Cuban Missile Crisis

By Philip Brenner

CIA Briefing Map Meeting of the ExComm October 16, 1962

U-2 Photo of Missile Site, October 14, 1962

Missile Warhead

ExComm Deliberation During the Crisis

Letter from Nikita Khrushchev to John F. Kennedy, October 26, 1962

Black Saturday Second Letter

Black Saturday

Low-level reconnaissance of Cuban antiaircraft sites

U.S. Lessons
Crises can be managed
Secrecy
Small group with open discussion Exclude and misinform Congress and public

Steel Will (Eyeball to Eyeball)

Toughness Resolve

Superior Strength
Build up Military Exercise Coercive Diplomacy

Problems with US Lessons First Cut

Crises cannot be managed Flexibility, not steel will, saved us Force or threat of force precipitated the crisis, made it more dangerous

US Misconstrues Soviet Motives

Summit in Vienna Austria, June 1961

Berlin Wall Erected, August 1961

Jan. 3, 1961

Bay of Pigs

The next day, 1,500 U.S. trained Cuban exiles landed on Cuba with weapons supplied by the United States.

Richard Goodwin Meets Ch Guevara

Operation Mongoose

Memorandum from Gen. Lansdale to Special Group (Augmented) -- Pg 1

Gen. Lansdale Memorandum (Continued) -- Pg 2

Operation Anadyr
In July 1962 the Soviet Union began to send ballistic missiles, other weapons and soldiers to Cuba. The build-up troubles US military planners, even as they conclude that ballistic missiles are not being installed.

New York Times

October 23, 1961

...

Soviet Union responds by exploding a 50-megaton hydrogen bomb in the atmosphere, Oct 30, 1961

White House Statement

Problems with US Lessons Second Cut

Crisis management Groupthink and exclusion of information
Steel will inflexibility and no negotiations; force becomes only alternative Coercive diplomacy military build-up; ignores factors such as patriotism

Soviet Lessons
Crises cannot be managed Crises must be prevented
Improve communications with the other superpower Achieve parity (equal military force) with US

President Kennedys American University Speech June 10, 1963

Cuban Lessons
Neither superpower can be trusted Cuba must defend itself with asymmetric warfare
Support revolution in Third World Strengthen military forces Intensify internal security

Castros Five Demands

Cessation of the US economic embargo and US pressure on other countries to cut commercial links to Cuba; End US subversive activities against Cuba, including the organization of invasions by mercenaries and infiltration of spies and saboteurs Cease piratical attacks from bases in the United States and Puerto Rico End violations of Cuban airspace US withdrawal from Guantanamo Naval Base

Anastas Mikoyan Arrives in Cuba

IL-28 Bomber (Bulgarian model in Cuba)

How Castro Remembered Mikoyans Visit

-- From: James Blight and Philip Brenner, Sad and Luminous Days

OSPAAL: Organization of Solidarity of the Peoples of Africa, Asia and Latin America

Cuban Missile Caribbean October

Crisis