A guide for students revising for the OCR GCSE Modern World History unit on The Cuban Missile Crisis.

3. Background to Cuba
1. USA helped Cuba become independent from Spanish rule
in 1898.
Cuban Revolution
1. The Americans had helped Batista come to power and
supported him. However because of his increasing
corrupt government they started to support Castro.
2. In 1959 Fidel Castro overthrew Batista in and set up a new
pro-Communist government.
3. Clearly friendly relations between the USA and Castro did
not last long.
4. Castro blamed the USA for Cuba’s poverty.
5. From the summer of 1960 Castro was receiving arms from
the Soviet Union.

4. Fidel Castro (1926-)
A trained lawyer who
led a two year rising in
which he became leader
of Cuba in 1959.
A communist, he
wanted to strengthen
his ties with USSR and
China.

5. What could America do?
1. Wait and see what develops
2. Negotiate diplomatically with Castro
3. Show Castro who is boss by not buying from him
4. Go straight in with American troops and get rid of
Castro

6. Initial Reactions from the USA
1. USA stopped buying Cuban sugar in 1960
2. 1961 banned all trade with Cuba
3. 1961 broke off diplomatic relations
…..However, these all had the opposite effect pushing
Castro closer to the USSR.

7. The ‘Bay of Pigs’ Invasion
 President Eisenhower promised to help Cuban
refugees who wanted to get rid of Castro.
 In 1961 President Kennedy replaced Eisenhower. He
was told of a CIA plan to invade Cuba and overthrow
Castro.
 Kennedy allowed the plan to go ahead.
 On 17th
April 1961, supplied arms, equipment and
transport for 1400 anti-Castro exiles landed at the Bay
of Pigs in southern Cuba.
 They were outnumbered by almost 300 to 1! Within
three days they were all dead or in prison. Kennedy
was furious.

8. Results of the ‘Bay of Pigs’
1. The Cuban army had
defeated the invaders
so easily that Castro
became more popular.
2. Castro now saw the
USA as a very series
threat indeed and
asked Khrushchev for
help to defend Cuba.
3. Kennedy was
humiliated.
“ How could I have been
so far off base? All my
life I’ve known better
than to depend on
experts. How could I
have been so stupid to
let them go ahead?”
This is what Kennedy
told a friend after the
Bay of Pigs disaster.

9. USA broke off all trade with
Cuba.
US citizens were forbidden
to travel to Cuba.
Kennedy was publicly
humiliated and had to make
a TV broadcast explaining
his decision to back an
invasion.
Castro’s position in Cuba
was strengthened.
Cuba and USSR established
closer ties.
Khrushchev was convinced
that Kennedy was a weak
leader.

10. Bay of Pigs cartoon
This cartoonists is
ridiculing Kennedy for
the Bay of Pigs fiasco. In
this drawing from the
Washington Star, the
Bay of Pigs is portrayed
as a giant chicken which
has come home to roost,
causing new troubles
soon to hatch out for
Kennedy.

11. After the Bay of Pigs invasion, Castro was worried about
further invasions. He asked for Khrushchev's help – and the
USSR promised to help Cuba with weapons.
Why did Khrushchev offer to help?
Think why Khrushchev was only too willing to help!
Opportunity to redress the
‘failure’ over Berlin.
Putting nuclear weapons on
Cuba would put pressure on
the USA.
USSR nuclear weapon
deployment was far inferior
to USA.
Would mean USSR had
weapons base within 90
miles of US eastern coast.
Khrushchev knew that USA
had missiles in Turkey – he
wanted the equivalent.
US missiles in Turkey meant
USA had ‘total coverage’ of
USSR.

12. How did the Soviet Union help Cuba after 1961?
After the Bay of Pigs disaster, Soviet arms flooded into
Cuba.
By July 1962 Cuba had the best equipped army in Latin
America.
By September it had thousands of Soviet missiles, plus
patrol boats, tanks, radar vans, missile erectors, jet
bombers, jet fighters and 5000 Soviet technicians
The USA watched with increasing alarm. Would the
Soviets turn Cuba into a nuclear weapons base?
On 11th
September Kennedy warned the USSR that he
would prevent Cuba from becoming a nuclear missiles
base but Khrushchev assured him that they had no
intentions of doing this.

13. The truth is uncovered: the October Crisis.
On 14th
October 1962,
an American U-2 spy
plane flew over Cuba
and took detailed
pictures of what the
USA had been
dreading – missile
sites in Cuba.

14. How dangerous were missiles on Cuba?

15. What could the USA do?
President Kennedy organized ExComm (the Executive
Committee). This was group of political and military advisors
including Robert Kennedy and Theodore Sorensen. They
debated what to do day and night for nearly seven days!
The wrong decision would lead
to nuclear war.

16. Kennedy’s Options
1. Do nothing
2. Surgical air attack
3. Invasion
4. Diplomatic Pressures
5. Blockade

17. What did the USA do?
On 22 October, Kennedy announced a “strict quarantine on
all offensive military equipment under shipment to Cuba”. If
Soviet vessels did not stop, US ships had orders to fire.
Why do you think Kennedy took this decision?
At the same time, Kennedy ordered his forces to be ready
for war. The world had never been closer to nuclear
conflict.
Kennedy stated that if the blockade is ‘forced’, the USA will
be at war. The Soviet ships continued to sail towards Cuba.

19. The impact of the blockade
14th
October spy plane
photographs show
evidence of missile bases
on Cuba
14th
October Kennedy calls an
emergency meeting of the Ex
Comm to decide how the US
should react
22th
October Kennedy
announces the Blockade
on national television
23rd Soviets say that they
are just helping Cuba
and that the USA was
interfering in Cuban
affairs
24th
October Kennedy
receives news that the
Soviet ships have turned
around
26th
October Khrushchev
sends a letter to Kennedy
saying he would withdraw
the missiles so long as the
USA promised not to invade
26th
October Khrushchev
then sends another
message saying that the
USA must withdraw
missiles from Turkey
27th
October spy plane
shot down over Cuba.
Kennedy decides to
respond to the first letter
28th
October Radio Moscow
announces that nuclear
weapons would be
removed. In secret the USA
agreed to remove missiles
in Turkey

20. Turkey missile deal
remained secret
Test-ban treaty
signed in 1963 –
ban on testing nuclear
weapons.
Telephone hotline
set up in 1963.
Cold War never became
as serious again. Despite
future tensions, there was
a major change in
attitude.
Is this fair? Why
should Khrushchev
be praised?
Both superpowers
realized how close
they had come to
nuclear war.
Kennedy appeared to
have stood up to
communism – massive
public opinion boost.
Khrushchev came out of the
crisis badly – criticized both
for trying to place missiles in
Cuba, and also for giving into
the USA.
Impact of the
Cuban Missile
Crisis, 1962
The impact of the crisis

21. Consider the impact of the crisis. Arrange these statements
in order of importance.