CrisisoverCuba
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C ubais anislan dnatio no nly ninet ymilesfrom
rhccoastoftheU nit edStates.In1951Ja revolution -
ary reformer nam ed Fidel Castroto o k over its
government. Cuba'sbanks, railroa d sand many
otherbusinesseswereowne d by Americansat rlus
rime. So, too, were many of its big sug ar
plantations.
CastroneededmoneytomakechangesIIICuba.
To obtain ir he begantotake overAmerican -
ownedbusinesses. In the opinionofrhc U nit ed
States government this was stealing American
propt'rry.Notonlythis,butCastroseemedto be
organizingacommun iststate rig ht on th edoor-
stepoftheUnitedStates.
In 1960 P res id entEisenhower ag reed to gi ve
weaponsandshipstorefu gee s fromC ub a who
wantedtooverthrowCastro. Whl'nEisenhower
retiredin Jan u ar y. IlJ61,theplan wassupported
alsobythenewPresident, Joh nF.Kenned y.
On April 17, 1961,a fo rceoflAWanti-Castro
Cubanslandedat theBayofPig s onCuba'ssouth
coast. Castrohad ranks and 20,000men waiting,
Withindays the invaders wereall ca pt uredor
killed. But Castrobelieved[hat Ken ned ywould
attack again, so he asked the Sevier Unionfor
help. Khrushchev sent him shiploads ofrifles,
ranks, and aircratr. Kennedygrew worriedand
o rderedadosewatchtobekeptonCuba.
OnSunday,O cto ber 1..1-, 1962 ,anAmericanU- 2
spy planeflewh ighoverthe island rakingp ho to-
gr aphs .TheyshowedRussian missile launching
sites bein gbuilt. What hadhapp en ed w as this:
Ever since the U -2 in cidentof1% 0Khrushchev
hadbeen makingthreatsagains t the U nit ed Stares.
T hese had alarmed Kenn ed y. Although the
A me ricansalreadyhad morelong-rangem issiles
[han th e Russians , Kenn ed y ordered nearly a
thousand more. The new missiles tipped [he
"balanceofterror"stronglyInfavoroftheUnited
Scates.WhenCastroaskedfor help, Khrus hchev
sawa chance to level upthebalanceof[error.lie
wou ld rhrearcn theUnited States from missile
baseso n itsownd oorstep-Cuba.
Kenn edy was shocked by theU-2 phot o gr aphs.
" T h isISth e weekI better earnm y salary,"he said
gr imly .Some adv iserswantedhimtosend bom-
bers to destro y themissile bases.H e alsoth ought
aboutsend ingAmericansoldierstocapturethem.
But instea dheorderedAmcricanshipsandaircra ft
to setupa b lo ckad e.Theywere tostopanySoviet
shipscarryingmoremissileequipmentroCuba.
Kenn ed ythentoldKhrushchevto takeawaythe
Sovietmissiles anddestroythebases.He warned
th atan ym issilefaredfromCubawouldbe treated
asa directSovietattackontheUnitedStatesand
o rde red 156 lon g-r an ge missiles aimed at th e
So vietUnion tobe mad e read y[Qfare,
For tellterrifying daysin O ctober 1 <)62,the world
trembled on the edge of nuclear war. People
waitedin fear fo r the next newsflashon their
radio sand telev isio ns..Fin allyKh ru sh chevordered
his techn icians inCubatodestroythelaunching
siresand retu rnrhe missilesrot heSovietU nio n.
Inreturn, Kenn ed y called offrheblockadeand
promisedtoleaveCubaalone.Privately. he also
agreedto.rcm o vcAmericanmissilessitedon the
borderofth eSovietUnioninT u rk ey,T hemost
dangero uscrisisoftheColdWar wasover.12J