The cuban missile crisis at 55 national security archive. What are some of the best nonfiction books on the cuban. The cuban missile crisis in american memory by sheldon m. On 14th october 1962 a us spy plane flying over cuba reported the installation of russian nuclear missile bases.
These historical documents are pdf images of formerly classified carbon paper and reports that have been declassified. President kennedy had taken pains to be sure eisenhower was briefed on the cuban missile crisis by john mccone, first on october 17 to give him the news of the deployment and then again on october 21 to tell the former president about the blockadeultimatum decision. The effort to produce a critical oral history enabled cuban voiceslong excluded from interpretive debates about the events of october. Additional gift options are available when buying one ebook at a time. Discover delightful childrens books with prime book box, a subscription that. While experts on the missile crisis, as well as the participants themselves, have been long aware of the catandmouse game between u. A memoir of the cuban missile crisis kindle edition by kennedy, robert f.
The cuban missile crisis began for the united states on the morning of october 16, when president kennedy was informed of the discovery of missile sites in cuba by u2 surveillance aircraft. Nielsen book data summary in the cuban missile crisis. A gametheoretic history of the cuban missile crisis3. In january 1959, fulgencio batista, the brutal, americanbacked cuban dictator, was overthrown by the guerrilla army of fidel castro. Therefore, it is very fascinating to identify what happen before the crisis, the causes, the actual events in the crisis, and the impacts of the crisis rich 2003, 416428. The cuban missile crisis belfer center for science and. The cuban missile crisis for thirteen days in october 1962, the world held its breath as soviet nuclear missiles made their way towards cuba, defying american demands. A memoir of the cuban missile crisis published by user, 18 years ago during the thirteen days in october 1962 when the united states confronted the soviet union over its installation of missiles in cuba, few people shared the behind the scenes story as it is told here by the late senator robert f. Central intelligence agency, office of current intelligence. Second holocaust had it not been for the downing of the u2, the cuban missile crisis of october 1962 might never have come about.
At the sites, each team did what it knew how toemplace missilesliterally according to the book. The pentagon, opposed to any film that might undermine public enthusiasm for nuclear weapons, refused to cooperate. The united states refused to allow this and, after thirteen tense days and many secret negotiations, the soviet union agreed to remove the missiles. A history from beginning to end kindle edition by history. Why we should still study the cuban missile crisis united states. Popular cuban missile crisis books goodreads share book. Navy forced to the surface a soviet submarine, which unbeknownst to the. The program uses documentary footage to reconstruct step by stepthe events which brought the united states and the soviet union to the brink of nuclear war in october 1962.
Project muse ireland, the cuban missile crisis, and. As we come up towards the 50th anniversary of the cuban missile crisis, there are several new books coming out commemorating the crisis, adding new information and interpretation, and taking fresh looks at what history remembers as the most dangerous crisis of the nuclear age. No other book offers this inside look at the strategies of the soviet leadership. The cuban missile crisis was a confrontation that took place in 1962 between the united states and the soviet union over the soviet unions sending of nuclear missiles to fidel castro 1926. Missile gaparms race another huge way the cold war was made tangible was through the nuclear arms. How did the superpowers extricate themselves from it. On october 18, kennedy met with soviet minister of foreign affairs, andrei gromyko, who claimed the weapons were for defensive purposes only. The cuban missile crisis occurred in 1962 when the soviet union began to install nuclear missiles in cuba. A catalogue record for this book is available from the british library. Len scott, the cuban missile crisis and the threat of nuclear war. The cuban missile crisis stands as a seminal event. Defense department deletes khrushchevs public statements about jupiter missiles in turkey. Jfk and the aftermath of the cuban missile crisis norton, 2012. A striking example of this was in 1962, the time of the cuban missile crisis.
With the push of a button on either side, a nuclear. Today, each of us can address this question ourselves. An international history of the cuban missile crisis. Should any party be held more at fault than the other. Eisenhowers reluctant adventurism to use a favorite marxist word plunged us into the most dangerous period of the cold war. Cuban missile crisis 4 the first consignment of r12 missiles arrived on the night of september 8, followed by a second on september 16. The cuban missiles crisis was a very important part of the world history because of the risk of nuclear war that could lead to the destruction of the world. Yet there is little agreement on the lessons it holds for us today. Pdf download the cuban missile crisis download ebook pdf. In may 1960, khrushchev began to ship ballistic missiles to cuba and technicians to operate them.
United states and the cuban missile crisis university of minnesota press. The authors draw on newly available documents to provide a comprehensive treatment of its causes, events, consequences, and significance. The cuban missile crisis was the most dangerous confrontation of the cold war and the most perilous moment in american history. Project muse ireland, the cuban missile crisis, and civil. The cuban missile crisisknown as the october crisis or the missile scare in cuba and the caribbean crisis in the former ussrwas a day confrontation in october 1962 between the soviet union and cuba on one side and the united states on the other side.
National security archive electronic briefing book no. The secret history of the cuban missile crisis fursenko, aleksandr, naftali, timothy on. The soviet union had secretly stationed nuclear weapons on the island of cuba, and. Cold war international history project cwihp was established at the. Based on classified soviet archives, including the files of nikita khrushchev and the kgb, one hell of a gamble offers a riveting playbyplay history of the cuban missile crisis from american and soviet perspectives simultaneously. While participants and historians of the crisis never tire of recalling its details and its dangers, the majority of the generation that.
While participants and historians of the crisis never tire of recalling its details and its dangers, the majority of the generation that lived through it, and subsequent generations, never became emotionally. Indeed, on the fever chart of these fortyfive years. Not wanting to expose what he already knew and to avoid panicking the american public,kennedy did not reveal that he was already aware of the missile buildup. This site is like a library, use search box in the widget to get ebook that you want.
Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. If you want a more tacticallevel perspective on the cuban missile crisis, check out blue moon over cuba. The cuban missile crisis was one of the major climaxes of the cold war, bringing the world the closest it has ever been to a nuclear war. In this dramatic narrative written especially for students and general readers, sheldon m. Welch distill the best current scholarship on the cuban missile crisis into a brief narrative history. The following article on the result of the cuban missile crisis is an excerpt from warren kozaks curtis lemay. But the cuban missile crisis did not replicate on the beach, and so thoughts about a cuban missile war passed unobtrusively into history. In the brief space of this article, it is not possible to. Soviet premier nikita khrushchev saw an opportunity to strengthen the relationship between the soviet union and fidel castro s cuba and make good its promise to defend cuba from the united states. Fidel castro centre for international governance innovation. Kennedy library, enables the reader to follow the often harrowing twists and turns of the crisis. To this day, the cuban missile crisis is regarded as the closest that the us has ever come to a nuclear war. Missiles in cuba can beaflexible component in any secondarylevelsocial studies course, particularly u.
Dec 26, 2015 if you want a more tacticallevel perspective on the cuban missile crisis, check out blue moon over cuba. Pdf a general explanation of the cuban missile crisis. In contemporary times, literary and cinematic interpretations of the cuban missile crisis have still excluded a cuban perspective in their material. In 1962, fidel castros new communist regime was three years old. The picture left is one of those taken from the spy plane and clearly shows missile transporter trailers and tents where fuelling and maintenance took place. Discover the remarkable history of the cuban missile crisis. For an example of new documents see lawrence chang and peter kornbluk, editors, the cuban missile crisis new york. Kennedy relied on a history book to guide him in the cuban missile crisis and we now know that book was wrong by jordan michael smith globe correspondent.
His new book marshals irrefutable evidence to succinctly demolish the. Welch distill the best current scholarship on the cuban missile crisis into a brief and accessible narrative history. The cuban missile crisis, also known as the october crisis of 1962 spanish. The origins of the cuban missile crisis lie in the failed bay of pigs invasion. Cuban missile crisis, major confrontation at the height of the cold war that brought the united states and the soviet union to the brink of a shooting war in october 1962 over the presence of soviet nucleararmed missiles in cuba. Cuban missile crisis timeline world history project. The cuban missile crisis revisited foreign affairs. Today, as len scott observes, the 1962 cuban missile crisis continues to attract. In exchange, the us would remove missile bases in turkey near the soviet unions borders. The contradictions of defense department declassification policy. Since the cuban missile crisis remains the only nuclear crisis we have experienced, it remains the great laboratory in which to study the art of crisis management. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading thirteen days. Asw forces and soviet submarines during october and november 1962, only in recent months has the hidden history of soviet submarine operations during the crisis become more widely known.
Sep 14, 2012 as we come up towards the 50th anniversary of the cuban missile crisis, there are several new books coming out commemorating the crisis, adding new information and interpretation, and taking fresh looks at what history remembers as the most dangerous crisis of the nuclear age. Kennedy convened an informal group of cabinet officials and top civilian and military advisors the ex comm to consider and plan an appropriate response. Most of what you know about the cuban missile crisis is wrong. For 14 days in october 1962 the world stood on the brink of nuclear war. In response to the bay of pigs invasion and other american actions against cuba as well as to president kennedys buildup in italy and turkey of u. Even now, fresh history continues to blow holes in what we thought we knew. During the cuban missile crisis nuclear weapons in cuba were aimed at the us, and at the same time nuclear weapons in the us were aimed at cuba.
New books on the cuban missile crisis the fourteenth day. As the revolutionary icon who left an indelible mark on history is mourned, we look at what lessons the cuban missile crisis offers today s political leaders on how to resolve emerging nuclear threats in the twentyfirst century. Cuban missile crisis, 1962, major cold war confrontation between the united states and the soviet union. We were in our third year, none of us 15 yet, and we were walking in the valley of the. Aerial reconnaissance during the cuban missile crisis by capt. The most dramatic moments of that crisisthe famed thirteen dayslasted from october 16, 1962, when president kennedy first learned that the soviet union was constructing missile launch sites in cuba, to october 28, when soviet premier nikita khrushchev. Most of what you know about the cuban missile crisis is. A concise history, second edition, don munton and david a. Cuban missile crisis world history free pdf download. If you read british foreign office records from the 1940s, its clear they recognised that their day in the sun was over and that britain would have to be the junior partner of the united states, and sometimes treated in a humiliating way. This disagreement was brought into sharp focus at a recent meeting of scholars and former. The cuban missile crisis was the signature moment of john f. It is about a time of tension that many analysts are saying is similar to the us relationship with russia today.
May 22, 2017 in exchange, the us would remove missile bases in turkey near the soviet unions borders. In this special report, dobbs distills the key findings of his book, including ten lessons for a modernday president. List of books and articles about cuban missile crisis. In united states historiography, the importance of cuba in the cuban missile crisis has been marginalized by the threat of soviet made military hardware in the western hemisphere. Cuban missile crisis deserves a book in and of itself, but this. Click download or read online button to get pdf download the cuban missile crisis book now. The crisis was a defining moment in the presidency of john f.
201 962 5 1093 925 57 1410 582 938 447 476 1174 585 179 835 254 454 127 1247 1401 692 1212 27 1117 692 1387 769 693 219 987 1353 794 398