The Cuban Missile Crisis: Cuban Perspective

Paper Summary:

There are two views, as with any conflict or issue, on the reasons and reactions of the major players in the Cuban Missile Crisis that took place at the end of October 1962. The crisis pitted two world powers, the United States and the Soviet Union, against each other in what many describe as the closest the world has come to World War III and a nuclear holocaust. This paper examines the background of the crisis from the Cuban/Soviet point of view in depth. Towards the end of the paper, the United States' perspective of the crisis is discussed.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
Background
Upheaval in Cuba - the Bay of Pigs
The Cuban Missile Crisis
The Beginning of Hostilities
The United States Perspective

From the Paper:

"The account from the Cuban point-of-view paints Kennedy as a man obsessed with removing Castro from Cuba. In Robert Kennedy's memoir, he portrays his brother as someone eager to get the missiles out in a peaceful fashion. Kennedy was in favor of the blockade, despite the advice that this was a weak response and that military action was in order. Among those dissenting was Senator J. William Fullbright of Arkansas. Schlesinger points out that the Soviets were no match for the United States, a point made continually from the Cuban point-of-view; however the take of the this fact is spun differently on the American side. If Kennedy had been completely set on ridding Cuba of Castro, he could have used the Soviet deployment to invade and overthrow Castro's regime. Instead the two Kennedy brothers led the fight against invasion in favor of a peaceful solution."

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