Cuban Missile Crisis

[Bubble]

How did the discovery of Soviet weapons in Cuba almost lead to a nuclear war????

[carolegif]

I remember being at school during this crisis, we all wanted to go home in case we all got "nuked" before the end of the day, but our RE teacher told us it wouldn't happen as we would all be back at school the following day - which we were!

A spy plane discovered some missiles in the Bay of Pigs in Cuba and they were pointing at the United States, it turned out that they were Russian. The UN called an emergency meeting and Kennedy and Kuschev (sorry about spelling) faced each other. Kennedy gave the Soviet leader a deadline to get rid of the missiles or the US would launch a nucleAR

[carolegif]

My answer went before I finished:

The US said they would launch a nuclear attack. it went down to the wire and we all held our breath in case WW3 broke out, but the Russians backed down so we are all still here.

Hope this helps.

carolegif

[WaldoMcFroog]

If you don't mind me saying so, that's quite a simplistic version of the Cuban Missile Crisis and fails to acknowlege that the Americans had deployed intermediate range nuclear missile in Turkey in 1961. No prizes for guessing which country they were pointed at. Many US-centric accounts of the October Crisis (as the Cubans call it) manage to leave this part out as it reveals them as hypocrites...

There's a good overview at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Missile

[Big Al1st]

One of the biggest gambles was when Kennedy ordered a complete blockade of Russion ships travelling to Cuba. This lasted about 17 days.

A very interesting day by day account is on

www.hpol.org/jfk/cuban/

Rgds

[Big Al1st]

Sorry Bubble meant 7 days

[vehelpfulguy]

carolegif,

Bay of pigs has nothing to do with it.

I think you are mixing up two cuban events.

The bay of pigs was a disasterous invasion of Cuba which president Kennedy failed to support.

Some people think this is why cuban supporters were invovled in the Kennedy assasination as they were so annoyed with him.

See the Oliver Stone film JFK for a good account of it.

[vehelpfulguy]

Read more about bay of pigs here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_of_Pigs_Invasion

[bernardo]

vehelpfulguy - if you think that the film "JFK" is even remotely accurate or useful as a historical source then you are seriously deluded. The film is based on a ludicrous and baseless witch-hunt and the fantasies of a single minor official. Cuban exiles had nothing to do with the Kennedy asssasssasssination.

[vehelpfulguy]

bernado, no need to be so aggressive. You can make your point without calling someone seriously deluded.

First, I did not say JFK was an accurate historical source, but it does cover some of the things that went on around that time.

Secondly, there are many people who think cuba was involved, see here

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4582488.stm

http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,393540,00.html

[carolegif]

Yes, Bay of Pigs was another crisis! I was only a schoolgirl at the time of the Cuban Crisis, but I know it really scared us. I think that is why we all galvanised ourselves several years later to demonstrate against the Vietnam War! Lots more people in Grosvenor Square in 1968 than there were demonstrating agains the war in Iraq.

carolegif