Cuban Missile Crisis Has Been Term Paper

S. had agreed not to invade Cuba in return for removal of the missiles. However, several months later, the U.S. did remove the Jupiters from Turkey, as well. The administration averted the crisis, and the Soviets and Americans did remove their missiles.

Kennedy's actions most certainly avoided a nuclear war. The Soviets admitted they planned to use the missiles against the U.S., and installed them because they were afraid that Kennedy planned to invade Cuba. Before the crisis, there had been talk in the Kennedy administration of invading Cuba, assassinating Fidel Castro, and other actions against Cuba and its Communist leadership, and there was the failed Bay of Pigs invasion that made Cuba very wary of the U.S. So, in a way, the Kennedy administration helped bring on the missile crisis, but how the administration handled it was much more important.

Kennedy assembled a team of experts, including his brother Robert, and they made key decisions that helped avoid nuclear war. They came up with several options to deal with the attack, including invasion and air attacks, but finally settled on the blockade as the most effective action, mostly because the Soviets would not see it as an openly aggressive act of war. The blockade took place in international waters, and even though one Soviet ship did go through the blockade, it was effective in turning the tide of the crisis and keeping vital materials for the missiles from reaching Cuba. It also helped stall the Soviet advance and give time for negotiations to continue.Kennedy managed to avert a world crisis with diplomacy and good negotiating tactics, and so, the people remember him as a hero for his actions during this time. He did a good job of stopping a bad situation, and it was indeed his "finest hour."

References

Nigro, Louis J. "High Noon in the Cold War: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and the Cuban Missile Crisis." Parameters 35.3 (2005): 154+.

Stern, Sheldon M. The Week the World Stood Still: Inside the Secret Cuban Missile….....