THE SUPERPOWERS AND CUBA
Objective: To realize that superpowers generally refrain from interfering in each others’ spheres of influence when their
own security is not directly threatened.
Notes: Cubans perceived American influence in Cuba prior to the Castro Revolution as exploitive. This feeling was
exemplified by extensive American owned sugar plantations and organized crime in the capital city of Havana.
Beginning in 1956, Fidel Castro led a three-year popular revolution based on reform of the economic, political, and social
order of Cuba. In 1961, much to America’s chagrin, Castro announced that Cuba had become a Communist state.
Communist Cuba, feeling threatened by its proximity to the United States, enlisted Soviet economic and military
support. America responded by conducting subversive activities against Castro through the C.I.A. and planning a military
invasion. The Bay of Pigs military action in 1961 failed to overthrow the Castro regime.
In 1962, Soviet advisers arrived in Cuba to help build missile sites. In response, President Kennedy had to decide
what position the United States would take concerning the placement of Soviet missiles in Cuba. When he ordered
military action against the U.S.S.R. through a naval blockade of Cuba, Khrushchev backed down and ordered the missiles
dismantled.
In this activity, you will locate Cuba, the United States, and the Soviet Union, and complete a chart of alternative
actions and possible consequences in the Cuban Missile Crisis. This activity will help you to perceive a relationship
between spheres of influence and superpower actions. Be sure to identify the meaning of spheres of influence,
conventional force, and economic embargo.
Part A
1. On a map of the United States and the Caribbean, locate Cuba and Florida, U.S.A. What is the distance between
them?
2. On a world map, locate Cuba and Moscow, U.S.S.R . What is the distance between them?
3. Answer these true or false questions.
A. The Soviet Union can act more quickly in the Caribbean with conventional forces than can the United States.
B. The United States is more likely to have a clear-cut military superiority in the Caribbean than the Soviet
Union.
C. Cuba is more likely to be within the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union than within the United States
sphere of influence.
Part B
1. Several alternative courses of action relating to the Cuban Missile Crisis are given. List a possible consequence
of each.
A. Instead of ordering a naval blockade. JFK could have:
1) Ordered a bombing of Cuba
2) Ordered an economic embargo of the Soviet Union
3) Attempted to resolve the Missile Crisis in the United Nations
B. Instead of backing down. Nikita Krushchev could have:
1) Proceeded with the missile placement
2) Ordered an economic embargo on the United States
3) Attempted to resolve the Missile Crisis in the United Nations
2. Why did John F. Kennedy choose a strong course of action?
3. Why did Nikita Khrushchev back down?
4. Write a one-sentence summary stating a relationship between spheres of influence and actions of superpowers.