“Khrushchev’s defeat in the Cuban Missile Crisis

established the irreversible decline of Soviet Union”.

I am not totally agree with the topic in my opinion US and USSR were almost both sides won .
However Khrushchev lost prestige and the result for USSR was China broke from Soviet Union.
In contrast , Kennedy gained prestige. But I am on US’s side and I would like to discuss this
topic from US’s
At the beginning of September 1962, U2 spy planes discovered that the Soviet Union was
building surface to air missile launch sites which is called as SAM. There was also an increase in
the number of Soviet ships arriving in Cuba which the United States government feared were
carrying new supplies of weapons. President J. F. Kennedy complained to the Soviet Union about
these developments and warned them that the United States would not accept offensive weapons
in Cuba.
As the Cubans now had SAM installations they were in a position to shoot down U2 spy planes. Kennedy
was in a difficult situation. Elections were to take place for the United States Congress in two months
time. The public opinion polls showed that his own ratings had fallen to their lowest point since he
became president.
In his first two years of office a combination of Republicans and conservative southern Democrats in
Congress had blocked much of Kennedy's proposed legislation. The polls suggested that after the
elections he will have even less support in Congress. Kennedy feared that any trouble over Cuba would
lose the Democratic Party even more votes, as it would remind voters of the Bay of Pigs disaster where
the CIA had tried to oust Fidel Castro from power. There were one other poll which is showed that over
62% of the population were unhappy with his policies on Cuba. Consequence, the Republicans attempted
to make Cuba the main issue in the campaign.
This was probably in Kennedy's mind when he decided to restrict the flights of the U2 planes over Cuba.
Pilots were also told to avoid flying the whole length of the island. Kennedy hoped this would ensure that
a U2 plane would not be shot down, and would prevent Cuba becoming a major issue during the election
campaign.
On 27th September CIA agents got information that Cuba have nuclear weapons. After this U2 spy plane
photographs also showed that unusual activity was taking place at San Cristobal. However, it was not
until 15th October that photographs were taken that revealed that the Soviet Union was placing long
range missiles in Cuba.
President Kennedy's first reaction to the information about the missiles in Cuba was to call a meeting to
discuss what should be done. Robert S McNamara who is the Secretary of State for Defence that time
suggested the formation of the Executive Committee of the National Security Council. Fourteen men
attended the meeting and included military leaders, experts on Latin America, representatives of the CIA,
cabinet ministers and personal friends whose advice Kennedy valued. Over the next few days they were
to meet several times. During their discussions they considered several different strategies for dealing
with the crisis. They included the following:
Do nothing. The United States should ignore the missiles in Cuba. The United States had military bases
in 127 different countries including Cuba. The United States also had nuclear missiles in several
countries close to the Soviet Union specially in Turkey . It was therefore only right that the Soviet Union
should be allowed to place missiles in Cuba. Negotiate with Russia . The United States should offer the
Soviet Union a deal. In return for the Soviet Union dismantling her missiles in Cuba, the United States
would withdraw his nuclear missiles from Turkey and Italy. Invasion. Send United States troops to Cuba
to overthrow Castro's government. The missiles could then be put out of action and the Soviet Union
could no longer use Cuba as a military base. Blockade of Cuba. Use the United States Navy to stop
military equipment reaching Cuba from the Soviet Union. Bomb Missile Bases. Carry out conventional
air-strikes against missiles and other military targets in Cuba. Nuclear Weapons. Use nuclear weapons
against Cuba or the Soviet Union.
When discussing these strategies. President Kennedy and his advisers had to take into consideration how
the Soviet Union and Cuba would react to decisions made by the United States.

Consequence

There were a lot of consequences and changes that were meaningful which help turn the tide of
the cold war. First is the establishment of faster communications between the superpowers which
is the Hotline. Also we have how it changed the way of thing of people. This event created
awareness for nuclear proliferation, the reason for that was at the time most studies on nuclear
weapons were already complete and the purpose of nuclear testing was to create more tensions
between them. However on 5th August in 1963, after more than eight years of difficult
negotiations, the United States, the UK and the Soviet Union signed the Limited Nuclear Test
Ban Treaty. This was inspired by the Cuban missiles crisis to limit more the tensions. In addition
to pave the way to nuclear disarmament and lessen the number of nuclear weapons in the world.
Also the crisis inspired the birth of the anti-nuclear movement, relating today the movement can
be traced to the Cuban missile crisis. The reason that by that time relations between the two were
improving was to prevent further complications in the political and diplomatic relations between
the two nations. Even with the collapse of the Soviet Union many of the policies created out of
the crisis are still used today and also the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty makes it possible for Nuclear
weapons from being tested.

Conclusion

The end result of the crisis was seen as a huge success for Kennedy but contributed to the
downfall of Khrushchev in Russia. The one positive thing to come out of the crisis was the
creation of a hot-line between Moscow and Washington to allow for easier communication
between the two nations leaders at a time of crisis.

In 1963, both nations signed the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. This treaty stated that neither would
explode nuclear bombs during testing in the atmosphere. This was a popular treaty in America
and a sign that something positive had come out of the Cuban Crisis - that of a greater respect for
each other

The Cuban Missile Crisis was a very dangerous event in political history. It almost destroyed us
but it brought new awareness of nuclear proliferation. The crisis almost cost us our world. But
thankfully, the successful diplomacy saved us and open new doors to peace and coexistence.
Changes from this event were made to help us avoid another crisis like this in the future. The
Cuban Missile Crisis is one of the single most important and significant diplomatic moment in
History because if it had gone wrong some of us wouldn’t be here and others would probably be
living in irradiated desert. Even if though many don't pay attention to its affects in today's world,
the Cuban Missiles Crisis changed the way diplomacy is conducted.

The answer of the topic is Khrushchev lost prestige and he had failed. Particularly, China broke
from Soviet Union. Kennedy gained prestige. He was seen as the men who faced down the
USSR. Cuba was the start of the end of the Cold War. Cuba remained a Communist dictatorship
however America left it alone the reason for that was USSR took his missiles from Cuba.

Bibliography

Bundy, McGeorge, and Seymour Martin Lipset collection. Danger and Survival: Choices About the Bomb in the

First Fifty Years. New York, NY: Random House, 1988.

Fursenko, A. A. One Hell of a Gamble: Khrushchev, Castro, and Kennedy, 1958-1964. 1st ed. New York:

Norton, 1997.

Kennedy, Robert F. Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis. New York: W.W. Norton, 1999.

Stern, Sheldon. The Week the World Stood Still: Inside the Secret Cuban Missile Crisis. Stanford Calif.: Stanford

University Press, 2005.

http://library.thinkquest.org/11046/days/index.html

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/colc.html

http://www.hpol.org/jfk/cuban/

http://avalon.law.yale.edu/subject_menus/msc_cubamenu.asp