The Cuban Missile Crisis

1. Kennedy described Wednesday, Oct. 24 and Saturday, Oct. 27 as the darkest days of the crisis. Use the information on page 350 to explain why.
The blockade on october 24 is the beginning of the blockade on Cuba. The soviet ships carrying the missiles still come and this gives the soviets initiative to ask for the removal of missiles from turkey. This happened on saturday october 27. Kennedy was torn over this because he wanted the Cuban missiles out of the area but could not remove the missiles from Turkey. Also a U2 plane was shot down over cuba on the same day.

2. Do you think that nuclear war was ever a possibility in this crisis?
Yes because all the resources necassary for war were set in place and ready to be fired off at the moment of attack. Each country had enough weapons to anhiliate the other.



3. Is Source 26 a Soviet or an American cartoon? Explain your answer by referring to the details in the cartoon.
I believe that source 26 is an american cartoon mainly because it shows Kennedy as being the calm cool and collected one while Kruschev is stressed out and weak. It also shows how Kruschev is losing this cold war while Kennedy (america) is winning.

4. Using Source 27 list any evidence you can find for and against each of the explanations.

Why did the Soviet Union place nuclear missiles on Cuba?
To bargain with the USA

If there were missiles in Cuba Khrushchev could get Kennedy to give up some stuff in return for the removal of the missiles.

To test the USA
The Soviet Union wanted to test out President Kennedy. They placed these nuclear weapons in Cuba to see how strong the Americans really were. If america would act upon the issue, the Soviets knew they were strong. If they were to back down, they were weak and now the Soviets could use this to their advantage.

To trap the USA
the missiles in Cuba were a trap. Khrushchev wanted the Americans to find them and enter into a nuclear war.

To get the upper hand in the arms race
Khrushchev believed that with missiles in Cuba it was less likely that the USA would ever launch an attack against the USSR.


To defend Cuba

The missiles were used to help defend Cuba.


5. Choose the explanation(s) that you think best fit what you have found out about the crisis. Explain your choice.
I deffinatley think that Kruschev placed these missiles in Cuba to bargain with the u.s and to see how strong they were. Kruschev deffinatley believed that if he could put the missiles on Cuba and scare the u.s enough, they would back down in Turkey. For testing the U.S i think kruschev wanted to see how the u.s would react to such an immediate threat. This could determine how the soviets wanted to attack the u.s and what they could get away with.