The Cuban Missile Crisis

1. Kennedy described Wednesday, Oct. 24 and Saturday, Oct. 27 as the darkest days of the crisis. Use the information on page 350 to explain why.

Kennedy described these days as the darkest days of the crisis because on the 24th there was a very big chance that a war would happen, because if the Soviet ships had attacked the blockade, we would have had to answer their attack and a war would have developed. The 27th made it seem like there was no way that the problem could be solved diplomatically because Kennedy was not going to agree with the terms that he was given.

2. Do you think that nuclear war was ever a possibility in this crisis?
I think that nuclear war was a possibility during the crisis. If one of the countries would have attacked then the nuclear weapons would have been used because they were in the countries arsenal.

3. Is Source 26 a Soviet or an American cartoon? Explain your answer by referring to the details in the cartoon.

I think source six is American cartoon. It seems to blame both of the leaders for wanting nuclear war, and the society of communists in the USSR i don't think would have allowed this. Also the bombs have an h on them, and h is an american letter showing that they are our bombs and not the russians.

4. Using Source 27 list any evidence you can find for and against each of the explanations.
To bargain with the US
-Removal of missiles in Turkey
-not much effort put into the deals


To test US
-thought Kennedy was a weak president
-this was not good because there was the threat of a nuclear war

To trap US
-very close in proximity to the US
-not necessary

To get the upper hand in the arms race

- it balanced US installments in Europe and Turkey
- there was still a chance of a retaliation.

To defend Cuba
-no reason that they would want to have a nuclear war
-close to the US

5. Choose the explanation(s) that you think best fit what you have found out about the crisis. Explain your choice.
I think that best explanation would be that Kruschev was trying to gain an upper hand in the arms race. At the time the US and its allies nations had missiles a lot closer to the USSR than The USSR had to the US. Also, short to medium range missiles that were kept in Cuba could be used to bomb Washington D.C and New York.