A TedEd by Matthew A. Jordan
After World War II, people lived in a constant state of fear during 45 years. During the Cold War, everyone knew that they could be wiped out with nuclear missiles at the push of a button. During this time, the US and USSR had a global face-off, each with enough nuclear weapons to destroy each other. And the closest it got was during the 13 days of the Cuban Missile Crisis. In 1961, the US attempted to overthrow the new Communist government of Cuba in an attack known as the Bay of Pigs (the Cold War was about Capitalism vs. Communism). It failed, and Cuba decided to get protection from Russia. The USSR sent nuclear missile to Cuba, both to protect the island and to down size the US missiles in Turkey and Italy. US intelligence agencies learned about the plan far too late, and an emergency meeting was held on October 16, 1962. Military leaders suggested an airstrike, but Kennedy didn’t want to be hasty. He announced that the US would be blocking all shipments to Cuba, except for necessities. This was because a full naval blockade was considered an act of war, while Kennedy could simply call it quarantine if necessities were allowed in. The Soviets didn’t like that, and 6 days of global terror ensued, with the US demanding the removal of missiles and the Soviets insisting they were only defensive. On October 27, a spy plane was shot down over Cuba. Then, a nuclear armed USSR submarine was intercepted by a US navy vessel. The sub was too deep to communicate with the surface, and since its commanders thought war had begun, they had to decide whether to fire a nuclear torpedo. It had to be a unanimous decision by its three officers. But one of them, Vasili Arkhipov, wouldn’t let the others launch. This decision may have saved the world. Still, the US was on DEF CON 2, a level of defensiveness one level from total nuclear war. Robert Kennedy and Anatoly Dobrynin held secret talks in Washington, and reached a deal - The USSR would remove its missiles if the US removed theirs and agreed not to attack Cuba. And the crisis was over. The decision was criticized at the time, saying that each side had bargained with the enemy, but today we admire the two leaders’ ability to diplomatically solve the crisis.
