Thirteen days that shook the world - The Cuban Missile Crisis

Before the 1960s, Cuba was ruled by a corrupt dictator named Fulgencio Batista.

Under Batista's rule, American businesses had a great deal of control over the Cuban economy. 

As a result, American businesses owned most of Cuba’s public railways, almost half the sugar industry, and 90% of the telephone and electric companies. 

Then, in 1959, a revolutionary group led by the rebel leader Fidel Castro overthrew Batista's government.

Once in power, Castro wanted to minimise America’s control on Cuba's economy, so his new government seized American businesses and nationalised them. 

Obviously, the United States was not happy about this turn of events. The American government saw Castro's regime as a threat to its interests in the region.

In response, the US began working on a plan to overthrow the Castro's government. 

In 1961, the CIA hatched a plan to overthrow Castro. It was to train and arm Cuban exiles and then send them back to invade their homeland.

These exiles were trained at a CIA-sponsored base in Guatemala and also in Nicaragua, before being flown to Cuba in CIA-owned aircraft.

They landed in April 1961 at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba, but the invasion was a complete disaster.

The failure was largely due to the lack of support from the local population and the absence of the anticipated US air support.

As a result, the exiles were quickly defeated, and many were captured or killed. The debacle was a humiliating embarrassment for the United States.

Following the invasion, a panicked Castro turned to the Soviet Union for help. He knew that the Soviets had nuclear weapons, and he hoped that if he could have some in his control, that they would deter the United States from trying to overthrow his regime again.

In 1962, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev decided to take advantage of Castro's vulnerability.

He secretly ordered Soviet ballistic missiles to be placed in Cuba. The missiles were capable of reaching most of the United States, including major cities like Washington D.C., New York City, and Miami. 

In addition to the nuclear missiles, the USSR had also managed to send 40,000 Soviet troops to Cuba.

These were both combat-ready soldiers, but also the engineers and technicians required to assemble and fire the missiles.

From the Soviet perspective, it was done in response to the US stationing Jupiter ballistic missiles in Turkey, which were aimed at the Soviet Union.

These American missiles had been deployed in Turkey in 1961. Specifically, a squadron of 15 missiles was stationed at five sites near İzmir, operated by U.S. Air Force personnel, with control over the nuclear warheads.

This deployment was part of a strategic deterrence against the Soviet Union during the Cold War. 

Obviously, the Soviets saw them as a direct threat, as they could strike the USSR within five minutes of being launched.

By sheer chance, on the 14th of October 1962, a U.S. U-2 spy plane flying over Cuba, piloted by Major Richard Heyser, captured photographic images that revealed Soviet missile sites in Cuba.

When this was reported to a shocked President John F Kennedy, he was faced with a difficult decision: should he order an attack against the missile sites to neutralize them, or should he try to negotiate with the Soviets and Castro? 

Further plane photographs on the 15th of October confirmed the presence of these missiles and also indicated a rapid build-up of the constructions.

To help him decide the best course of action, President Kennedy convened ExComm, a group of his most trusted advisors, including Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, and National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy.

When gathered, Kennedy asked ExComm what they recommended that he should do.

The options were: to do nothing, launch a military attack on Cuba, or impose a naval blockade on Cuba.

After much deliberation, Kennedy decided on the last option. So, on the 22nd of October, the president appeared on American TV and disclosed the discovery of Soviet missiles in Cuba to the public.

In the broadcast, he also announced that the United States would impose a naval blockade of Cuba until the Soviet Union agreed to remove the missiles.

Interestingly, this was called a "quarantine" in his speech, rather than a "blockade", so as not to provoke the Soviets into taking military action.

For a day and a half, during the 24th and 25th of October, America watched carefully as some Soviet ships that were heading for Cuba were successfully turned back from the newly imposed US quarantine line.

However, it did not immediately lead to the removal of the missiles. In fact, further spy photographs showed that the missiles were clearly still in place in Cuba.

Kennedy's advisors warned him that all of the missiles could be operational within three days and were capable of reaching American targets within 10 minutes of launch.

When the president asked for an estimated death toll if the US was hit, he was told that each missile was capable of killing 600,000 people.

If things were not tense enough, things got much worse. On the morning of Saturday, October 27th, an American U-2 spy plane was shot down by a Soviet-operated surface-to-air missile as it flew over Cuba.

The pilot of the U-2, named Major Rudolf Anderson, was killed in the attack. Also, on the same day, unbeknownst to the public at the time, a Soviet submarine (B-59), was cornered by U.S. forces during the naval quarantine, and nearly launched a nuclear torpedo.

However, at the last moment, one of the Soviet officers onboard, named Vasili Arkhipov’s, decided not to authorize the strike, and as a result, may have prevented a potentially catastrophic nuclear conflict.

The death of a pilot and the pressure of the nuclear submarine standoff both outraged the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, and they pressured Kennedy to launch a retaliatory air strike on the missile bases immediately.

However, fearing that such an attack would certainly begin a global nuclear war, Kennedy refused.

Instead, late on that Saturday evening, the president sent an offer to Khrushchev. 

To the shock of many, a solution was reached in the early hours of the next day: the 28th of October.

In a public declaration, the Soviets announced that they would finally remove the missiles from Cuba in exchange for a U.S. promise not to invade Cuba.

As part of the deal, the Soviet Union also agreed to withdraw their powerful IL-28 bombers from the island nation.

However, this agreement also included a secret clause that was not shared with the world. 

In it, the United States also agreed to remove its own nuclear missiles from Turkey.

This had been decided thanks to the actions of the U.S. Attorney General, Robert F. Kennedy (who was also the President's own brother) who led backchannel negotiations with Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin.

Regardless, the world was relieved that the two countries had finally reached a peaceful agreement.

However, even though the tensions had de-escalated, it did take several months for the final removal of the Soviet missiles.

As a result, the crisis was not officially until November 20, 1962.

An often-forgotten person who was crucial during the Cuban Missile Crisis was a man named U Thant.

He was the UN Secretary-General, and he acted as a mediator between Kennedy and Kruschev.

Thant was the one that proposed a moratorium on U.S. quarantine actions and Soviet arms shipments to Cuba, which both President Kennedy and Premier Khrushchev eventually accepted as part of the deal.

Thant also traveled to Cuba to engage with Fidel Castro and verify the dismantling of missile sites during October.

In a very real way, his efforts were instrumental in achieving a peaceful resolution to the crisis.

The Cuban Missile Crisis was a key turning point in the Cold War. It showed that both sides were capable of destroying the other, but that careful diplomacy was necessary to avoid such a catastrophe.

Ultimately, the experience led to increased cooperation between the United States and the Soviet Union in order to prevent future conflicts.

Specifically, it led to the establishment of the Moscow-Washington hotline in 1963, which was a direct communication link between the leaders of the two nations.

In fact, in the aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis, President Kennedy's approval ratings surged to 74%.

This was a clear indication that the public supported his leadership during the crisis.

In contrast, the outcome significantly weakened Nikita Khrushchev’s position within the Soviet Union.

He was ousted in 1964 by party rivals who believed his retreat in Cuba was unforgivable failure.

Also, although Castro supported the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba as a deterrent to future American invasions, he was frustrated by the outcome of the negotiations.

He felt excluded from key decisions made by the Soviet Union and the United States.

As a result, it deepened the rift between the U.S. and Cuba, and led to decades of hostile relations, including a U.S. trade embargo on Cuba that remains partially in place today.

Regardless, the fact that two superpowers with such different ideologies were able to come to a diplomatic resolution in such a short amount of time is a testament to the power of communication and negotiation.

It is a reminder that, even in the darkest of times, cooler heads can still prevail.