the cuban missile crisis

In your Cold War file folder in your Google Docs account, read pages 350 to 351 of Cuban Missile Crisis.


The answers are due on Wednesday prior to class.


1. Kennedy described Wednesday, Oct. 24 and Saturday, Oct. 27 as the darkest days of the crisis. Use the information on page 350 to explain why.
Because on the 24th the missile ships got close to the bloackade and put them in danger and then on the 27th kennedy learns that the Soviets will not take away their missiles on Cuba and now he knows he has to attack.

2. Do you think that nuclear war was ever a possibility in this crisis?
Yes I think that if the US wasn't careful and about their decisions and invaded Cuba then the Soviets would have fired the missiles and then the US would have fired back and the war would have started.

3. Is Source 26 a Soviet or an American cartoon? Explain your answer by referring to the details in the cartoon.
This is an American cartoon becuase Kenedy isn't sweating but Khrushchev which means that he is getting tired but Kennedy is not.

4. Using Source 27 list any evidence you can find for and against each of the explanations.
To bargain and to get the upper hand make the most sense because khrushchev didn't want a nuclear war per se, he didn't care about testing kennedy and he had no reason to defend Cuba. He wanted missiles there to threaten the US and scare the US so they would take their missiles in Turkey away and/or match them in the arms race.

Why did the Soviet Union place nuclear missiles on Cuba?
To bargain with the USA

To test the USA

To trap the USA

To get the upper hand in the arms race

To defend Cuba

5. Choose the explanation(s) that you think best fit what you have found out about the crisis. Explain your choice.

I think that the Soviets had the missiles on Cuba to try to bargain with the US. If they had them on Cuba then the US would be scared and they would want them off. So Soviets would be able to ask them to take away the US's in Turkey and they would take away theirs in Cuba. Though since the US refused to take their's away in Turkey the Soviets withdrew theirs becuase they did not want the Americans to start an actual nuclear war and invade Cuba.

the U.S. attempts to contain Cuba

1. Why was Cuba so important to the United States?
Becuase Americans owned most of the business on the island and had a large naval base there, Guantanomo.
2. Why do you think the Americans chose to equip Cuban exiles rather than invading themselves?
So they would be disquised, Cubans would notice Americans but would mistake Cubans as their own.
3. Why did the invasion fail?
Because the beach was armed with 20,000 Cuban troops that captured or killed all of the 1400 exiles.
4. Compare Source 17 on page 345 (in the Arms Race.pdf reading) with Source 24 on page 348. Describe how the Soviet Union missiles on Cuba changed the Cold War balance of power.
Source 17 shows the location of the US misilles and surce 24 shows the USSR's misile locations. Since the USSr now had them on Cuba they had closer bases and could release the misiles sooner whereas the US had a longer distance, it shifted the balance in favor of the USSR