The conflict started with Fidel Castro which marked the end of U.S. political and economic dominance over Cuba. Ever since the late nineteenth century, …show more content…
December 19, 1960, Fidel Castro openly aligns with the Soviet Union and their policies. Unknown to the American public at the time of the crisis however, the Kennedy administration was conducting a secret war to take down Fidel Castro by any means possible. Named Operation Mongoose, this secret war ran from 1961-1963 and was a full-court press by all branches of the American military, the CIA and others In 1961, the United States try to use Cuban exiles, which were people who had left Cuba to invade Cuba at the bay of pigs. The whole effort was not well planned and end it up in a …show more content…
Long-range nuclear missiles, which had begun arriving in Cuban ports from Russia in September, were being installed at San Cristobal on the western part of the island. An international crisis of potentially catastrophic proportions threatened the safety of the world.” After several days of the Kennedy administration thinking about and addressing the issue with Khrushchev, on October 26, Khrushchev sends a letter to President Kennedy proposing to remove his missiles if Kennedy publicly announces never to invade Cuba. Which later Khrushchev seemed to change the proposal markedly when he demanded that the United States abandon its missile bases in Turkey. This angered Kennedy. Even though, the missiles in Turkey were of little strategic value. The next day an American U-2 which kept a close watch as the Soviets went ahead with the construction of their missile bases was shot down over Cuba. On the same day, another U-2 was shot down over Cuba, and as a result, most members of Ex Comm believed that a nuclear exchange was imminent. The same day, on October 27, Kennedy sends Khrushchev a letter stating that he will make a statement that the U.S. will not invade Cuba if Khrushchev removes the missiles from Cuba. Kennedy basically ignored the second claim of the Khrushchev to take the US missile of Turkey and Italy. “Despite heavy pressure from his military advisers, President John F. Kennedy