The Cuban Crisis

When Cuban declared itself a Communist nation, an fearful silence fell across the United States. Fidel Castro, the new leader of Cuba, broke relations with the United States and strengthened their ties with the Soviet Union. Many Cuban felt betrayed and ten percent of Cuba's population went to exile in Miami, Florida. In 1960, Eisenhower gave permission for the CIA to train these exiles in an attempt to invade Cuba. Though Kennedy doubted the plan would work, he approved it anyway. On April 17, 1961, the Cuban exiles started the assault, but it went horribly wrong. The U.S. failed to knock out the Cuban air force and the small force sent to distract Castro's troops never arrived. The disaster left the U.S. in an uncomfortable position having to pay Cuba a ransom for the exiles freedom. The Soviet Union took advantage of this and moved military weapon, including nuclear missiles, into Cuba. Photographs from the U-2 planes showed America what the Soviets were up to. Scientists predicted that the missiles could reach the U.S. in minutes. America announced that a fire of any of these missiles would mean nuclear war with Russia. The world stood still at the possibility of the annihilation of the two superpowers. Finally the Soviet Union offered to remove the missiles in return for America's pledge not to invade Cuba. America hastily agreed and the Crisis came to an end.