Communication
I think you will understand me correctly if you are really concerned about the welfare of the world. Everyone needs peace: both capitalists, if they have not lost their reason, and, still more, Communists, people who know how to value not only their own lives but, more than anything, the lives of the peoples - Soviet Premier Khrushchev in a letter to President Kennedy (1962)
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In reality, neither side wanted to have to resort to full out war. Both were ready and prepared for it but both Khrushchev and Kennedy knew of the catastrophic consequences full out nuclear war could have. This was enforced by the military doctrine of M.A.D (Mutually Assured Doctrine). As much as his advisors would urge him to take military action, Kennedy held out for a diplomatic approach as long as he could.
Over the course of the infamous thirteen days in October 1962, the Soviet Premier and the President exchanged several letters in an attempt to reach a compromise. For Americans, the threat of nuclear missiles being able to hit major US cities shook the public to the core. However, for the Soviets, that fear had already been present. Just a year earlier, in 1961, the USA had more than a hundred nuclear missiles deployed in Turkey and Italy. Thirty missiles to Italy, fifteen to Turkey but all of them were able to strike Moscow within minutes. |
Anatoly Dobyrnin and President John F. Kennedy Bettmann/Corbis
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The Resolution With the American quarantine of Cuba not subsiding, and the missile launchers coming to a completion, it had seemed both powers reached a stalemate with diplomacy. War was the only option left.
However, in 27 October 1962, Soviet Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Dobrynin was invited to come see Attorney General Robert Kennedy. That night, Robert Kennedy relayed the message that his brother, the President, would want to send to the Soviet Premier. In the end both Dobrynin and Kennedy agreed on these terms: Soviet missiles would be taken out of Cuba, and in return the American missiles in Turkey and Italy would be withdrawn. This conclusion seemed to be the turning point for the Cuban Missile Crisis and it signaled the end of a stressful thirteen days. |
(Bettmann / Corbis)
A graph depicting the reach of Cuban missiles on the United States. As pictured, missiles from Cuba can reach major US and Mexican cities within minutes because of the short distance