The Cuban Missile Crisis, October 18-29, 1962

On October 22, 1962, President John F. Kennedy was informed that the Soviet Union had secret plans to build missile bases in Cuba, which is 90 miles south of Florida. Kennedy wanted to take the least dangerous approach to this problem and decided to demand from Russian Premier Nikitas Khrushchev to remove all missile bases and dangerous weapons from Cuba. Kennedy also ordered a naval blockade in Cuba to all Russian ships. In response to this, Khrushchev told his troops that if the United States invaded Cuba to launch the missiles. Seven days passed as the worlds largest powers starred each other down until Khrushchev decided to give into the United States demands. He ordered Soviet ships out of Cuban waters and commanded that the missiles be taken down. The world was at peace again.

Although the length of the solving the crisis was quite short, the process can be construed as challenging and complex. In June of 1961, at the beginning of his presidency, Kennedy attended summit in Vienna to discuss the cold war with Khrushchev. The summit proved to be unsuccessful and led Khrushchev to believe that Kennedy was a weak president who lacked power to negotiate power in the arms race. Khrushchev became concerned that the United States had more missiles and that some were based in Turkey, 150 miles away from the Soviet Union. The Soviets grew desperate to somehow tip the balance of power in their favor.

The Soviets chose to stage their operations in Cuba. Fidel Castro was struggling to keep his political power in Cuba because many efforts against him by the United States became increasingly harmful. In early 1959, when Castro came to power by overthrowing the government of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, the United States set an embargo on Cuba. The United States stopped buying trading which caused disastrous effects because of the heavy reliance Cuba had on America. Khrushchev saw this opportunity to form an alliance with Cuba and eagerly