,
initially using teletype, telegraph and radio-telegraph
communication links. Of course with the development of
new technologies, these communication links have been
upgraded.
These communication tools provided a way for the two
countries to connect, and thus boosted their friendship.
Public Opinion
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The compromise was a particularly sharp
embarrassment for Khrushchev and the Soviet
Union because the withdrawal of U.S. missiles from
Italy and Turkey was not made public—it was a
secret deal between Kennedy and Khrushchev.
The Soviets were seen as retreating from
circumstances that they had started
Khrushchev's fall from power two years later can
be partially linked to Politburo embarrassment at
both Khrushchev's eventual concessions to the U.S.
and his ineptitude in precipitating the crisis in the
first place.
The arms race
 USSR
has caught up, to a certain extent,
with the US in the arms race.
 The United States could no longer be
considered pre-eminent
 Soviet Union has proved itself to be a
major power in terms of military
 In matters of arms control, the USSR could
now negotiate from positions of equality.
Prevention of war
 Both
countries realised the threat of MAD
(mutually assured destruction)
 This crisis was resolved rather successfully
 This ‘thawed’ the cold war – the relations
between the two countries
Bibliography
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Missile_Crisis
http://wwwpersonal.arts.usyd.edu.au/sterobrt/hsty3080/3rdYr3
080/Cuban/indexi.html
https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-studyof-intelligence/csi-publications/csistudies/studies/vol46no1/article06.html
http://library.thinkquest.org/11046/days/index.html
http://library.thinkquest.org/11046/
http://library.thinkquest.org/11046/recon/recon_ro
om.html
And many other sites