Results of Cuban Missile Crisis

The Cuban Missile Crisis was a great event in history in 1962 where the Soviet Union and the United States were very close to nuclear war because of nuclear missiles being placed in Cuban territory. This crisis was a period of thirteen days in the month of October where most Americans expected nuclear was, because of this, they headed for their fallout shelters. It was one of the worst thing that happened in the Cold War. This event was between the Soviet Union and the United States. The leader of the Soviets at the time was Nikita S. Khrushchev. The president of the United States at the time was John F Kennedy.

The Cuban Missile Crisis started for a couple of reasons. First, in May, Cuban leaders thought the United States was planning to attack them. At the time, Cuba and the Soviet Union were allies, so Cuban President, Fidel Castro, agreed to accept an offer from the Soviet Union to have the Soviets medium-ranged missiles placed in Cuban Territory. The missiles could range up to 2,500 miles which meant it could attack most of the continental United States. By July, the nuclear missiles were secretly being shipped to Cuba.

Khrushchev mainly intended his missile deployment as an effort to spread revolution throughout all of Latin America. Then, on October 16, 1962, JFK learned about the missiles in Cuba. Photos from an American U-2 spy plane secretly photographed nuclear missile sites being built. John F Kennedy didn’t want the Soviets to know that he knew about the missiles. Once the Soviets found out that the United States knew about their missiles, the Soviets kept telling Kennedy that the missiles were only defensive. The U-2 spy plane later confirmed that the missiles were offensive ballistic nuclear missiles. Kennedy intended to show the photos from the U-2 plane at the session of the U.N. to pressure the Soviet Union to remove the missiles. There is one last reason this crisis started. At the time of this significant event, the United States and Turkey were allies. Turkey borders the Soviet Union. Kennedy approved the placement of nuclear weapons in Turkey. Once Khrushchev found out about the missiles in Turkey, he was furious.

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