The Cuban Missile CrisisWere Contemporaries correct in regarding President Kennedy as the saviour of the western world after the Cuban Missile crisis?

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The Cuban missile crisis was the most dangerous of the Cold War, but it still involves the two main superpower enemies; Russia and America, only this time Cuba got involved too. The Cold War happened because America was scared that Communism would spread to their democratic West. Russia being the huge superpower in the east was Communist, and after the Russian Revolution, Lenin was planned on making Communism worldwide, this petrified the west. America believed in the Domino Theory, which was that if one country became Communist, then the neighboring countries would soon follow, like dominoes falling down. A good example of this was when China became Communist, soon its neighbour Korea was Communist as well. Russia was worried about America bases in NATO countries in Europe.

There was always competition between Russia and America because they were two superpowers. There was the Arms Race, where both countries competed for newer, stronger weapons than the other. Such as when America developed the A bomb, Russia got the A bomb, America got the H bomb, Russia got the H bomb and so on. They were both trying to out do each other with nuclear weapons, but if one of them used them then it would probably lead to the end of mankind. There was also the Space race, which also involved competition between the two super powers. This time they were competing for people in space, for example, Russia had the first man in space but America had the first man on the moon. The main aim of the Space Race was to develop rocket Technology. By 160 both superpowers had enough nuclear weapons to wipe out each other and everyone else as well. However, they were both still nervous and worried about what would happen if their missiles were destroyed before they had the chance to use them. Both the USA and USSR became worried that nuclear weapons were not the final solution. So both sides come up with their own nuclear deterrent. This would be achieved by making sure that your own side could strike back even after being attacked by nuclear weapons, so The USA then came up with the Polaris missile, which could be fired from nuclear submarines below the surface. This was a great advantage to the USA because it meant that they could fire at Russia without them realizing because it was undetectable. In A it mentions that in 155 the Americans launched a nuclear-powered submarine, which was a major advantage for the USA because it could be cruising at high speeds below the surface for weeks and the enemy would know nothing about it. It also says that not long after the nuclear-powered submarines came the Polaris missiles, which could be fired from below the surface from the submarines. These two things caused a big change in the attitudes of the world leaders. Their main concern now was to prevent nuclear war, and the source says that everything else came second. This Polaris missile changed the whole strategy of the Cold War and the attitudes of the leaders in it.

The island of Cuba lies about 0 miles off the USA coast. From 15 to 15 a dictator ruled it called General Batista, the USA supported him for most of that time. American companies controlled most of Cuba business, so as long as Cuba was at peace American business profited. So the USA supplied Batista with arms. However Batista's rule became more and more brutal so America stopped supplying arms in 157. The USA wanted a more effective government so it encouraged a resistance movement led by Fidel Castro. In 15, Castro overthrew Batista's government and became Cuban president; he had by then become Communist, which worried the Americans at all seen as they had been trying to stop the spread of communism Communism. So the friendly relations between USA and Castro didn't last for long. Castro began a series of reforms, which included nationalizing the industries, which were mostly American. Also, Castro blamed the USA for the island's poverty and sought aid from the USSR. In the past the USA had always bought Cuba's sugar, so when America refused to buy their sugar, the USSR agreed to buy it in return for oil and machinery. All this caught the USA off guard because the USA always saw Castro as non-threatening. A4 states that in America, Castro was virtually unknown and that "American ignorance to the changes he had in mind was one of the reasons for the friction, which later developed between Cuba and America leading to the Bay of Pigs invasion".

When Kennedy took over as American president in 161, he became the youngest ever president. He was told of a CIA plan to invade Cuba and overthrow Castro, which he allowed to go ahead but the result was a disaster, and became known as the Bay of Pigs. On April 17th, about 1500 of Castro's opponents landed at Cochinos Bay (Bay of Pigs) on the southern coasts of Cuba. They were equipped with arms provided by the USA. These rebels had told the CIA that the Cubans would join them and overthrow Castro, unfortunately they did not. The group was poorly trained and badly equipped; even their maps were out of date. They were outnumbered by almost 00 to 1 and within three days the invaders were either dead or in prison. The results of the Bay of Pigs were the opposite of what the CIA had intended. Firstly, Castro became more popular because of how easily the Cuban army had defeated the invaders. Source C1 is a primary source because it is a speech made by Fidel Castro at the funerals of the Cubans killed in the Bay of Pigs. What he is saying is that what the Americans can't stand is that the Cubans have made a revolution right under the American's noses, and they didn't even realise. It is obviously a biased source because it is from Castro, the Cuban president. C is a poster issued by the Cuban government with the phrase "The defence of our country is everybody's duty". This poster is trying to get people to join the Cuban army, and especially after the Bay of Pigs there was a lot of anti-American feeling around. Again this is a primary source because it is taken from the time. Also, Castro now saw the USA as a very serious threat and asked Khrushchev to help defend Cuba. The Bay of Pigs also didn't help Kennedy's reputation as a new president. In a speech he says, "How could I have been so far off base? All my life I've known better than to depend on the experts. How could I have been so stupid to let them go ahead?"

Now that Cuba had the help of Russia, throughout 16 American intelligence kept a watch over Cuba. In the summer, CIA agents reported sightings of Soviet ships heading for the island. In September, the USSR admitted supplying arms to Castro but said that they were only for Cuban defence. This did seem to make sense, because if the USSR was to attack the USA it didn't need to go to Cuba to do it, it could have launched missiles from the bases in the USSR. From B I can see that the missiles placed on Cuba from the USSR had nearly all the major American cities in their strike range, including Washington and New York. Cuban exiles told the CIA agents of convoys of Lorries carrying large objects; others said that they had seen missiles being set up. On 16th October 16, Kennedy received some evidence, which revealed that Khrushchev was lying. An American U- spy plane had flown over Cuba and taken pictures. These pictures showed rocket-launching sites being built on the island. From these sites Cubans would be able to fire atomic missiles at almost any major American city. The big question now was what should Kennedy do?

On October 16th he appointed an Executive Committee to give him advice. The leading figure on the committee was the president's younger brother, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. The committee narrowed it down to three options. The first was to launch a nuclear strike against the missile sites. The second was launching a conventional air strike, followed by an invasion and the third was initiating a naval blockade that would prevent the Soviets from sending any further material into Cuba. Now Kennedy was a young, inexperienced president and after the Bay of Pigs he really needed to improve his image, so he had to think carefully about what option to choose. In B it says that the majority of the Ex. Comm. wanted a conventional air strike followed by an invasion. However, Robert Kennedy, the president's brother wanted the naval blockade, which would keep out Soviet goods but not force Khrushchev to react immediately. The advantage of the naval blockade, as Robert Kennedy saw it, was that if it didn't work then the pressure could be stepped up. Although the rest of the committee wanted an air strike and invasion, in the end President Kennedy followed his brother's advice and chose to have a naval blockade.

Up until now it seemed that the USSR was winning the Cold war, especially after the Americans had been humiliated when a U- spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union. In August 161 the communists had also built the Berlin Wall. Yet again the USA had been embarrassed again in 161 after the Bay of Pigs fiasco. So when President Kennedy appeared on television on October nd and announced the blockade and asked Khrushchev to stop supplying missiles to Cuba he wanted to appear as leader of the West. B4 is a primary source because it is taken from Kennedy's actual televised speech. This source is going to be biased because it is spoken by Kennedy to it is obviously going to be giving an American viewpoint. It is also going to be biased because Kennedy is trying to get global support. In his speech he announces that there will be a naval blockade and "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". He also says in his speech "I call upon Chairman Khrushchev to halt and eliminate this clandestine, reckless and provocative threat to world peace".

The meaning of Kennedy's speech was obvious; if a Cuban missile was launched then the USA would attack the USSR. On the 4th October, 1 Soviet ships heading for Cuba were either stopped or changed course. On Cuba, work still continued at the missile sites, while in the USA, Kennedy mobilised his troops ready for a possible invasion of Cuba. On the other hand, Russia were looking for a way out of the crisis, Khrushchev sent Kennedy two letters. In his first letter he told Kennedy that he would remove all missiles from Cuba and stop sending weapons there, only if the USA stopped their blockade and do not interfere with Russian ships. In the second letter, Khrushchev stated that the USA had missiles situated in Britain, Italy and most importantly Turkey. He told Kennedy that if the USA remove their missiles from Britain, Italy and Turkey then USSR would remove all missiles from Cuba. Kennedy accepted this deal and the crisis ended on October 8th. The public was told that the USSR had agreed to remove its missiles from Cuba and not install anymore. In fact, Kennedy had struck a secret deal with Khrushchev, so Kennedy removed all the missiles from Turkey six months later and Khrushchev removed all the missiles from Cuba. C5 is a secondary source because it is part of a BBC publication called "Cuba in Crisis 16" written in 184. It is not going to be biased because it is well researched and is not siding with anyone.

Were contemporaries correct in regarding President Kennedy as the saviour of the western world after the Cuban missile crisis? This is the question that I return to. The Crisis when over made Kennedy appear to have come out of the event the hero, but was this idea really fair. By looking at source D1 it shows us exactly what Kennedy wanted, as it is an extract from his inaugural address in January 161. This was the first speech he made as the President of the United States. He states that he would bear any burden so would fight anyone and he would "Support any Friend and oppose an foe" this meaning that he would support an ally like Britain, and would oppose any non ally like Communist Russia, and then he moves on to say that he assures the survival and the success of liberty or freedom. It is a contempary source and favors Kennedy making him look like the good guy, also its is biased as it was Drawn by the Daily Mail a British newspaper and Britain at the time and still is an ally to America. The picture also shows the definite split between Russia and Cuba, and America. It portrays Kennedy wearing white and on the side both Castro and Khrushchev are wearing dark colours; this shows us quite clearly the good and bad sides. Kennedy is the sheriff and Castro and Khrushchev are the outlaws. By looking closely at the picture, in the background you can faintly see the town's people running away probably leading us to believe they are running away in fear of the devastation of nuclear war between Russia, Cuba, and America.

Another contemporary source is D4. This shows Kennedy and Khrushchev on top of a large box and on the side is written Nuclear War, it shows Kennedy and Khrushchev, trying to contain the Nuclear War, and shows us how scared the both of them actually were. This source surprises me in that it has been written by an American, as it is an extract from an American cartoon, and shows both Kennedy and Khrushchev, this shows us that the source is impartial, and that it gives credit to both of them. This however is the first time we see Kennedy and Khrushchev, in the same picture, and sharing the glory of being the saviours of ending this crisis. It is also noticeable that Khrushchev did play a fairly large part in stopping The Cuban Missile Crisis.

The last two sources are probably the most important of all the sources available. D, is a secondary source, and our first one, it was actually written about the Bay of Pigs, mentioning the plans on how the overthrow of Castro were going to be carried out by Cuban exiles, but consequently when the presidency changed in 161 to Kennedy he inherited a policy which he himself had not initiated but he carried on with it. This shows how young Kennedy actually was when he first became President he was the youngest president America had ever had, and it shows clearly his inexperience. In a way you can't blame Kennedy for what he did, as he didn't come up with the idea Eisenhower did. According to D the Americans lost all possibilities of a more positive approach

Finally, source D5 (another secondary source) this is an extract written by Tony Howarth, and taken from a book called "Twentieth Century History, The world since 100". This is the source that believes that it was both Kennedy and Khrushchev that were the saviours. This extract starts off by looking at views made by the people at the time of the Crisis, which was that Kennedy was the hero. Looking back in hindsight it gives a picture of a longer term result, and gives a different view of Kennedy, as to that the world had at the time, a majority of these views claimed that Kennedy was the hero, however Fidel Castro is still at present the president of Cuba, and is adored by its citizens. Also according source D5, Kennedy and Khrushchev realized that at the brink of war they had no means of fast communication with each other, so in June 16 their two Governments agreed to set up a hotline, a direct communication system link between the white house and the Kremlin, it was created to prevent any further crises. The actions taken by both Kennedy and Khrushchev illustrate that they were both reluctant to go to war as when Kennedy set up the blockade, Khrushchev ordered his ships to stop at the blockade, to prevent anything happening.

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