John F. Kennedy came out of the crisis in a much better position. His calm but firm stance in the negotiations was heralded as great statesmanship, though it is often forgotten that his bungling of the Bay of Pigs invasion had helped lead to the missile crisis in the first place.
Although Kennedy had the option of launching air strikes against the missile construction sites, he decided to come into terms with Khrushchev that would see the Soviets remove the missiles in exchange that the U.S. would not invade the Island. Unmistakably, the U.S. won by giving in to Khrushchev's demands.
The next morning, October 28, Khrushchev issued a public statement that Soviet missiles would be dismantled and removed from Cuba. The crisis was over but the naval quarantine continued until the Soviets agreed to remove their IL–28 bombers from Cuba and, on November 20, 1962, the United States ended its quarantine.
At the time, the outcome of the crisis was widely viewed as an American triumph because Kennedy had been able to induce Khrushchev to dismantle the missiles the Soviets had secretly sent to the island but which were detected by U.S. reconnaissance planes.
The Cuban missile crisis showed that neither the United States nor the Soviet Union were ready to use nuclear weapons for fear of the other's retaliation (and thus of mutual atomic annihilation). The two superpowers soon signed the Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty of 1963, which banned aboveground nuclear weapons testing.
After many long and difficult meetings, Kennedy decided to place a naval blockade, or a ring of ships, around Cuba. The aim of this "quarantine," as he called it, was to prevent the Soviets from bringing in more military supplies. He demanded the removal of the missiles already there and the destruction of the sites.
And the person who likely did more than anyone else to prevent that dangerous day from becoming an existential catastrophe was a quiet Soviet naval officer named Vasili Arkhipov. On that day, Arkhipov was serving aboard the nuclear-armed Soviet submarine B-59 in international waters near Cuba.
While Kennedy gained mass domestic support and, thus, a huge public victory, Khrushchev sacrificed his public reputation and standing within the Kremlin to successfully advance his foreign policy. The only loser in the crisis is, in fact, Khrushchev himself.
On April 17, 1961, 1,400 Cuban exiles launched what became a botched invasion at the Bay of Pigs on the south coast of Cuba. In 1959, Fidel Castro came to power in an armed revolt that overthrew Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista.
Though Kennedy is most to blame in terms of the increasing in hostility in the region, Khrushchev was the individual that created the crisis as it existed. Kennedy's actions were a direct cause of Soviet interference, yet Khrushchev's decision to place nuclear weapons on the island is the cause of the crisis.
Many nuclear historians agree that 27 October 1962, known as “Black Saturday”, was the closest the world came to nuclear catastrophe, as US forces enforced a blockade of Cuba to stop deliveries of Soviet missiles.
The missile sites, he announced, would be dismantled immediately. The peaceful resolution of the crisis is considered to be one of President Kennedy's greatest achievements.
By the early 1960s however, Khrushchev's popularity was eroded by flaws in his policies, as well as his handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis. This emboldened his potential opponents, who quietly rose in strength and deposed him in October 1964.
The Americans had a greater nuclear power with more than 300 land based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and a fleet of Polaris submarines. The Soviet Union had only 4 to 6 land based ICBMs and around 100 short range primitive V1 type cruise missiles that could only be launched from surfaced submarines.
In response to these factors, Soviet First Secretary, Nikita Khrushchev, agreed with the Cuban Prime Minister, Fidel Castro, to place nuclear missiles on the island of Cuba to deter a future invasion.
The Soviets call the Missile Crisis the Caribbean Crisis. They focus on the fact that this was a superpower confrontation in the Caribbean. They wanted to de-emphasize Cuba. This was between the United States and the Soviets.
From the White House, US President John F Kennedy cancelled at the last minute the US air strikes that would have neutralised Castro's aviation. He did so because he felt the United States could not appear to be behind the invasion.
In front of me are the tranquil, turquoise and dark blue waters of Cuba's Bay of Pigs, with its amazing underwater wall descending 450 metres below the surface. It is an easy two-minute swim from shore – a true rarity.
Following his election in November 1960, President John F. Kennedy learned of the invasion plan, concluded that Fidel Castro was a Soviet client posing a threat to all of Latin America and, after consultations with his advisors, gave his consent for the CIA-planned clandestine invasion of Cuba to proceed.
Let us resolve to work together to realize a world free from fear of nuclear weapons, remembering the courageous judgement of Stanislav Petrov.” As Petrov had died, the award was collected by his daughter, Elena. Petrov's son Dmitri missed his flight to New York because the US embassy delayed his visa.
Vasily Aleksandrovich Arkhipov (Russian: Василий Александрович Архипов, IPA: [vɐˈsʲilʲɪj ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪtɕ arˈxʲipəf], 30 January 1926 – 19 August 1998) was a Soviet Naval officer who prevented a Soviet nuclear torpedo launch during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Three years after his death, Director of the American Research and Archival Institution, Tom Blanton while commenting on the move of Arkhipov said; “A man called Vasili Arkhipov saved the world.”
Stanislav Petrov, a little-known Russian whose decision averted a potential nuclear war, died in May at 77, a family friend disclosed in mid-September. As a lieutenant colonel in the Soviet Air Defense Forces, Petrov was on duty Sept.
27 October 1962
At the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Soviet patrol submarine B-59 almost launched a nuclear-armed torpedo while under harassment by American naval forces.