The Cuban Missile Crisis was when the Soviet Union, Russia, planted their missiles on Cuba to have an advantage in the Cold War.
Some Background on the Crisis:
Cuba is a small island near Florida. It was having terrible problems; for example corruptions in the government. It was in desperate need of a leader and the island got one. He was elected in 1959 and his name was Fidel Castro. America thought that Castro was going to improve Cuba but when they heard that he was a communist, Americans were horrified, and quickly were against him because the red scare, the fear of communism was very strong at the time. Fidel Castro was also a dictator, and he controlled Cubans lives and they were not allowed to oppose him. Many Cubans left Cuba for the United States which was just 90 miles off the coast. The United States no longer approved of Castro and when John F. Kennedy he approved the C.I.A. (central intelligent agency that was mainly spies) in their secret training of Cubans to go back and overthrow Castro. This invasion (called operation mongoose) was planned in the Bay of Pigs, a bay in Cuba, and it was a disaster. Everything you could think of went wrong. The Cuban people did not step up and help and worst of all the United States had now made enemies with Fidel Castro, who was now completely against us.
The Crisis:
Castro thought that another United States invasion was sure to follow. He started updating Cuba's military forces with Soviet money. The Cuban government saw signs that the United States would invade again so Fidel Castro and Nikita Khrushchev (the Soviet leader) secretly placed nuclear missiles in Cuba (Khrushchev also wanted to bully the new president because he was young and thought to be weak.) Kennedy learned of the missiles with the new reconnaissance airplanes like the F-8 Crusador. He received pictures that told him of the activities happening in Cuba. The crisis went from October 8, 1962 until October 28, 1962 with Kennedy sending out a plane nearly every three hours. During the few weeks tensions were high and there were many threats sent. If the United States invaded, it would have started a war. If Castro sent any missiles at the United States (he could hit any major city), they would have blown the island off the face of the earth. Kennedy blockaded ships carrying weapons from Cuba. Finally John F. Kennedy and the Soviet leaders reached an agreement to dismantle the missiles in Cuba if the United States promised not to invade Cuba. Nikita Khrushchev also requested that the United States remove their missiles from Turkey which they did. But Kennedy still kept Armed Forces ready if necessary. Another problem was soon worrying Kennedy more than the missile crisis, and that was the Vietnam War.
The Closest We Ever Came to World War III
The Cuban Missile Crisis was when the Soviet Union, Russia, planted their missiles on Cuba to have an advantage in the Cold War.Some Background on the Crisis:
Cuba is a small island near Florida. It was having terrible problems; for example corruptions in the government. It was in desperate need of a leader and the island got one. He was elected in 1959 and his name was Fidel Castro. America thought that Castro was going to improve Cuba but when they heard that he was a communist, Americans were horrified, and quickly were against him because the red scare, the fear of communism was very strong at the time. Fidel Castro was also a dictator, and he controlled Cubans lives and they were not allowed to oppose him. Many Cubans left Cuba for the United States which was just 90 miles off the coast. The United States no longer approved of Castro and when John F. Kennedy he approved the C.I.A. (central intelligent agency that was mainly spies) in their secret training of Cubans to go back and overthrow Castro. This invasion (called operation mongoose) was planned in the Bay of Pigs, a bay in Cuba, and it was a disaster. Everything you could think of went wrong. The Cuban people did not step up and help and worst of all the United States had now made enemies with Fidel Castro, who was now completely against us.The Crisis:
Castro thought that another United States invasion was sure to follow. He started updating Cuba's military forces with Soviet money. The Cuban government saw signs that the United States would invade again so Fidel Castro and Nikita Khrushchev (the Soviet leader) secretly placed nuclear missiles in Cuba (Khrushchev also wanted to bully the new president because he was young and thought to be weak.) Kennedy learned of the missiles with the new reconnaissance airplanes like the F-8 Crusador. He received pictures that told him of the activities happening in Cuba. The crisis went from October 8, 1962 until October 28, 1962 with Kennedy sending out a plane nearly every three hours. During the few weeks tensions were high and there were many threats sent. If the United States invaded, it would have started a war. If Castro sent any missiles at the United States (he could hit any major city), they would have blown the island off the face of the earth. Kennedy blockaded ships carrying weapons from Cuba. Finally John F. Kennedy and the Soviet leaders reached an agreement to dismantle the missiles in Cuba if the United States promised not to invade Cuba. Nikita Khrushchev also requested that the United States remove their missiles from Turkey which they did. But Kennedy still kept Armed Forces ready if necessary. Another problem was soon worrying Kennedy more than the missile crisis, and that was the Vietnam War.These are the planes and pictures taken.