Kuba krise fidel castro biography
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The Cuban Missile Crisis, October
The Cuban Missile Crisis of October was a direct and dangerous confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War and was the moment when the two superpowers came closest to nuclear conflict. The crisis was unique in a number of ways, featuring calculations and miscalculations as well as direkt and secret communications and miscommunications between the two sides. The dramatic crisis was also characterized bygd the fact that it was primarily played out at the White House and the Kremlin level with relatively little input from the respective bureaucracies typically involved in the foreign policy process.
Aerial view of missile launch site at San Cristobal, Cuba. (John F. Kennedy Library)
After the failed U.S. attempt to overthrow the Castro regime in Cuba with the Bay of Pigs invasion, and while the Kennedy ledning planned Operation Mongoose, in July Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev reached a secret agreement
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Discovering the Missiles
After seizing power in the Caribbean island nation of Cuba in , leftist revolutionary leader Fidel Castro () 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 (), an ongoing series of largely political and economic clashes.
Did you know? The actor Kevin Costner () starred in a movie about the Cuban Missile Crisis titled Thirteen Days. Released in , the movie's tagline was "You'll never believe how close we came."
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, , photographed a Soviet SS-4 medium-range ballistic missile being assembled for installation.
President Kennedy was briefed about the situation on October 16, and he
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Note: English translations of foreign language documents follow origianls.
USSR, Memorandum, A. Adzhubeis Account of His Visit to Washington to the CC CPSU, March 12, (in original Russian with English translation)
CIA, Minutes, SECRET, "Meeting with the Attorney General of the United States Concerning Cuba," 19 January (Richard Helms)
DOD, Memorandum, TOP SECRET, "Cover and Deception Plans for Caribbean Survey Group," 19 February (Operation Northwoods).
Brig. Gen. Edward Lansdale, Review of OPERATION MONGOOSE, Phase One, July 25,
National Security Action Memorandum No. , Presidential Directive on actions and studies in response to new Soviet Bloc Activity in Cuba, August 23,
CIA, Minutes, TOP SECRET, "Minutes of Meeting of the Special Group (Augmented) on Operation Mongoose," 4 October
Chronology Compiled for The President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB), "Chronology of Specific Events Relating to the Military Buil