THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS
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The Cuban Missile Crisis as Framed by the Media
Emily Jensen
University of North Florida
The Cuban Missile Crisis as Framed by the Media
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For 16 days in October of 1962 the Cold War was anything but cold.
President Kennedy was shown several photographs on October 16th proving that
the Soviet Union was installing defense missiles in Cuba. Soviet diplomats denied
the missiles and on October 22nd President Kennedy made a televised
announcement to the American people about the finding of the missiles.
There was much debate about how to handle the situation. Some U.S.
officials wanted to invade Cuba but President Kennedy chose a different way to
handle the situation; he set up a quarantine around Cuba. The United States Armed
Forces were to stop offensive material from getting to Cuba by sea. The blockade
was known as Proclamation 3504 and it was effective from October 24th to
November 20th of the following year.
The Cuban Missile Crisis is known as being a ‘crisis’ because Americans
believed they were ahead of the Soviet Union’s time. The United States had
missiles in Turkey that were capable of reaching the Soviet Union, whereas their
missiles were not capable of reaching the U.S. This was comforting to Americans.
So it came as a shock to the U.S when Soviet diplomats decided to move their
missiles to Cuba.
The Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest the U.S. and the Soviet Union
came to a confrontation during the Cold War. It was the responsibility of the press
to keep the people informed about the crisis. The media framed Cuban and Soviet
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Union officials as evil, wrong-doing people who would not cooperate with U.S.
officials. They framed the United States as having heroic diplomats and being in
great danger. The press also framed the event as of major importance by having
large headlines, several stories per issue, and many photographs.
The press portrayed the Cuban Missile Crisis as just that - a crisis. In
“Castro is Defiant; Bars Arms Check” (1962) the Associated Press depicts the
United States as being in severe danger. AP stated the Soviet Union sent a
“serious warning” (p. 23) to the U.S. The article also mentioned the Cuban
president was wearing a military uniform meaning he was ready to fight.
Reporter Foster Hailey of the New York Times wrote “Steps are Taken by the
Air Force” (1962) and said a security blackout was strictly enforced resembling the
ones for World War II. Hailey (1962) also took note on how places around the
U.S. and their alliances were taking precautionary actions and were ready to fight
if needed. Even places far from Cuba, such as Hawaii, were prepared for rapid
deployment (p. 22). The Cuban Missile Crisis seemed more like a crisis because
of the way the press was framing it.
The American people realized the danger at hand because of the wording of
the media. For example, “this is an act that very soon will have repercussions in
all nations” (“Castro Defiant”, 1962, p. 23) sounds more frightening than simply
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saying Premier Castro disliked the blockade. Using Castro’s exact quote leaves a
chilling thought in readers’ minds.
The press does an exceptional job of displaying U.S. officials as being
heroic and for the people. Cuban and Soviet Union diplomats are portrayed as
immoral people. The President persuaded Americans of this in his speech given on
October 22nd. He called placing the missiles in Cuba as being “provocative and
unjustified” (“Text of the President’s Speech”, 1962, p. 18).
Kennedy also insisted he was making the right choice on how to handle the
situation. He said the goal was not victory, but rather “the vindication of right”
(“Text of the President’s Speech”, 1962, p. 18). It is this type of wording that
places the U.S. in a positive light and Communists in a negative one.
In “Blockade Begins at 10 a.m. Today” (1962), the special correspondent
used strong words such as ‘declared’ to make the U.S. seem powerful in its actions.
This article clearly stated that it was the Soviet Union’s fault for the crisis by
saying the President “put responsibility for the crisis - and thus the blockade directly on the Soviet Union” (p. 21). U.S. officials are put into the frame of the
‘good guy’. The article also depicted Cuba and the Soviet Union as being the
rebels, having mentioned the blockade was approved 19 to 0. This also implied
that the U.S. was taking the correct measures in terminating the issue.
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Not only did the press frame Cuba and the Soviet Union as being wrong,
they also portrayed them as not cooperating with what U.S. officials were telling
them to do. “U.S. vs. Russia” (1962) said the only way Khrushchev would listen
was by “hitting him over the snout” (p. 1). A White House aide interviewed for
the article said he thought Khrushchev had not gotten their message due to the
Soviet Union not paying little attention to the threats made by U.S. officials.
In addition, “U.S. vs. Russia” made the Cuban Missile Crisis seem like no
big deal. This is unlike the majority of news articles, besides opinion pieces, by
saying “the Soviets already has missiles on its own soil which could do the job”
(“U.S. vs. Russia”, 1962, p.1).
The Wall Street Journal considered the crisis to be a good thing. Being a
newspaper whose primary focus is business, the point that war stimulates the
economy was made. This could be why they thought the crisis was not as bad as
everyone else thought. “Almost every Federal fiscal and budgetary problem might
suddenly turn inside out” (“U.S. vs. Russia”, 1962, p. 18). There was talk around
Washington D.C. about a tax cut to stimulate the economy but the reporter seemed
to think that the Cuban Missile Crisis would do the trick.
The editors of The Wall Street Journal ran “If Cuban Invasion is Eventually
Launched; Terrain Easy, but Castro Army Well-Armed” on page 18 about how
effortless it would be to successfully invade Cuba. Ed Cony, the reporter, wrote
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that “Havana would be a plum worth picking” and the island was “soft picking” (p.
18). They framed it as if there had been an invasion, the economy would have
been in even better shape.
Many of the articles in The London Times had the same views as American
newspapers. England was one of the United States’ allies so it is not surprising
that the views were similar. They framed the President as a hero and a man of his
word by saying things such as he was “statesmanlike”. They agreed with his
contribution to peace and applauded his “firm commitments” to ending the Cuban
Missile Crisis (“Russia to Withdraw”, 1962, p. 10).
England and the United States had similar views of Soviet diplomats as well.
The article mentioned that most people were skeptical about Khrushchev’s consent
to remove the missiles. They too, believed Cuba and the Soviet Union were
wicked for their actions.
The London Times framed Castro as a weak leader who had the “humiliating
role” of dismantling the missiles and was dependent upon communist countries for
supplies (“Castro Demand”, 1962, p. 10). They outlined the communist party as
having a lack of communication because Castro radioed a message to the U.S.
about the conditions under which he would remove the missiles even though
Khrushchev had already agreed to take them down. Adding this to the article made
communists seem like fools.
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Time.com published an article on the 20th anniversary of the Cuban Missile
Crisis in which U.S. officials who played key roles talked about lessons learned.
Surprisingly, they showed Khrushchev as a statesmanlike person and admired his
change of mind. This is opposite from the views in 1962. One view that remained
the same is how sensible President Kennedy was to the situation. “In the
successful resolution of the crisis, restraint was as important as strength” (“The
Lessons Learned of the Cuban Missile Crisis”, 1982).
The movie Thirteen Days gave an inside prospective of White House
officials during the nerve racking days of October 1962. As compared to the press,
the movie portrays the military as being the decision makers as opposed to the
President. Kennedy, however, was under the impression that the military wanted
redemption for the Bay of Pigs incident. It is because of this that he took full
control of the blockade; all armed forces were under his command.
Kennedy’s administration, according to Thirteen Days, urged the press not
to write about the military preparations prior to his speech on October 22 nd. “They
(the press) will be saving lives, including their own” (“Thirteen Days”, 2000).
Also, U.S. officials refused to tell the press why there was excessive military
exercises before the president made his speech. Not even the White House
correspondent knew what happening.
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News first broke to the public of the Cuban Missile Crisis after President
Kennedy made a broadcast announcement. If it were not for television and radio,
word of the crisis would have taken longer to circulate. The media played the
major role of keeping the public up to date during this time.
The media faced prior restraint and really had to dig for their information.
Nevertheless, the press was still capable of having several articles and photographs
in each issue. This made the Cuban Missile Crisis seem like the most important
topic during that time. Kennedy’s administration enforced prior restraint on the
press because they were afraid of the damages it might cause. Because of this, the
media were more like story tellers. They could only tell the information that was
already public. Running several articles put the event into prospective for people.
As opposed to having just one large article, having multiple small ones with large
headlines made it not only seem important, but also clearer to the readers.
It was because of the Cuban Missile Crisis that the Hot Line was created.
This was a way for the two countries to communicate directly, eliminating the
middle man. In a way, the White House did this with the press. The correspondent
was the hot line. That way, there was no confusion. It is safe to say that because
of this the media framed Soviets and Cubans as bad people, and framed the U.S. as
doing the right thing. The U.S. truly was in danger during this time and that is
exactly how the media portrayed it.
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References
Castro Demand for Return of Guantanamo. (1962, October 29). The London Times,
p. 10.
Castro is Defiant; Bars Arms Check. (1962, October 23). The New York Times, pp.
1, 23.
Cony, E. (1962, October 23). If Cuban Invasion is Eventually Launched: Terrain
Easy, but Castro Army Well-Armed. The Wall Street Journal, p. 18.
Cuban Missile Crisis. (n.d.). In Global Security. Retrieved September 27, 2010,
from U.S. Cavalry website:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/cuba-62.htm
Essay: The Lessons of the Cuban Missile Crisis. (1982, September 27). Time.
Retrieved from
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,925769,00.html
Greenwood, B., Culp, S., & Costner, K. (2000). Thirteen Days. Infinifilm
Hailey, F. (1962, October 23). Steps are Taken by the Air Force. The New York
Time, p. 22.
Kenworthy, E. W. (1962, October 23). Blockade Begins at 10 a.m. Today. The
New York Times, pp. 1, 17.
Russia to Withdraw Missiles from Cuba. (1962, October 29). The London Times, p.
10.
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Text of the President's Speech on Arms Blockade of Cuba. (1962, October 23). The
Wall Street Journal, p. 18.
U.S. vs. Russia. (1962, October 23). The Wall Street Journal, pp. 1, 18.