John F. Kennedy's Presidency

John F. Kennedy's Presidency — page 1 — Introduction The crisis began in late 1962 when the United States made an alarming discovery not far from its southeastern shores President John F Kennedy learned on October 16 that the small island nation of Cuba was building missile bases A US pilot had snapped photographs of the construction while flying high overhead The revelation was cause for concern because Cuba lay less than 100 miles 161 kilometers from A nuclear warhead bunker was under construction in San CristÓbal Cuba in October 1962 6

John F. Kennedy's Presidency — page 2 — US soil And its leader Fidel Castro was a Communist dictator and an ally of the Soviet Union fifteen republics that included Russia a major enemy of the United States Kennedy had little doubt that the Soviet Union was providing nuclear missiles and other weapons to Cuba The missile bases under construction in Cuba were evidence of a Soviet plan that threatened the lives of Americans and ultimately everyone on the planet Fidel Castro became the dictator of Cuba in 1959 The photographs revealed a variety of Soviet weapons at the Cuban facilities Soviet supplies included parts to create bomber aircraft too which had the flying capability to reach cities in Florida including Miami and Jacksonville But the Soviet Union supplied Cuba with more than weaponry and aircraft more than forty thousand Soviet troops were stationed on the island as well The superpower was ready to fight the United States from Cuba Kennedy and his staff debated how best to respond To avoid alarming Americans unnecessarily the president initially chose not to publicly share information about the Cuban missiles When he met with Soviet diplomat Andrei Gromyko on October 18 to discuss Soviet aid to Cuba Kennedy kept his knowledge about the missiles to himself though he did remind Gromyko 7

John F. Kennedy's Presidency — page 3 — John F Kennedy signs a blockade order in October 1962 to prevent Soviet ships from landing in Cuba that the United States would not tolerate Soviet offensive arms on the island On October 20 Kennedy decided to quarantine the island US ships would create a blockade to keep Soviet ships from reaching Cuba Kennedy wrote a letter to Nikita Khrushchev the leader of the Soviet Union stating his intentions and declaring that the United States would stand its ground The United States is determined that this threat be removed At the same time I wish to point out that the action we are taking is the minimum necessary to remove the threat to the security of the nations of this hemisphere I hope that your Government will refrain from any action which would widen or deepen this already grave crisis and that we can agree to resume the path of peaceful negotiations 8

John F. Kennedy's Presidency — page 4 — The Cuban Missile Crisis had put the world on the brink of nuclear war and Kennedy was taking a massive gamble in the hope of preventing conflict His efforts would prove successful but the showdown with Cuba was only one of several defining moments in Kennedy’s iconic presidency 9

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