The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 was arguably the most alarming event in the history of the Cold War. Between October 15th and October 28th of that year, the Soviet and American governments found themselves in the midst of an escalating military confrontation. And had to make a series of urgent diplomatic decisions in order to avoid an atomic war. Historians agree that this confrontation was the closest the world has ever come to a nuclear mass destruction, and the real possibility of the undulation of humankind. This episode is cemented in the histories of both countries as a turning point in their relationship. And it is still considered by politicians and diplomats as one of most revelatory case studies for how to resolve a conflict between nations caught up in brinkmanship. Today, we will discuss the history of the Cuban Missile Crisis from the perspective of the Soviet Union. In particular, we will address the reasons that propelled the USSR towards the confrontation. And we will talk in detail about how the Soviet press presented the crisis as it unfolded for the Soviet Republic. First a bit of history. You might have already noticed that while the crisis is called the Cuban Missile Crisis, my discussion about it begins with the Soviet American relationship? Yes, of course Cuba was Central to it, but not as an independent political voice influencing any decisions. Cuba was central because as a small island that became the first socialist nation in the Western Hemisphere, it was located less than 100 miles away from the shores of Miami. That's it became a pivotal square on the chess board on which Soviet-American hostilities played out. These hostilities began immediately after 1945 rooted in the irreconcilable ideological divisions between East and West. Between the one country aspiring to build communism and the other advancing capitalism. Cuba's revolution of 1959 brought the physical boundaries of this division unexpectedly close to the United States. Up until this point of 1959, the Cuban government and its leader Fulgencio Batista, operated as a puppet regime of the United States. With the American government and American businesses exploiting the Cuban economy to its own ends. When Fidel Castro seized power in 1959 and denounced the political and economic course independent of the interest of the United States. The US immediately set about to over throw the Castro regime. The Americans not only imposed economic embargo to paralyzed the Cuban economy, but also invaded the country through the Bay of Pigs and 1961 though without any success. Indeed it was this aggressive American actions that pushed Castro into alliance with the Soviet Union. Even if originally he had no particular interest in fraternal relations with its eastern socialist counterpart. The Soviet Union although also initially suspicious of Castro's Revolution embraced the opportunity of creating a satellite socialist state just south of Florida. As Cuba continued to be threatened by the possibility of an American invasion. Nikita Khrushchev the leader of the Soviet government at the time decided to intervene with Castro's agreement by building a nuclear military based on the island. This decision was justified by what the Soviets Percy if does another hostile American step. Namely at the end of 1961, the United States set up a military base in Turkey with 15 ballistic missiles aimed straight at the Soviet Union. In July 1962, Khrushchev approved the Operation Anadyr, 50,000 soldiers, 36 long-range nuclear missiles and all kinds of other military equipment began to be transported aboard 86 ships to Cuba. It was the first time in history that the Soviet government managed to install its weapons of mass destructions at the doorstep of the United States. It took the US a while to understand the significance of this enormous convoy moving through the Atlantic Ocean. Ultimately the CIA spy planes photographed the new Soviet military based on Cuban soil. The images were uncontestable proof that the the Soviet Union was directly threatening the United States. In response President John F.Kennedy demanded the removal of Soviet nuclear weapons. Khrushchev followed with his own demands, the conflict escalated rapidly with the ballistic missiles in Turkey pointing towards the USSR, and those in Cuba pointing to the United States. Two red buttons ready to be pushed at a moments notice on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. How the conflict got resolved is a story with many points of view. Many books have been published offering detailed accounts of internal governmental discussions and negotiations in and between Washington and Moscow. Both the United States and the Soviet Union, it should be noted made concessions in the negotiations. Khrushchev agreed to remove the ballistic missiles from Cuba in exchange for Kennedy's promise to never invade the island. Kennedy also agreed in the conversation that was not publicly revealed for a while to remove the American weapons from Turkey. We will turn our attention now to how the Soviet media covered the process, constructing and dominating public opinion in the Soviet Union. And yes in flaming hostile attitudes towards the United States. First the Soviet press which was completely under governmental control, explained the Soviet nuclear transfer to Cuba as an attempt to help the new socialist nation. Stressing that the ballistic missiles would be used only for self protection should United States strike. Indeed newspapers focused less on the military buildup and more on the economic support that the USSR was offering Cuba in the midst of the US embargo, thus saving the island from poverty and American imperialist ambitions. Second, the United States was repeatedly presented in the Soviet press as the sole aggressor an enemy with hostile intentions irrational in its behavior towards other nations. Third, Soviet journalists made a distinction between the government of the United States and the American people. The government was described as the embodiment of monopolistic capitalism. And as the source of a kind of state control to media that spit out vile anti-Soviet propaganda influencing American people's judgment and keeping them ignorant of the real state of affairs. One Soviet newspaper insisted that simple American folks weren't buying the messages propagated by the American mass media, and were questioning the intentions of their president. One Soviet article even quoted an American citizen stating, Cuba does not threaten us with anything. I also don't believe that the Russians are threatening us. Finally, the Soviet press did not give the United States any credit for the resolution of the conflict. Nikita Khrushchev and his government were celebrated in the USSR as the ones who saved the world from a nuclear catastrophe. Reason triumph Khrushchev declared in the speech, the cause of peace and the security of nations one. Most historians including co Russian agreed today that the Cuban Missile Crisis was the Khrushchev making. While the United States played a significant role in provoking Khrushchev decision to create a nuclear military based on Cuba. It was his weapons transfer to Cuba that created the actual crisis and the very real threat of mass destruction. But in the fall of 1962, the Soviet Union would have none of it. The Soviet American conflict became an extremely convenient occasion for anti-American propaganda. A campaign showcasing a fight between good and evil, between socialism and capitalism. Socialism appeared in the Soviet view as the protector of the world humanity and the embodiment of reason. American capitalism in turn was presented as driven only by self-interest and thus ready to fight a destructive intercontinental war in order to eradicate the seats of communist near its shores. For better or worse, the crisis genuinely scared both governments and populations making everyone realize the fragility of world peace and the necessity for nuclear control. Policies towards such arms control from both sides of the Iron Curtain began to develop just a year after the end of the crisis.
