Major Events of the Conflict with Cuba During President Kennedy's Administration
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The Cuban Missile Crisis
In fear of the U.S. invading, the Cuba missile crisis ignites. The Prime Minister of Cuba at the time, Fidel Castro, agreed to moving forward on allowing the Soviet Union to deploy nuclear missiles on the island. During this time there were many secret conversations as well as miscommunication between both sides. Due to this crisis, JFK put together a small group that was called "ExComm" for short. Together they had to make the decision about a CIA plan to land Cuba exiles at the Bay of Pigs. -
Quarantine (The Decision of Whether or Not to Bomb Cuba)
In the first few days following the missile crisis, everyone seemed to favor bombing Cuba. That was until George Ball commented that a United States surprise attack on Cuba would be the same as what happened on Pearl Harbor. They began to realize it was the kind of act the Soviet Union would conduct, not the U.S. This Quarantine then came to a final decision that if Khrushchev didn't surrender within a day or two, an United States air attack on Cuba would follow. -
Dreadful Days
President Kennedy went on the radio as well as the television, explaining what the secret Soviet Union had build-up in Cuba. He asserted that the quarantine and demanded that the Soviets remove the missiles. In the following few days, one distressing moment was followed by another. JFK and his advisers considered how to stop a Soviet ship that crossed the quarantine line. They also pondered on the question of how to keep track of continuing the missile construction in Cuba. -
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Dealing With the Turkish Missile Issue
During these two days, the crisis came to a head. Khrushchev contacted Kennedy saying that he was prepared to remove missiles in Cuba only if the United States promised to not invade Cuba. Which was a promise that was offered more than just once. Kennedy's advisers thought that the Khrushchev offer was was unacceptable. At the end of all this, JFK found a way to handle the situation by sending Robert Kennedy to see the Soviet Ambassador to tell him that the missiles in Turkey were obsolete.