In: Operations Management
The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis of
1962, the Caribbean Crisis, or the Missile Scare, was a 13-day
confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union
initiated by the American discovery of Soviet ballistic missile
deployment in Cuba.
After seizing power in the Caribbean island nation of Cuba in 1959,
leftist revolutionary leader Fidel Castro (1926-2016) aligned
himself with the Soviet Union. Under Castro, Cuba grew dependent on
the Soviets for military and economic aid. During this time, the
U.S. and the Soviets (and their respective allies) were engaged in
the Cold War (1945-91). The two superpowers plunged into one of
their biggest Cold War confrontations after the pilot of an
American U-2 spy plane piloted by Major Richard Heyser making a
high-altitude pass over Cuba on October 14, 1962, photographed a
Soviet SS-4 medium-range ballistic missile being assembled for
installation.
For the American officials, the urgency of the situation stemmed from the fact that the nuclear-armed Cuban missiles were being installed so close to the U.S. mainland–just 90 miles south of Florida. From that launch point, they were capable of quickly reaching targets in the eastern U.S. If allowed to become operational, the missiles would fundamentally alter the complexion of the nuclear rivalry between the U.S. and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), which up to that point had been dominated by the Americans.
A crucial moment in the unfolding crisis arrived on October 24, when Soviet ships bound for Cuba neared the line of U.S. vessels enforcing the blockade. An attempt by the Soviets to breach the blockade would likely have sparked a military confrontation that could have quickly escalated to a nuclear exchange. But the Soviet ships stopped short of the blockade.
Although the events at sea offered a positive sign that war could be averted, they did nothing to address the problem of the missiles already in Cuba. The tense standoff between the superpowers continued through the week, and on October 27, an American reconnaissance plane was shot down over Cuba, and a U.S. invasion force was readied in Florida.
Soviet and American leaders found a way out of the impasse. During the crisis, the Americans and Soviets had exchanged letters and other communications, and on October 26, Khrushchev sent a message to Kennedy in which he offered to remove the Cuban missiles in exchange for a promise by U.S. leaders not to invade Cuba. The following day, the Soviet leader sent a letter proposing that the USSR would dismantle its missiles in Cuba if the Americans removed their missile installations in Turkey.
Officially, the Kennedy administration decided to accept the terms of the first message and ignore the second Khrushchev letter entirely. Privately, however, American officials also agreed to withdraw their nation’s missiles from Turkey. U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy (1925-68) personally delivered the message to the Soviet ambassador in Washington, and on October 28, the crisis drew to a close.
why is was successful?
1.The situation that could have led to another world war was
amicably resolved by both the parties involved without and
casualties.
2.It also humbled up both the nations as the following year, a
direct “hot line” communication link was installed between
Washington and Moscow to help defuse similar situations, and the
superpowers signed two treaties related to nuclear weapons.
WHERE IT FAILED?
1.The treaty failed to put an end to the Cold War.
2. Another legacy of the crisis was that it convinced the Soviets
to increase their investment in an arsenal of intercontinental
ballistic missiles capable of reaching the U.S. from Soviet
territory. Thus it strengthened both the countries resolve to
increase their weapon arsenal by developing intercontinental
missiles.