Catania 1
Frank Catania
Doctor Kovach
Western Civilization
14 December 2017
Primary Source #3
The human race and the modern world has never been such close to nuclear battle than
the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. This 13-day war ranging from October 15th to October 28th
was a result of a variety of things: the Cuban Revolution, the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion,
US anti-communism, insecurity of the Soviet Union and Cuba, and Cuba’s fear of invasion all
were factors that lead to this war. The crisis actually occurred though, when the Soviet Union
secretly placed nuclear missiles on the island of Cuba, and they were spotted by America spy
planes on October 15th. Initially The smaller ballistic missiles spotted in Cuba greatly worried
American President John F. Kennedy, but it wasn’t until October 18th, when the CIA had found
yet more missile sites, revealing the construction of a launch site for the R-14, a more advanced
and longer-range missile that had the power to devastate the United States, till a serious threat of
nuclear war became evident. Though it was only 13 days long the Cuban Missile Crisis is
thought to be one of the most significant events in human history. Most likely because it was the
first-time humanity AS A WHOLE were threatened because of the existence of weapons of mass
destruction. Through analyzing the communications between world leaders involved in the crisis,
and their conveyances to the people that they governed over, one can gain a thorough
understanding of the objectives of those involved in the Cuban Missile Crisis and how close the
world really came to nuclear war.
Catania 2
As the hours ticked down to the missile-launching, John F. Kennedy had to find a way to
keep peace to the public, yet deal with a drastically uncertain and sensitive situation. Not only
this, but the challenge of conveying the danger America faced regarding a topic the public hardly
knew anything about lied within the hands of Kennedys. President Kennedy’s crisis speech given
on October 22nd, 1962 one of the most successful crisis speeches in American History for many
reasons. One of the primary reasons lie within the beginning and end of Kennedys speech. At the
beginning of the speech John F. Kennedy connected with his American audiences as an equal,
and at the end, connected with the world as an international peacemaker. This equality aspect of
his speech can be seen when Kennedy refers to Americans as, “my fellow American citizens”
1
.
While his connection internationally is made evident in his final statement saying,” Our goal is
not the victory of might, but the vindication of right — not peace at the expense of freedom, but
both peace and freedom, here in this hemisphere, and we hope, around the world.”
2
This equality
component of Kennedys address can be seen later on in his speech when he sates, “No one can
foresee precisely what course it will take or at what costs or casualties will be incurred.”
3
By
stating this Kennedy is identifying that there is a very large problem in which he is uncertain of
the outcome. Making this statement brought the American people the same level he was at,
hence, they were put at the same uncertainty level as the leader. Not only did Kennedy connect
with his audience but he was thorough in informing Americans of the procedures being taken to
prevent the crisis. Kennedy split these up into seven points:
1
Kennedy, Speech about the Cuban Missile Crisis, Speech to American People and World,1962, pg.1, SHU
Blackboard, accessed December 6th, 2017
2
Kennedy, Speech about the Cuban Missile Crisis, Speech to American People and World,1962, pg.2, SHU
Blackboard, accessed December 6th, 2017
3
Kennedy, Speech about the Cuban Missile Crisis, Speech to American People and World,1962, pg.1, SHU
Blackboard, accessed December 6th, 2017
Catania 3
1. Create a blockade around Cuba so as to control what will be entering or leaving the
island.
2. Continue and increase surveillance in Cuba. (This gave citizens comfort and
knowledge knowing that their government would be aware of what was going in
Cuba relating to nuclear missiles)
3. Any Soviet missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the western hemisphere
would be considered as an attack on The United States by The Soviet Union. (This
clearly defined that The Soviet Union was the enemy in this crisis)
4. Kennedy regarded that America has reinforced their base at Guantanamo, and
ordered military personnel to be on standby. (This conveyed that America was ready
