Why was the Cuban missile crisis important?

Answer 1

It was 13 days in October, when the world held its breath over the possibility of a Nuclear war. U-2 spy planes uncovered the presence of ICBM'S, SAM'S, LRBM'S. Launch sites for nuclear weapons, missile sites and launch pads are displayed on photos taken by U-2 spy planes.

Answer 2

Because while it brought the world to a crisis point, it also showed that

common sense and rational communications between world leaders could

bridge gaps and in this case, prevent a Nuclear WWIII

Answer 3

President Kennedy admitted to lack of missile gap unlike Eisenhower. He says US is way ahead of the Soviets in the developing missiles. This makes Khrushchev look bad. And this angers Cuba a lot especially after our failed attempt with the Bay of Pigs. Castro starts to buddy up with the Soviets a lot more. Khrushchev doesn't want to see the US take Cuba down. So he offers to arm Castro with weapons. The US has the Soviet Union surrounded with missile sites and the Soviets wants at least one site near the US. If they could get Cuba they would have their "one place". A U2 planes discovered installation sites being built in Cuba by the soviets. Kennedy called together the National Security Council, DOD, etc. to discuss what to do with this. We came up with three options. 1)Invade Cuba-Bay of pigs was a failure. 2) Air Strike- were afraid if we did do that ,t hey would shoot our planes3) Leave it alone. No one was really satisfied with those three option so we decided to Quarantine AKA Blockade Cuba.

The far reaching significance is that it enhanced the powers of the executive branch and Congress had previous approved such actions in a national emergency.

Answer 4

The Soviets were setting up nuclear missle sites in Cuba, and a US blockade of strategic arms shipments to the island threatened to lead to into full-scale US-Soviet conflict unless the USSR backed down.

After six days of mounting crisis, the USSR agreed to withdraw the missiles in return for removal of the missiles previously sited by the US in the USSR's southern neighbor Turkey. The US also undertook to refrain from invading Cuba in future.

The crisis was seen as a test for the Kennedy Administration in Washington, and its outcome as a triumph for US steadfastness. The Turkey component of the deal was not publicised, allowing the US to be seen as the victor.

The episode is widely considered the closest humanity has ever come to worldwide extinction. Kennedy's resistance to calls for a pre-emptive nuclear strike made compromise possible, sparing the world the horrors of full-scale nuclear war.

The proximity of potentially hostile nuclear weapons so close to its own territory led to a week of growing public alarm in the eastern and southern US, bringing home to millions the threat of modern weaponry.

Having come so close to conflict, the US and USSR subsequently moved in lessen tensions between them, resulting in the 1963 nuclear test ban treaty and the installation of a "hot line" for the two leaderships to confer in the event of future crisis.

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Answer 5

It is significant because it almost officially made the cold war a hot war between the Soviet Union and the US. When Castro came into power of Cuba after the revolution, he eventually allied with the Soviet Union. So when the Soviet Union put missiles in Cuba in 1962, the US felt threatened because Soviet artillery was so close to American land. The tension started after the Soviets did not remove the missiles after the US asked them to. This led to naval blockades by the US and almost a nuclear war. Eventually Nikita Kruschev, the leader of the Soviet Union, backed down, and an agreement was made to make the US remove inactive missiles from Turkey. But basically this was a confrontation won by the democratic US against the communist Soviet Union.

Answer 6

The Soviet Union was testing President Kennedy by having nuclear weapons only 90 miles from Florida. Kennedy reacted by placing a blockade around Cuba and forcing the Soviets to remove their bombs.

Answer 7

Kennedy actually launched atomic weapon carrying ships and planes towards Cuba...was just waiting for the order to push the buttons! That's close!

Answer 8

Figure it out ur self u dumbo