The Bay of Pigs and Cuban Missile Crisis

In the 1960’s it was a very drastic time for Cuba. There was the Bay Of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis. These events would involve the Cold War especially with the Cuban Missile Crisis being the peak of it all. Without the support from the U.S, the Bay Of Pigs would be a total disaster for the resistance, but the U.S still wanted to bring down the communist leader which caused the Cuban Missile Crisis. When Cuba reached out for the U.S.S.R’s help that is when things started going downhill real fast for both parties.

After the fall of Batista and the rise of Castro, Castro started to make closer ties with the Russians. Eisenhower made a decision in 1961 to take out Fidel Castro. He funds the C.I.A twelve million dollars to recruit Cuban Exiles in Miami. With the C.I.A training the Cuban Exiles and giving them better weapons, they were also promised air support as well. When John F Kennedy entered office as the new United States President of America things took a drastic turn. When the air bombers came to destroy Castro’s air force, Castro knew this was coming and moved most of his planes out only letting three get destroyed and three civilians killed. When this happened Fidel Castro rallied Cuba telling them that the U.S is a very horrible country for what they have done. As the Cuban Exiles arrived at the Bay Of Pigs, everything went south from there. With no air support and ammo supplies coming the Cuban Exiles were outgunned, outmanned, and outnumbered. 114 died with 1,100 captured. The Cuban Exiles felt betrayed, They trusted in the U.S to help them out but they didn't. The U.S agreed to pay a ransom of $53 million dollars in food and medical supplies for the release of the prisoners. With these events subsiding Cuba called on the U.S.S.R’s help causing the climax of the Cold War. When the U.S.S.R gladly accepts the cry for help Nikita Khrushchev secretly plants Nuclear Missiles in Cuba aiming at America. When the United States Intelligence finally found out what was going on the missiles were already ready to make. At an emergency meeting on October 16, of 1962, Military Advisors agreed to destroy any missile sites in Cuba preventing any rocket launches from Cuba. John F. Kennedy though, approached a safer route, on October 22, John F Kennedy chooses for the US Navy to intercept all shipments to Cuba to stop any supplies from falling into the U.S.S.R’s hands. There was a small problem though, a naval blockade was considered an act of war. Khrushchev wrote to Kennedy out of anger from the blockade saying.

"The violation of freedom to use international waters and international airspace is an act of aggression, which pushes mankind towards the abyss of World Nuclear Missile War." When this was written and sent to John F. Kennedy this caused the most intense six days of the Cold War. As the U.S demanded the U.S.S.R to remove their missiles from Cuba. The U.S.S.R responded as self-defense for the missiles in Turkey and Italy. A spy plane was sent by the U.S to watch the U.S.S.R piloted by Major Rudolph Anderson was shot down with a Soviet Missile. During this same day, a nuclear-armed Soviet Submarine was a hit with a small depth charge from above. Too deep to communicate with the surface the Soviet’s inside thought war had begun. With a nuclear torpedo ready to be launched it only needed approval by the three commanders on board, two of the three commanders approved but the second in command officer did not. With his quick thinking, he helped avoid an entire Nuclear War. But this crisis was not over yet, for the first and only time since the Cold War, The United States reached Defcon 2, the defensive procedure for the next step to Nuclear War. But solutions carried on between two diplomatic people of their countries.

Attorney General Robert Kennedy and Anatoly Dobrynin secretly met up and talked having a negotiation that finally reached a proposal. If the U.S were to remove their missiles from Italy and Turkey and not invade Cuba at all anymore then the U.S.SR would remove their missiles from Cuba. And so this deal went through. The U.S took out their missiles from Italy and Turkey, promised to not invade Cuba anymore and the U.S.S.R did their part and took out their missiles from Cuba. With the second in command denying the launch of the nuclear torpedo to America, and the two diplomats resolving the issue, The Cuban missile crisis ended with some changes and words. But the Bay of Pigs was still a nightmare. All the soldiers that fought during that fight felt betrayed. Their friends died and they lost because John F. Kennedy didn’t back them up.

So here we are now at the conclusion of all this mayhem and chaos. From a failed attack to potential Nuclear War, a lot of things happened between those two years. Bay Of Pigs was something that was going to work, it was going to change Cuba forever. When Eisenhower left presidency John F. Kennedy became the new president. Things didn’t turn out so well when he got in. Bay of Pigs was not backed up, the soldiers felt betrayed and angry towards the U.S, for not helping. The U.S and the U.S.S.R were on the verge of Nuclear War because of a small island. With the right people, the right ideas, and the patience, The Cuban Missile Crisis was solved, No nuclear war between the U.S and the U.S.S.R and Cuba would not be a target for invasions from the U.S anymore. This is my essay on the Bay of Pigs and Cuban Missile Crisis, and I do hope you enjoy reading it.

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