The Cuban Missile Crisis

Paper Summary:

This paper looks at how relations between the United States and the Soviet Union were shattered when American intelligence confirmed reports that the Soviet Union was building missile sites on the island nation of Cuba some ninety miles off the southern coast of the state of Florida. The paper also discusses the military debacle known as the Bay of Pigs in which the U.S. attempted to invade Cuba in order to overthrow the dictatorship of Fidel Castro and how the Cuban Missile Crisis became the most dangerous passage of the Cold War.

From the Paper:

"The overall story of the Cuban Missile Crisis has been examined in very great detail by a large number of scholars and historians, all of whom have focused almost exclusively on the perceived roles of President John F. Kennedy and Attorney General Robert Kennedy in the affair and the political machinations of the Soviet Union under the control of the Communist Party and Nikita Khrushchev. However, few have ventured into an area which holds much surprise, drama and intrigue, namely, the viewpoint of Fidel Castro on an event which held the potential to begin World War III between the U.S. and the powerful Soviet Union in the final months of 1962, a time which Castro "has always been most anxious to offer his interpretation of the events. . . to form the historical record" (Szulc, 578). "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Allison, Graham T. Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis. New York: Little, Brown & Company, 1971.
• "Cuban History: Missile Crisis." Cuban History Archive. Internet. Retrieved April 10, 2008 from http://www.marxists.org/history/cuba/subject/missile-crisis/ch03.htm.
• Hershberg, James. "Anatomy of a Controversy." The Cold War International History Project Bulletin. National Security Archive. Internet. Spring 1995. Retrieved April 10, 2008 from http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/cuba_mis_cri/moment.htm.
• Hilsman, Roger. The Cuban Missile Crisis: The Struggle Over Policy. New York:Greenwood Publishing Group, 1996.
• Nathan, James A. Anatomy of the Cuban Missile Crisis. New York: Harcourt Educational Press, 2000.

More papers on The Cuban Missile Crisis:

• Analytical Essay # 3911 : "Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis"
• Term Paper # 131747 : "American Intelligence and the Cuban Missile Crisis"
• Analytical Essay # 74125 : "President Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis"
• Analytical Essay # 134074 : "The Cuban Missile Crisis: An Analysis"

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