Kennedy's Decision

Posted 7th August 2015

In May 1962, Khrushchev offered to install offensive nuclear weapons in Cuba. Castro agreed to this offer as he felt that the missiles would act as a deterrent against another attempted US invasion.

That summer, missiles began to secretly arrive in Cuba. Khrushchev’s plan was to quickly get the missiles operational before the Americans could discover they were there.

However, US intelligence quickly learned that something was afoot on the island nation so nearby. By early October, U2 and reconnaissance flights had gathered enough conclusive evidence to show that missile launch sites were being constructed in Cuba. This information was instantly passed onto President Kennedy who assembled his National Security team. After seven days, the US decided on a naval quarantine of the island which would prevent any further weapons from entering Cuba.

In a nationwide televised address, Kennedy stated:

It shall be the policy of this nation, to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere, as an attack by the Soviet Union against the United States.

Less risky than a full strike, the quarantine of Cuba was by no means without risk. A blockade was after all, an act of war. However, by calling it ‘a quarantine’ and limiting the quarantine to only offensive military weapons, the US gained support from key allied governments.

The burden of this quarantine was solely placed on the US navy. One of the first destroyers on the scene, the USS Blandy diligently tracked a Soviet submarine that was en route to Cuba, eventually forcing it to surface. We now know that this submarine contained nuclear tipped torpedoes that were the spearhead of a Soviet effort to establish a naval base on Cuba.

While US destroyers maintained the coastal quarantine, navy-warning planes assisted with the airspace quarantine, ensuring that access into Cuba this way was also cut off.

A second US fleet consisting of aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers and marine forces, were poised to strike against Soviet and Cuban forces ashore if the quarantine failed.

For 13 days in late October, the world held its breath.

Eventually, Khrushchev ordered the dismantling of weapons in Cuba. These were then crated and returned to Russia on Soviet ships. Kennedy was encouraged by some of the his Joint Chiefs of Staff (the uniformed advisors to his government) to push this advantage further; however, Kennedy rejected this in favour of a peaceful Russian disengagement from Cuba.

The Cuban Missile Crisis marked the height of tension during the Cold War and never again was this direct level of confrontation to be seen between these two nations.