The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962
- American's supported a corrupt regime under Fulgencio Batista until the Cuban revolution in 1959
- Fidel Castro took over
- Aligned with the Soviets
- The Bay of Pigs (failed invasion of Cuba)
- 1962 Soviets begin to put nuclear weapons into Cuba (noticed by U2 planes)
- CIA looked bad because Kennedy did not do his part to do air support and were angry
- The US had 3 options
- Diplomatic solution (negotiated settlement)
- A conventional attack (air attack followed by invasion)
- A naval blockade
- Robert Kennedy, attorney general, convinced Security Council to go with blockade
- Ships turn around at the quarantine
- 2 letters sent from Krushchev to Kennedy
- Brinkmanship ensues (U.N gets involved)
- Russians pull out of Cuba in exchange for a removal of missile in Turkey at later date
- Directly resulted in the Partial Test Ban Treaty of 1962
- Hot line