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Cuban Missile Crisis

 

             The year 1962 marks the one time that the world stared down what John F. Kennedy speech writer Theodore Sorensen called "the gun barrel of nuclear war", the death of history as we know it (The Cuban Missile Crisis). The Cuban Missile Crisis was by far the most significant event in the cold war. This event brought together the United States government to collaborate and resolve a chaotic crisis with such poise that resulted in peace. The most studied international confrontation of the twentieth century is a model of how opposing forces can avoid war and discover peace (The Cuban Missile Crisis).
             A great deal of the tension between Cuba and the United States can be traced back to the Bay of Pigs Invasion in 1961. The purpose of this operation was to overthrow Fidel Castro with a strong emphasis on covering up United States involvement on the matter. The Central Intelligence Agency trained anti revolutionary Cuban exiles in Guatemala for the invasion and spent well over forty-six million dollars in preparation. The United States intended to rally anti-Castro forces within Cuba to assist in the invasion, but their plans began to fall apart. Nearly fifteen thousand Cuban exiles using American weapons landed at The Bay of Pigs on the southern coast of Cuba. Our intentions were to round up support from the natives but this didn't occur. For unknown reasons President Kennedy chose to not send in air strikes, and the mission was quickly diffused by Castro's army. Nearly one hundred were killed and the remaining were taken captive and eventually released after a ransom had been paid. This disaster made the Kennedy administration appear incompetent and weak and added much fuel to Castro's resentment to the United States (Bay of Pigs Invasion). .
             Late in the night on October fifteenth, 1962, the Central Intelligence Agency sent President Kennedy detailed photographic intelligence. The information indicated that Soviet nuclear missile installations were being constructed in Cuba (The Cuban Missile Crisis).


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