G2+Cuban Missile Crisis

=Cuban Missile Crisis=

Overview
The Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, also referred to as Fourteen Days in October, was the closest the world has ever come to a nuclear war. The conflict started as the Soviets began to secretly place missiles in Cuba. The reason the Soviet Union did this was because they were lagging behind in the arms race. While the United States could hit all major regions in the Soviet Union, the Soviets could only hit Europe. To solve this problem they went to Fidel Castro. Castro agreed to have missiles placed in Cuba by the Soviets because ever since the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion Castro figured another invasion would be inevitable.

Central Issue
When the United States' intelligence discovered that missiles were being brought into Cuba, President Kennedy formed a group of his most trusted advisors. From that group, he decided to place a naval blockade around Cuba, and he ordered low-level reconnaissance over Cuba. After a few days of communicating with the Soviets, premier Nikita Khrushchev sent a letter to Kennedy saying he would withdraw all offensive weapons if the United States agreed not to invade Cuba. The United States did not respond, and soon later, one of the U-2 reconnaissance planes was shot down over Cuba. A second letter from Khrushchev stated that he would pull out the weapons if the United States pulled out of Turkey. The United States decided to agree to the second letter, and they ignored the second.

Conclusion/Historical Significance
Two men controlled the fate of the world on those "Fourteen Days in October." Kennedy and Khrushchev proved that diplomacy could be successful between the two superpowers. Unfortunately, the Cold War continued for over twenty-five more years. The thought of the use of nuclear weapons probably stopped any fighting that may have ensued. How close we were to war can be best described by the statement from Soviet General and Army Chief of Operations, Anatoly Gribkov. "Nuclear catastrophe was hanging by a thread ... and we weren't counting days or hours, but minutes."