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Unlock This CourseOn 14 October 1962 an American U2 spy plane photographed Soviet missile sites being built in western Cuba. The photographs were shown to President Kennedy on the morning of 16 October. Experts told him that the medium-range missiles could carry nuclear warheads about 2,000 kilometres, far enough to hit Washington, and that some could be ready within days.
Kennedy set up a group of about a dozen close advisers, known as ExComm, which met in secret for nearly a week. It looked at several choices:
The military chiefs pressed hard for an air strike followed by an invasion. Kennedy chose the blockade. It was firm, but it left the next move to Khrushchev and gave him time to think.
Key terms:
On the evening of 22 October Kennedy spoke to the American people on television. He told them about the missiles and announced three things.
American forces around the world were put on alert. Bombers carrying nuclear weapons were kept in the air, and a large invasion force gathered in Florida. Khrushchev called the quarantine piracy and at first said that Soviet ships would ignore it.
The quarantine began on the morning of 24 October. Soviet ships were sailing towards the line of American warships, and the world waited to see what would happen. Then news reached ExComm that the ships carrying weapons had stopped or turned round. The Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, said: 'We're eyeball to eyeball, and I think the other fellow just blinked.'
The crisis was not over. The missiles already on Cuba were still there, and Soviet crews were working faster than ever to get them ready.
Khrushchev sent Kennedy a long, emotional private letter. He compared the crisis to a knot of war that both men were pulling tighter. He suggested a way out: the Soviet Union would remove the missiles if the USA promised not to invade Cuba.
The next morning a second, tougher letter was read out on Radio Moscow. It added a new demand: the USA must also remove its Jupiter missiles from Turkey. Kennedy could not be seen to give up missiles that protected an ally because of a threat.
Saturday 27 October was the most dangerous day, later called Black Saturday. A Soviet surface-to-air missile shot down a U2 over Cuba and killed its pilot, Major Rudolf Anderson. The hawks wanted to bomb the missile site that had fired. Kennedy refused.
He then made a clever choice. He ignored the second letter and replied to the first, accepting its terms: the missiles would go, and the USA would end the quarantine and promise not to invade Cuba. That evening Robert Kennedy met the Soviet ambassador, Anatoly Dobrynin, in secret. He warned that time was running out. He also gave a private promise that the Jupiter missiles would be taken out of Turkey within a few months, as long as the Soviet Union never said so in public.
On 28 October Khrushchev announced on Radio Moscow that the missiles would be taken apart and shipped home. The thirteen days were over. The quarantine ended on 20 November 1962, and the Jupiter missiles left Turkey quietly in April 1963.
Both leaders knew a war would destroy both countries. The shooting down of the U2 showed that events could slip out of their control. This pushed each of them to settle quickly.
The US Navy controlled the seas around Cuba, thousands of miles from the Soviet Union, and the USA had far more long-range missiles. Kennedy made it clear he would act. Khrushchev could not win a fight there.
Kennedy did not corner his opponent. The promise not to invade let Khrushchev say he had saved Cuba, which was one of his aims. The secret Turkey promise gave him something more.
Who came out best? At the time it looked like a clear win for Kennedy. The Turkey deal stayed secret, so the world saw only that Khrushchev had backed down. Kennedy's reputation soared. Khrushchev was criticised by China and by his own colleagues, and the climbdown was one reason they removed him from power in October 1964. Castro, who had not been consulted, was furious, but his government was now safe from invasion. The crisis also scared both superpowers into working to lower the risk of war, which you will study in the lesson The Thaw: Hotline and the Treaties of the 1960s.
Don't say the American missiles in Turkey were part of the public deal. That promise was secret, which is why the result looked like a defeat for Khrushchev. Don't mix up the letters: the first asked only for a promise not to invade Cuba, and the second added Turkey. And remember the quarantine did not remove any missiles. It stopped more arriving and bought time for a deal.
Extract A (a practice extract written for this lesson, in the style of a modern history textbook)
Throughout the thirteen days Kennedy kept his nerve. His generals were shouting for air strikes, yet he calmly chose the quarantine, a measured step that gave Khrushchev time to think. When two letters arrived from Moscow, he wisely answered the more hopeful one and simply ignored the other. He never boasted and never backed his opponent into a corner. Thanks to his cool judgement, the missiles were removed and the world was pulled back from the edge of nuclear war.
What impression does the author give about Kennedy's handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis? You must use Extract A to explain your answer. [6 marks]
The author gives the impression that Kennedy handled the crisis with great skill and calm. This is shown by the language chosen. Kennedy 'kept his nerve' and 'calmly chose' the quarantine, which is called 'a measured step', so he seems steady and sensible. He is set against his generals, who were 'shouting for air strikes', which makes him look like the one cool head in the room. The word 'wisely' praises his reply to the letters. The author also selects only points that favour Kennedy. The ending says the missiles were removed 'thanks to his cool judgement', giving him all the credit. Nothing is said about any part played by Khrushchev in ending the crisis, or about any mistakes or risks on Kennedy's side. This one-sided choice of material builds a wholly admiring picture.
What lifts this to the top level: it names one clear impression, proves it with short quotations, and then explains how the author's choice of words and of what to include and leave out creates that impression.
Start with the sentence 'The author gives the impression that...' and use a judging word of your own, such as skilful or calm. Then hunt for the loaded words. Here 'calmly', 'wisely' and 'cool judgement' all point the same way. Finish by saying what the author has left out. Don't retell the events of the crisis: this question tests how you read the extract, not what you know. For more help, see the lesson Paper 1 Question (a): What Impression Does the Author Give?