The Cuban Missile Crisis

Before 1959, Cuba was run by a dictator called Batista who had American backing. Most Cubans were poor. American companies controlled much of the island's economy. There was deep resentment.

Fidel Castro led a revolution that overthrew Batista on 1 January 1959. He quickly took over American-owned businesses and moved toward communism. The United States cut off trade and began planning to remove him.

“Cuba's revolution turned a Caribbean island into a front line of the Cold War — ninety miles from Florida.”

Castro needed protection. The Soviet Union offered military support and trade. Cuba moved firmly into the Soviet camp. Washington saw this as a direct threat on its doorstep.

This matters because those tensions — between Cuba, the United States, and the Soviet Union — would boil over just over three years later when Soviet nuclear missiles were secretly installed on the island.

The CIA trained about 1,400 Cuban exiles to invade Cuba and topple Castro. Kennedy inherited the plan and approved it, but refused to provide US air support. Without that cover, the invasion failed within three days.

The men who landed at the Bay of Pigs were captured. It was an embarrassing failure. Kennedy looked weak. Castro looked stronger than ever.

“The failed invasion convinced Castro he needed nuclear protection — and convinced Khrushchev that Kennedy could be pushed around.”

Khrushchev concluded that Kennedy was not a tough opponent. That miscalculation would lead him to make a far bigger gamble the following year.

Castro, meanwhile, was convinced the Americans would try again. He turned to the Soviet Union for serious military protection — including, eventually, nuclear missiles.

The Soviet Union was far behind the United States in nuclear weapons. America had roughly 5,000 warheads; the Soviets had around 300. The US also had missiles in Turkey, pointing at Soviet cities. Khrushchev wanted to close the gap.

Cuba seemed like the perfect solution. Soviet missiles there would threaten American cities and give the Soviets leverage they lacked. It would also protect Castro from another US invasion attempt.

“Khrushchev thought he could install nuclear missiles in secret, then reveal them as a done deal Kennedy would have to accept.”

The Soviets shipped missiles, soldiers, and equipment to Cuba hidden in cargo freighters. Construction of launch sites began in mid-1962. Everything depended on the Americans not finding out until the missiles were ready.

They were found out. American spy planes had been photographing Cuba regularly. What they captured in October 1962 triggered the most dangerous crisis in history.