Cuban Missile Crisis

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Missile Crisis" redirects here. For the missile crisis in Cyprus, see Cypriot S-300 crisis.

"Cuban Missile" redirects here. For the baseball player, see Aroldis Chapman.

Cuban Missile Crisis

Part of the Cold War and the aftermath of the Cuban Revolution

Top to bottom, left to right

A US Jupiter medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM)Soviet R-12 MRBMs in MoscowThe US presents evidence of R-12s in Cuba to the United Nations Security CouncilR-12 launch site in CubaSoviet surface-to-air missile site in CubaUS U-2 spyplanes, flown and shot down during the crisisUS F-102s in Alaska, scrambled with nuclear air-to-air missilesSoviet submarine B-59 surfaces after almost firing its nuclear torpedo on the US blockade

Date 16–28 October 1962

(naval quarantine of Cuba ended on 20 November)

Location

Cuba

Result

Conflict resolved diplomatically

Publicized removal of Soviet nuclear missiles from Cuba

Non-publicized removal of American nuclear missiles from Turkey and Italy

Agreement with the Soviet Union that the United States would never invade Cuba without direct provocation

Creation of a nuclear hotline between the United States and the Soviet Union

 

Parties involved in the crisis

 Soviet Union

 Cuba United States

 United Kingdom

 Italy

 Turkey

Commanders and leaders

Soviet Union Nikita Khrushchev

Soviet Union Anastas Mikoyan

Soviet Union Rodion Malinovsky

Soviet Union Matvei Zakharov

Soviet Union Sergey Biryuzov

Soviet Union Issa Pliyev

Soviet Union Georgy Abashvili

Cuba Fidel Castro

Cuba Raúl Castro

Cuba Che Guevara

United States John F. Kennedy

United States Robert McNamara

United States Maxwell D. Taylor

United States Curtis LeMay

United States George W. Anderson

United States Robert F. Kennedy

United Kingdom Harold Macmillan

United Kingdom Peter Thorneycroft

United Kingdom Sir Thomas Pike

Italy Amintore Fanfani

Italy Giulio Andreotti

Turkey Cemal Gürsel

Turkey İlhami Sancar

Strength

Soviet Union 43,000 soldiers 100,000–180,000 (estimated)

Casualties and losses

None United States 1 U-2 spy aircraft lost

United States 1 US pilot killed

Duration: 6 minutes and 1 second.6:01Subtitles available.CC

Universal Newsreel about the Cuban Missile Crisis

The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis (Spanish: Crisis de Octubre) in Cuba, or the Caribbean Crisis (Russian: Карибский кризис, romanized: Karibskiy krizis), was a 13-day confrontation between the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union, when American deployments of nuclear missiles in Italy and Turkey were matched by Soviet deployments of nuclear missiles in Cuba. The crisis lasted from 16 to 28 October 1962. The confrontation is widely considered the closest the Cold War came to escalating into full-scale nuclear war.[1]

In 1961, the US government put Jupiter nuclear missiles in Italy and Turkey. It had trained a paramilitary force of expatriate Cubans, which the CIA led in an attempt to invade Cuba and overthrow its government. Starting in November of that year, the US government engaged in a violent campaign of terrorism and sabotage in Cuba, referred to as the Cuban Project, which continued throughout the first half of the 1960s. The Soviet administration was concerned about a Cuban drift towards China, with which the Soviets had an increasingly fractious relationship. In response to these factors the Soviet and Cuban governments agreed, at a meeting between leaders Nikita Khrushchev and Fidel Castro in July 1962, to place nuclear missiles on Cuba to deter a future US invasion. Construction of launch facilities started shortly thereafter.

A U-2 spy plane captured photographic evidence of medium- and long-range launch facilities in October. US president John F. Kennedy convened a meeting of the National Security Council and other key advisers, forming the Executive Committee of the National Security Council (EXCOMM). Kennedy was advised to carry out an air strike on Cuban soil in order to compromise Soviet missile supplies, followed by an invasion of the Cuban mainland. He chose a less aggressive course in order to avoid a declaration of war. On 22 October, Kennedy ordered a naval blockade to prevent further missiles from reaching Cuba.[2] He referred to the blockade as a "quarantine", not as a blockade, so the US could avoid the formal implications of a state of war.[3]

An agreement was eventually reached between Kennedy and Khrushchev. The Soviets would dismantle their offensive weapons in Cuba, subject to United Nations verification, in exchange for a US public declaration and agreement not to invade Cuba again. The United States secretly agreed to dismantle all of the offensive weapons it had deployed to Turkey. There has been debate on whether Italy was also included in the agreement. While the Soviets dismantled their missiles, some Soviet bombers remained in Cuba, and the United States kept the naval quarantine in place until 20 November 1962.[3][4] The blockade was formally ended on 20 November after all offensive missiles and bombers had been withdrawn from Cuba. The evident necessity of a quick and direct communication line between the two powers resulted in the Moscow–Washington hotline. A series of agreements later reduced US–Soviet tensions for several years.

The compromise embarrassed Khrushchev and the Soviet Union because the withdrawal of US missiles from Italy and Turkey was a secret deal between Kennedy and Khrushchev, and the Soviets were seen as retreating from a situation that they had started. Khrushchev's fall from power two years later was in part because of the Soviet Politburo's embarrassment at both Khrushchev's eventual concessions to the US and his ineptitude in precipitating the crisis. According to the Soviet ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Dobrynin, the top Soviet leadership took the Cuban outcome as "a blow to its prestige bordering on humiliation".[5][6]

Background

Cuba–Soviet relations

Main article: Escalante affair

In late 1961, Fidel Castro asked for more SA-2 anti-aircraft missiles from the Soviet Union. The request was not acted upon by the Soviet leadership. In the interval, Castro began criticizing the Soviets for lack of "revolutionary boldness", and began talking to China about agreements for economic assistance. In March 1962, Castro ordered the ousting of Anibal Escalante and his pro-Moscow comrades from Cuba's Integrated Revolutionary Organizations. This affair alarmed the Soviet leadership and raised fears of a possible US invasion. As a result, the Soviet Union sent more SA-2 anti-aircraft missiles in April, as well as a regiment of regular Soviet troops.[7]

Historian Timothy Naftali writes that Escalante's dismissal was a motivating factor behind the Soviet decision to place nuclear missiles in Cuba in 1962. According to Naftali, Soviet foreign policy planners were concerned that Castro's break with Escalante foreshadowed a Cuban drift toward China, and they sought to solidify the Soviet-Cuban relationship through the missile basing program.[8]

Cuba–US relations

Further information: Operation 40, Bay of Pigs Invasion, and Operation Mongoose

An image of the Kennedy administration's plans for the Bay of Pigs Invasion

The Cuban government regarded US imperialism as the primary explanation for the island's structural weaknesses.[9] The US government had provided weapons, money, and its authority to the military dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista that ruled Cuba until 1958. The majority of the Cuban population had tired of the severe socioeconomic problems associated with the US domination of the country. The Cuban government was thus aware of the necessity of ending the turmoil and incongruities of US-dominated prerevolution Cuban society. It determined that the US government's demands, part of their hostile reaction to Cuban government policy, were unacceptable.[9][10]

With the ending of World War II and the start of the Cold War, the US government had grown concerned about the expansion of communism and sought to promote private enterprise as an instrument for advancing US strategic interests in the developing world.[11]

In December 1959, under the Eisenhower administration and less than twelve months after the Cuban Revolution, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) developed a plan for paramilitary action against Cuba. The CIA recruited operatives on the island to carry out terrorism and sabotage, kill civilians, and cause economic damage.[16] At the initiative of the CIA Deputy Director for Plans, Richard Bissell, and approved by the new President John F. Kennedy, the US launched the attempted Bay of Pigs Invasion in April 1961 using CIA-trained forces of Cuban expatriates. The complete failure of the invasion, and the exposure of the US government's role before the operation began, was a source of diplomatic embarrassment for the Kennedy administration. Former President Eisenhower told Kennedy that "the failure of the Bay of Pigs will embolden the Soviets to do something that they would otherwise not do."[17]: 10 

Following the failed invasion, the US massively escalated its sponsorship of terrorism against Cuba. Starting in late 1961, using the military and the CIA, the US government engaged in an extensive campaign of state-sponsored terrorism against civilian and military targets on the island. The terrorist attacks killed significant numbers of civilians. The US armed, trained, funded and directed the terrorists, most of whom were Cuban expatriates. Terrorist attacks were planned at the direction, and with the participation, of US government employees and launched from US territory.[23] In January 1962, US Air Force General Edward Lansdale described the plans to overthrow the Cuban government in a top-secret report, addressed to Kennedy and officials involved with Operation Mongoose.[24][15] CIA agents or "pathfinders" from the Special Activities Division were to be infiltrated into Cuba to carry out sabotage and organization, including radio broadcasts.[25] In February 1962, the US launched an embargo against Cuba,[26] and Lansdale presented a 26-page, top-secret timetable for implementation of the overthrow of the Cuban government, mandating guerrilla operations to begin in August and September. "Open revolt and overthrow of the Communist regime" was hoped by the planners to occur in the first two weeks of October.[15]

The terrorism campaign and the threat of invasion were crucial factors in the Soviet decision to place nuclear missiles on Cuba, and in the Cuban government's decision to accept.[31] The US government was aware at the time, as reported to the president in a National Intelligence Estimate, that the invasion threat was a key reason for the increased Soviet military presence.[32][33]

US–Soviet relations

Main article: Missile gap

See also: Berlin Crisis of 1961

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) and Nikita Khrushchev (1894–1971) in Vienna, Austria in May 1961

When Kennedy ran for president in 1960, one of his key election issues was an alleged "missile gap" with the Soviets. In fact the US at that time was ahead of the Soviets and by an increasingly wide margin. In 1961 the Soviets had four R-7 Semyorka intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs); by October 1962, some intelligence estimates indicated a figure of 75.[34]

The US had 170 ICBMs and was quickly building more. It also had eight George Washington- and Ethan Allen-class ballistic missile submarines, with the capability to launch 16 Polaris missiles, each with a range of 2,500 nautical miles (4,600 km). The Soviet First Secretary, Nikita Khrushchev, increased the perception of a 'missile gap' when he boasted to the world that the Soviets were building missiles "like sausages", but Soviet missile numbers and capabilities were nowhere close to his assertions. The Soviet Union had medium-range ballistic missiles in quantity, about 700, but they were unreliable and inaccurate. The US had a considerable advantage in total number of nuclear warheads (27,000 against 3,600) and in the technology required for accurate delivery. The US also led in missile defensive capabilities, naval and air power. The Soviets had a two-to-one advantage in conventional ground forces, particularly in field guns and tanks in the European theatre.[34]

Khrushchev also thought Kennedy was weak. This impression was confirmed by the President's response during the Berlin Crisis of 1961, particularly to the building of the Berlin Wall by East Germany to prevent its citizens from emigrating to the West.[35] The half-hearted nature of the Bay of Pigs invasion reinforced his impression that Kennedy was indecisive and, as one Soviet aide wrote, "too young, intellectual, not prepared well for decision making in crisis situations... too intelligent and too weak".[17] Speaking to Soviet officials in the aftermath of the crisis, Khrushchev said, "I know for certain that Kennedy doesn't have a strong background, nor, generally speaking, does he have the courage to stand up to a serious challenge." He told his son Sergei that on Cuba, Kennedy "would make a fuss, make more of a fuss, and then agree".[36]

Prelude

Conception

In May 1962, Soviet First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev decided to counter the growing lead of the US in developing and deploying strategic missiles by placing Soviet intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Cuba, despite the misgivings of the Soviet Ambassador in Havana, Alexandr Ivanovich Alexeyev, who argued that Castro would not accept them.[37] Khrushchev faced a strategic situation in which the US was perceived to have a "splendid first strike" capability that put the Soviet Union at a disadvantage. In 1962, the Soviets had only 20 ICBMs capable of delivering nuclear warheads to the US from inside the Soviet Union.[38] Their poor accuracy and reliability raised serious doubts about their effectiveness. A newer, more reliable generation of Soviet ICBMs only became operational after 1965.[38]

Soviet nuclear capability in 1962 placed less emphasis on ICBMs than on medium and intermediate-range ballistic missiles (MRBMs and IRBMs) which could strike American allies and most of Alaska from Soviet territory, but not the contiguous United States. As Graham Allison, the director of Harvard University's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, pointed out, "The Soviet Union could not right the nuclear imbalance by deploying new ICBMs on its own soil. In order to meet the threat it faced in 1962, 1963, and 1964, it had very few options. Moving existing nuclear weapons to locations from which they could reach American targets was one."[39]

A second reason that Soviet missiles were deployed to Cuba was that Khrushchev wanted to bring West Berlin, which was controlled by the American, British and French within Communist East Germany, into the Soviet orbit. The East Germans and Soviets considered western control over a portion of Berlin to be a threat to East Germany. Khrushchev made West Berlin the central battlefield of the Cold War. He believed that if the US did nothing over the deployments of missiles in Cuba, he could force the West out of Berlin by using the missiles as a deterrent to western countermeasures in Berlin. If the US tried to bargain with the Soviets after it became aware of them, Khrushchev could demand a trade of the missiles for West Berlin. Since Berlin was strategically more important than Cuba, the trade would be a win for Khrushchev, as Kennedy recognized: "The advantage is, from Khrushchev's point of view, he takes a great chance but there are quite some rewards to it."[40]

Thirdly, it seemed from the perspective both of the Soviet Union and of Cuba that the United States wanted to invade Cuba or increase its presence there. In view of actions which included an attempt to expel Cuba from the Organization of American States,[41] a campaign of violent terrorist attacks on civilians which the US was carrying out on Cuba,[23] economic sanctions against the country and an earlier attempt to invade the island, Cuban officials understood that America was trying to overrun their country. The USSR would respond by placing missiles on Cuba, which would secure the country against attack and keep it in the Socialist Bloc.[29]

Fifteen US-built PGM-19 Jupiter missiles, with the capability to strike Moscow with nuclear warheads, were deployed in Turkey in 1961.

American missiles could have been launched from Turkey to attack the USSR before the Soviets had a chance to react. Placing nuclear missiles on Cuba would have created a balance of mutual assured destruction. If the United States launched a nuclear strike against the Soviet Union, the Soviets would have been able to react by launching a retaliatory nuclear strike against the US.[42]

Placing nuclear missiles on Cuba was also a way for the USSR to show support for Cuba and the Cuban people who viewed the United States as a threat.[41] The USSR had become Cuba's ally after the Cuban Revolution of 1959. According to Khrushchev, the Soviet Union's motives were "aimed at allowing Cuba to live peacefully and develop as its people desire".[43]

Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., a historian and adviser to Kennedy, told National Public Radio in an interview on 16 October 2002 that Castro did not want the missiles, but Khrushchev pressured him to accept them. Castro was not completely happy with the idea, but the Cuban National Directorate of the Revolution accepted them, both to protect Cuba against US attack and to aid the Soviet Union.[44]: 272 

Soviet military deployments

The relative ranges of the Il-28, SS-4, and SS-5 based on Cuba in nautical miles (NM)

In early 1962, a group of Soviet military and missile construction specialists accompanied an agricultural delegation to Havana and met Cuban prime minister Fidel Castro. According to one report, the Cuban leadership expected that the US would invade Cuba again and enthusiastically approved the idea of installing nuclear missiles on Cuba. According to another source, Castro objected to being made to look like a Soviet puppet, but was persuaded that missiles in Cuba would be an irritant to the US and would help the interests of the entire socialist camp.[45] The deployment would include short-range tactical weapons with a range of 40 km, usable only against naval vessels, that would provide a "nuclear umbrella" for attacks upon the island.

By May, Khrushchev and Castro agreed to place strategic nuclear missiles secretly in Cuba. Like Castro, Khrushchev felt that a US invasion of Cuba was imminent and that to lose Cuba would do great harm to the communists, especially in Latin America. He said he wanted to confront the Americans "with more than words.... the logical answer was missiles".[46] The Soviets maintained their tight secrecy, writing their plans in longhand, which were approved by Marshal of the Soviet Union Rodion Malinovsky on 4 July and Khrushchev on 7 July.

The Soviets' operation entailed elaborate denial and deception, known as "maskirovka". All the planning and preparation for transporting and deploying the missiles was carried out in the utmost secrecy, with only a very few knowing the exact nature of the mission. Even the troops detailed for the mission were given misdirection by being told that they were headed for a cold region and were outfitted with ski boots, fleece-lined parkas, and other winter equipment. The Soviet code-name was Operation Anadyr. The Anadyr River flows into the Bering Sea, and Anadyr is also the capital of Chukotsky District and a bomber base in the far eastern region. All these measures were intended to conceal the program.[47]

Specialists in missile construction, under the guise of machine operators and agricultural specialists, arrived in July.[47] A total of 43,000 foreign troops would ultimately be brought in.[48][49] Chief Marshal of Artillery Sergey Biryuzov, Head of the Soviet Rocket Forces, led a survey team that visited Cuba. He told Khrushchev that the missiles would be concealed and camouflaged by palm trees.[34] The Soviet troops would arrive in Cuba heavily underprepared. They did not know that the tropical climate would render ineffective many of their weapons and much of their equipment. In the first few days of setting up the missiles, troops complained of fuse failures, excessive corrosion, overconsumption of oil, and generator blackouts.[50]

As early as August 1962, the US suspected that the Soviets were building missile facilities in Cuba. During that month, its intelligence services gathered information of sightings by ground observers of Soviet-built MiG-21 fighters and Il-28 light bombers. U-2 spy planes found S-75 Dvina (NATO designation SA-2) surface-to-air missile sites at eight different locations. CIA director John A. McCone was suspicious. Sending antiaircraft missiles into Cuba, he reasoned, "made sense only if Moscow intended to use them to shield a base for ballistic missiles aimed at the United States".[51] On 10 August, he wrote a memo to Kennedy in which he guessed that the Soviets were preparing to introduce ballistic missiles into Cuba.[34] Che Guevara himself traveled to the Soviet Union on 30 August 1962, to sign the final agreement regarding the deployment of missiles in Cuba.[52] The visit was heavily monitored by the CIA as Guevara was being watched closely by American intelligence. While in the Soviet Union, Guevara argued with Khrushchev that the missile deal should be made public but Khrushchev insisted on total secrecy, and promised the Soviet Union's support if the Americans discovered the missiles. By the time Guevara arrived in Cuba, U-2 spy planes had already discovered the Soviet troops in Cuba.[53]

With important Congressional elections scheduled for November, the crisis became enmeshed in American politics. On 31 August, Senator Kenneth Keating (R-New York) warned on the Senate floor that the Soviet Union was "in all probability" constructing a missile base in Cuba. He charged the Kennedy administration with covering up a major threat to the US, thereby starting the crisis.[54] He may have received this initial "remarkably accurate" information from his friend, former congresswoman and ambassador Clare Boothe Luce, who in turn received it from Cuban exiles.[55] A later confirming source for Keating's information may have been the West German ambassador to Cuba, who had received information from dissidents inside Cuba that Soviet troops had arrived in Cuba in early August and were seen working "in all probability on or near a missile base". The ambassador passed this information to Keating on a trip to Washington in early October.[56] Air Force General Curtis LeMay presented a pre-invasion bombing plan to Kennedy in September, and spy flights and minor military harassment from US forces at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base were the subject of continual Cuban diplomatic complaints to the US government.[15]

Map created by American intelligence showing all known Surface-to-Air Missile activity in Cuba, 5 September 1962

The first consignment of Soviet R-12 missiles arrived on the night of 8 September, followed by a second on 16 September. The R-12 was a medium-range ballistic missile capable of carrying a thermonuclear warhead.[57] It was a single-stage, road-transportable, surface-launched, storable liquid propellant-fuelled missile that could deliver a megaton-class nuclear weapon.[citation needed] The Soviets were building nine sites, six for R-12 medium-range missiles (NATO designation SS-4 Sandal) with an effective range of 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) and three for R-14 intermediate-range ballistic missiles (NATO designation SS-5 Skean) with a maximum range of 4,500 kilometres (2,800 mi).[58]

On 7 October, Cuban President Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado spoke at the UN General Assembly: "If... we are attacked, we will defend ourselves. I repeat, we have sufficient means with which to defend ourselves; we have indeed our inevitable weapons, the weapons, which we would have preferred not to acquire, and which we do not wish to employ."[59] On 11 October in another Senate speech, Sen Keating reaffirmed his earlier warning of 31 August and stated that, "Construction has begun on at least a half dozen launching sites for intermediate range tactical missiles."[60]

The Cuban leadership was further upset when on 20 September, the US Senate approved Joint Resolution 230, which stated that the US was determined "to prevent in Cuba the creation or use of an externally-supported military capability endangering the security of the United States".[61][62] On the same day, the US announced a major military exercise in the Caribbean, PHIBRIGLEX-62, which Cuba denounced as a deliberate provocation and proof that the US planned to invade Cuba.[62][63][unreliable source?]

The Soviet leadership believed, based on its perception of Kennedy's lack of confidence during the Bay of Pigs Invasion, that he would avoid confrontation and would accept the missiles as a fait accompli.[17]: 1  On 11 September, the Soviet Union publicly warned that a US attack on Cuba or on Soviet ships that were carrying supplies to the island would mean war.[15] The Soviets continued the Maskirovka program to conceal their actions in Cuba. They repeatedly denied that the weapons being brought into Cuba were offensive in nature. On 7 September, Soviet Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Dobrynin assured United States Ambassador to the United Nations Adlai Stevenson that the Soviet Union was supplying only defensive weapons to Cuba. On 11 September, the Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS: Telegrafnoe Agentstvo Sovetskogo Soyuza) announced that the Soviet Union had no need or intention to introduce offensive nuclear missiles into Cuba. On 13 October, Dobrynin was questioned by former Undersecretary of State Chester Bowles about whether the Soviets planned to put offensive weapons in Cuba. He denied any such plans.[62] On 17 October, Soviet embassy official Georgi Bolshakov brought President Kennedy a personal message from Khrushchev reassuring him that "under no circumstances would surface-to-surface missiles be sent to Cuba."[62]: 494 

Missiles reported

Missiles placed in Cuba would enable the Soviets to target most of the continental US. The planned arsenal consisted of forty launchers. The Cuban populace observed the arrival and deployment of the missiles and hundreds of reports reached Miami. US intelligence received countless reports, many of dubious quality or even laughable, most of which could be dismissed as describing defensive missiles.[64][65][66]

Only five reports bothered the analysts. They described large trucks passing through towns at night that were carrying very long canvas-covered cylindrical objects and could not make turns through towns without backing up and maneuvering. Defensive missile transporters, it was believed, could make such turns without undue difficulty. The reports could not be satisfactorily dismissed.[67]

A U-2 reconnaissance photograph of Cuba, showing Soviet nuclear missiles, their transports and tents for fueling and maintenance

Aerial confirmation

The United States had been sending U-2 surveillance flights over Cuba since the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion.[68] A pause in reconnaissance flights occurred on 30 August 1962 when a U-2 operated by the US Air Force's Strategic Air Command flew over Sakhalin Island in the Soviet Far East by mistake. The Soviets lodged a protest and the US apologized. Nine days later, a Taiwanese-operated U-2[69][70] was lost over western China to an SA-2 surface-to-air missile (SAM). US officials were worried that one of the Cuban or Soviet SAMs in Cuba might shoot down a CIA U-2, causing another international incident. In a meeting with members of the Committee on Overhead Reconnaissance (COMOR) on 10 September 1962, Secretary of State Dean Rusk and National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy restricted further U-2 flights over Cuban airspace. The resulting lack of coverage over the island for the next five weeks became known to historians as the "Photo Gap".[71] No significant U-2 coverage was achieved over the interior of the island during this time. US officials attempted to use a Corona photo-reconnaissance satellite to photograph reported Soviet military deployments, but the imagery acquired over western Cuba by a Corona KH-4 mission on 1 October 1962 was obscured by clouds and haze and did not provide usable intelligence.[72] At the end of September, Navy reconnaissance aircraft photographed the Soviet ship Kasimov with large crates on its deck the size and shape of Il-28 jet bomber fuselages.[34]

In September 1962, analysts from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) noticed that Cuban surface-to-air missile sites were arranged in a pattern similar to those used by the Soviet Union to protect ICBM bases, and the DIA lobbied for resumption of U-2 flights over the island.[73] In the past the flights had been conducted by the CIA, but pressure from the Defense Department led to that authority being transferred to the Air Force.[34] After the loss of a CIA U-2 over the Soviet Union in May 1960, it was thought that if another U-2 were shot down, an Air Force aircraft apparently being used for a legitimate military purpose would be easier to explain than a CIA flight.

When reconnaissance missions were permitted again, on 9 October 1962, poor weather kept the planes from flying. The US first obtained U-2 photographic evidence of the Soviet missiles on 14 October 1962, when a U-2 flight piloted by Major Richard Heyser took 928 pictures on a path selected by DIA analysts, capturing images of what turned out to be an SS-4 construction site at San Cristóbal, Pinar del Río Province (now in Artemisa Province), in western Cuba.[74]

One of the first U-2 reconnaissance images of missile bases under construction shown to President Kennedy on the morning of 16 October 1962

President notified

On 15 October 1962, the CIA's National Photographic Interpretation Center (NPIC) reviewed the U-2 photographs and identified objects that appeared to be medium range ballistic missiles. This identification was made partly on the strength of reporting provided by Oleg Penkovsky, a double agent in the GRU working for the CIA and MI6. Although he provided no direct reports of Soviet missile deployments to Cuba, technical and doctrinal details of Soviet missile regiments that had been provided by Penkovsky in the months and years prior to the crisis helped NPIC analysts to identify the missiles in U-2 imagery.[75]

That evening, the CIA notified the Department of State and at 8:30pm EDT, Bundy chose to wait until the next morning to tell the President. McNamara was briefed at midnight. The next morning, Bundy showed Kennedy the U-2 photographs and briefed him on the CIA's analysis of the images.[76] At 6:30 pm EDT, Kennedy convened a meeting of the nine members of the National Security Council and five other key advisers,[77] in a group he named the Executive Committee of the National Security Council (EXCOMM) after the fact on 22 October by National Security Action Memorandum 196.[78] Without informing the members of EXCOMM, President Kennedy tape-recorded all of their proceedings, and Sheldon M. Stern, head of the Kennedy library transcribed some of them.[79][80]

On 16 October, President Kennedy notified Attorney General Robert Kennedy that he was convinced the Soviets were placing missiles on Cuba, that it was a legitimate threat and that the possibility of nuclear destruction by two world superpowers had become a reality. Robert Kennedy responded by contacting the Soviet Ambassador, Anatoly Dobrynin. Robert Kennedy expressed his "concern about what was happening" and Dobrynin "was instructed by Soviet Chairman Nikita S. Khrushchev to assure President Kennedy that there would be no ground-to-ground missiles or offensive weapons placed in Cuba". Khrushchev further assured Kennedy that the Soviet Union had no intention of "disrupting the relationship of our two countries" despite the photo evidence presented before President Kennedy.[81]

Responses considered

President Kennedy meets in the Oval Office with General Curtis LeMay and the reconnaissance pilots who found the missile sites in Cuba.

The US had no plan for a response in place because it had never expected that the Soviets would install nuclear missiles on Cuba. EXCOMM discussed several possible courses of action:[82]

Do nothing: American vulnerability to Soviet missiles was not new.

Diplomacy: Use diplomatic pressure to induce the Soviet Union to remove the missiles.

Secret approach: Offer Castro the choice of parting from the Soviets or being invaded.

Invasion: Full-force invasion of Cuba and overthrow of Castro.

Air strike: Use the US Air Force to attack all known missile sites.

Blockade: Use the US Navy to block any missiles from arriving in Cuba.

Game tree models how the US and the Soviet Union would have considered their decisions

The Joint Chiefs of Staff unanimously agreed that a full-scale attack and invasion was the only solution. They believed that the Soviets would not attempt to stop the US from conquering Cuba. Kennedy was skeptical:

They, no more than we, can let these things go by without doing something. They can't, after all their statements, permit us to take out their missiles, kill a lot of Russians, and then do nothing. If they don't take action in Cuba, they certainly will in Berlin.[83]

Kennedy concluded that attacking Cuba by air would signal the Soviets to presume "a clear line" to conquer Berlin. Kennedy also believed that US allies would think of the country as "trigger-happy cowboys" who lost Berlin because they could not peacefully resolve the Cuban situation.[84]

President Kennedy and Secretary of Defense McNamara in an EXCOMM meeting, 29 October 1962

EXCOMM considered the effect on the strategic balance of power, both political and military. The Joint Chiefs of Staff believed that the missiles would seriously alter the military balance, but McNamara disagreed. An extra 40, he reasoned, would make little difference to the overall strategic balance. The US already had approximately 5,000 strategic warheads,[85] but the Soviet Union had only 300. McNamara concluded that the Soviets having 340 would not therefore substantially alter the strategic balance. In 1990, he reiterated that "it made no difference.... The military balance wasn't changed. I didn't believe it then, and I don't believe it now."[86]

It was agreed that the missiles would affect the political balance. Kennedy had explicitly promised the American people less than a month before the crisis that "if Cuba should possess a capacity to carry out offensive actions against the United States... the United States would act."[87]: 674–681  Further, US credibility among its allies and people would be damaged if the Soviet Union appeared to redress the strategic imbalance by placing missiles in Cuba. Kennedy explained after the crisis that "it would have politically changed the balance of power. It would have appeared to, and appearances contribute to reality."[88]

President Kennedy meets in the Oval Office with Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko, 18 October 1962.

On 18 October 1962, Kennedy met Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrei Gromyko, who claimed that the weapons were for defensive purposes only. Not wanting to expose what he already knew and to avoid panicking the American public,[89] Kennedy did not reveal that he was already aware of the missile buildup.[90]

Operational plans

Two Operational Plans (OPLAN) were considered. OPLAN 316 envisioned a full invasion of Cuba by Army and Marine units, supported by the Navy, following Air Force and naval airstrikes. Army units in the US would have had difficulty fielding mechanised and logistical assets, and the US Navy could not supply enough amphibious shipping to transport even a modest armoured contingent from the Army.

OPLAN 312, primarily an Air Force and Navy carrier operation, was designed with enough flexibility to do anything from engaging individual missile sites to providing air support for OPLAN 316's ground forces.[91]

Blockade

A US Navy P-2H Neptune of VP-18 flying over a Soviet cargo ship with crated Il-28s on deck during the Cuban Crisis[92]

Kennedy conferred with members of EXCOMM and other top advisers throughout 21 October and considered the two remaining options: an air strike primarily against the Cuban missile bases or a naval blockade of Cuba.[90] A full-scale invasion was not the administration's first option. McNamara supported the naval blockade as a strong but limited military action that would leave the US in control. The term "blockade" was problematic – according to international law, a blockade is an act of war, but the Kennedy administration did not think that the Soviets would be provoked to attack by a mere blockade.[93] Legal experts at the State Department and Justice Department concluded that a declaration of war could be avoided if another legal justification, based on the Rio Treaty for defence of the Western Hemisphere, was obtained from a resolution by a two-thirds vote from the members of the Organization of American States (OAS).[94]

Admiral George Anderson, Chief of Naval Operations wrote a position paper that helped Kennedy to differentiate between what they termed a "quarantine"[95] of offensive weapons and a blockade of all materials, claiming that a classic blockade was not the original intention. Since it would take place in international waters, Kennedy obtained the approval of the OAS for military action under the hemispheric defence provisions of the Rio Treaty:

Latin American participation in the quarantine now involved two Argentine destroyers which were to report to the US Commander South Atlantic [COMSOLANT] at Trinidad on November 9. An Argentine submarine and a Marine battalion with lift were available if required. In addition, two Venezuelan destroyers (Destroyers ARV D-11 Nueva Esparta" and "ARV D-21 Zulia") and one submarine (Caribe) had reported to COMSOLANT, ready for sea by November 2. The Government of Trinidad and Tobago offered the use of Chaguaramas Naval Base to warships of any OAS nation for the duration of the "quarantine". The Dominican Republic had made available one escort ship. Colombia was reported ready to furnish units and had sent military officers to the US to discuss this assistance. The Argentine Air Force informally offered three SA-16 aircraft in addition to forces already committed to the "quarantine" operation.[96]

This initially was to involve a naval blockade against offensive weapons within the framework of the Organization of American States and the Rio Treaty. Such a blockade might be expanded to cover all types of goods and air transport. The action was to be backed up by surveillance of Cuba. The CNO's scenario was followed closely in later implementing the "quarantine."

On 19 October, the EXCOMM formed separate working groups to examine the air strike and blockade options, and by the afternoon most support in the EXCOMM had shifted to a blockade. Reservations about the plan continued to be voiced as late as 21 October, the paramount concern being that once the blockade was put into effect, the Soviets would rush to complete some of the missiles and the US could find itself bombing operational missiles if the blockade had not already forced their removal.[97]: 99–101 

Speech to the nation

President Kennedy signing the Proclamation for Interdiction of the Delivery of Offensive Weapons to Cuba at the Oval Office on 23 October 1962.[98]

At 3:00 pm EDT on 22 October 1962, President Kennedy formally established the executive committee (EXCOMM) with National Security Action Memorandum (NSAM) 196. At 5:00 pm, he met Congressional leaders, who opposed a blockade and demanded a stronger response. In Moscow, US Ambassador Foy D. Kohler briefed Khrushchev on the pending blockade and Kennedy's speech to the nation. Ambassadors around the world gave notice to non-Eastern Bloc leaders. Before the speech, US delegations met Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, French President Charles de Gaulle and Secretary-General of the Organization of American States, José Antonio Mora to brief them on this intelligence and the US's proposed response. All were supportive of the US position. Over the course of the crisis, Kennedy had daily telephone conversations with Macmillan, who was publicly supportive of US actions.[99]

Shortly before his speech, Kennedy telephoned former President Dwight Eisenhower.[100] Kennedy's conversation with the former president also revealed that the two had been consulting during the Cuban Missile Crisis.[101] The two also anticipated that Khrushchev would respond to the Western world in a manner similar to his response during the Suez Crisis, and would possibly wind up trading off[clarification needed] Berlin.[101]

Address on the Buildup of Arms in Cuba

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Kennedy addressing the nation on 22 October 1962 about the buildup of arms on Cuba

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Cuban Missile Crisis

At 7:00 pm EDT on 22 October, Kennedy delivered a nationwide televised address on all of the major networks announcing the discovery of the missiles. He noted:

It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union.[102]

Kennedy described the administration's plan:

To halt this offensive buildup, a strict quarantine on all offensive military equipment under shipment to Cuba is being initiated. All ships of any kind bound for Cuba, from whatever nation or port, will, if found to contain cargoes of offensive weapons, be turned back. This quarantine will be extended, if needed, to other types of cargo and carriers. We are not at this time, however, denying the necessities of life as the Soviets attempted to do in their Berlin blockade of 1948.[102]

During the speech, a directive went out to all US forces worldwide, placing them on DEFCON 3. The heavy cruiser USS Newport News was the designated flagship for the blockade,[95] with USS Leary as Newport News's destroyer escort.[96] Kennedy's speech writer Ted Sorensen stated in 2007 that the address to the nation was "Kennedy's most important speech historically, in terms of its impact on our planet."[103]

Crisis deepens

On 23 October 1962, US Air Force RF-101A/C Voodoos and US Navy RF-8A Crusaders began flying extremely hazardous low-level photo reconnaissance missions over Cuba.[104][105][106][107][108] Only once did the Cuban Air Force scramble a MiG-19 to attempt a shoot-down, but the attempt was unsuccessful.[109]

Soviet First Secretary Khrushchev's letter to Kennedy (dated 24 October 1962) stating that the blockade of Cuba "constitute[s] an act of aggression"[110][111]

At 11:24 am EDT on 24 October, a cable from US Under Secretary of State George Ball to the US Ambassadors in Turkey and NATO notified them that they were considering making an offer to withdraw missiles from Italy and Turkey in exchange for Soviet withdrawal from Cuba. Turkish officials replied that they would "deeply resent" any trade involving the US missile presence in their country.[112] One day later, on the morning of 25 October, American journalist Walter Lippmann proposed the same thing in his syndicated column. Castro reaffirmed Cuba's right to self-defense and said that all of its weapons were defensive and Cuba would not allow an inspection.[15]

International response

In West Germany, newspapers supported the US response by contrasting it with the weak American actions in the region during the preceding months. They also expressed some fear that the Soviets might retaliate in Berlin.

In France on 23 October, the crisis made the front page of all the daily newspapers. The next day, an editorial in Le Monde expressed doubt about the authenticity of the CIA's photographic evidence. Two days later, after a visit by a high-ranking CIA agent, the newspaper accepted the validity of the photographs.

On 24 October, Pope John XXIII sent a message to the Soviet embassy in Rome, to be transmitted to the Kremlin, in which he voiced his concern for peace. In this message he stated, "We beg all governments not to remain deaf to this cry of humanity. That they do all that is in their power to save peace."[113]

Three days after Kennedy's speech, the Chinese People's Daily announced that "650,000,000 Chinese men and women were standing by the Cuban people."[114]

In the 29 October issue of Le Figaro, Raymond Aron wrote in support of the American response.[115]

Soviet broadcast and communications

The crisis continued unabated, and on the evening of 24 October 1962, the Soviet TASS news agency broadcast a telegram from Khrushchev to Kennedy in which Khrushchev warned that the United States' "outright piracy" would lead to war.[116] Khrushchev then sent at 9:24 pm a telegram to Kennedy, which was received at 10:52 pm EDT. Khrushchev stated, "if you weigh the present situation with a cool head without giving way to passion, you will understand that the Soviet Union cannot afford not to decline the despotic demands of the USA". The Soviet Union viewed the blockade as "an act of aggression" and their ships would be instructed to ignore it.[111] After 23 October, Soviet communications with the US increasingly showed indications of having been rushed. Undoubtedly a result of pressure, it was not uncommon for Khrushchev to repeat himself and to send messages lacking basic editing.[117] With President Kennedy making known his aggressive intentions of a possible airstrike followed by an invasion on Cuba, Khrushchev sought a diplomatic compromise. Communications between the two superpowers had entered a new and revolutionary period, with the threat of mutual destruction now accompanying the deployment of nuclear weapons.[118]

US alert level raised

Adlai Stevenson shows aerial photos of Cuban missiles to the United Nations, 25 October 1962.

The US requested an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on 25 October and Ambassador to the United Nations, Adlai Stevenson, confronted Soviet Ambassador Valerian Zorin and challenged him to admit the existence of the missiles. Ambassador Zorin refused to answer. At 10:00 pm EDT the next day, the US raised the readiness level of Strategic Air Command (SAC) forces to DEFCON 2. For the only confirmed time in US history, B-52 bombers were put on continuous airborne alert. B-47 medium bombers were dispersed to military and civilian airfields and made ready to take off, fully equipped, at 15 minutes' notice.[119] One-eighth of SAC's 1,436 bombers were on airborne alert. Some 145 intercontinental ballistic missiles, some of which targeted Cuba, were placed on alert.[120] Air Defense Command (ADC) redeployed 161 nuclear-armed interceptors to 16 dispersal fields within nine hours, with one third on 15-minute alert status.[91] Twenty-three nuclear-armed B-52 bombers were sent to orbit points within striking distance of the Soviet Union to demonstrate that the US was serious.[121] Jack J. Catton later estimated that about 80 per cent of SAC's planes were ready for launch during the crisis. David A. Burchinal recalled that, by contrast:[122]

the Russians were so thoroughly stood down, and we knew it. They didn't make any move. They did not increase their alert; they did not increase any flights, or their air defense posture. They didn't do a thing, they froze in place. We were never further from nuclear war than at the time of Cuba, never further.

By 22 October, Tactical Air Command (TAC) had 511 fighters plus supporting tankers and reconnaissance aircraft deployed to face Cuba on one-hour alert status. TAC and the Military Air Transport Service had problems: the concentration of aircraft in Florida strained command and support echelons, which were facing critical undermanning in security, armaments, and communications. Absence of permission to use war-reserve stocks of conventional munitions forced TAC to scrounge supplies, and the lack of airlift assets to support a major airborne drop necessitated the call-up of 24 reserve squadrons.[91]

On 25 October at 1:45 am EDT, Kennedy responded to Khrushchev's telegram by stating that the US was forced into action after receiving repeated false assurances that no offensive missiles were being placed in Cuba. Deployment of the missiles "required the responses I have announced.... I hope that your government will take necessary action to permit a restoration of the earlier situation."

A declassified map used by the US Navy's Atlantic Fleet showing the position of American and Soviet ships at the height of the crisis

Blockade challenged

At 7:15 am EDT on 25 October, USS Essex and USS Gearing attempted to intercept Bucharest but failed to do so. Fairly certain that the tanker did not contain any military material, the US allowed it through the blockade. Later that day, at 5:43 pm, the commander of the blockade ordered the destroyer USS Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. to intercept and board the Lebanese freighter Marucla. That took place the next day, and Marucla was cleared through the blockade after its cargo was checked.[123]

At 5:00 pm EDT on 25 October, William Clements announced that the missiles in Cuba were still being worked on. This was later verified by a CIA report that suggested there had been no slowdown. In response, Kennedy issued Security Action Memorandum 199, authorizing the loading of nuclear weapons onto aircraft under the command of SACEUR, which had the duty of carrying out first air strikes on the Soviet Union. Kennedy claimed that the blockade had succeeded when the USSR turned back fourteen ships presumed to be carrying offensive weapons.[124] The first indication of this was in a report from British GCHQ sent to the White House Situation Room which contained intercepted communications from Soviet ships reporting their positions. On 24 October, Kislovodsk, a Soviet cargo ship, reported a position north-east of where it had been 24 hours earlier, indicating it had "discontinued" its voyage and turned back towards the Baltic. The next day, further reports showed that more ships originally bound for Cuba had altered their course.[125]

Raising the stakes

The next morning, 26 October, Kennedy informed EXCOMM that he believed only an invasion would remove the missiles from Cuba. He was persuaded to wait and continue with military and diplomatic pressure. He agreed and ordered low-level flights over the island to be increased from two per day to every two hours. He also ordered a crash program to institute a new civil government in Cuba if an invasion went ahead.[citation needed]

At this point the crisis appeared to be at a stalemate. The Soviets had shown no indication that they would back down and had made public media and private inter-government statements to that effect. The US had no reason to disbelieve them and was in the early stages of preparing an invasion of Cuba and a nuclear strike on the Soviet Union if it responded militarily, which the US assumed it would.[126] Kennedy had no intention of keeping these plans secret, and with an array of Cuban and Soviet spies present Khrushchev was made aware of them.

The implicit threat of air strikes on Cuba followed by an invasion allowed the United States to exert pressure in future talks, and the prospect of military action helped to accelerate Khrushchev's proposal for a compromise.[117] Throughout the closing stages of October 1962, Soviet communications to the United States became increasingly defensive, and Khrushchev's tendency to use poorly phrased and ambiguous language during negotiations increased the United States' confidence and clarity in messaging. Leading Soviet figures failed to mention that only the Cuban government could agree to inspections of the territory, and continued to make arrangements relating to Cuba without Castro's knowledge. According to Dean Rusk, Khrushchev "blinked": he began to panic from the consequences of his own plan, and this was reflected in the tone of Soviet messages. This allowed the US to dominate negotiations in late October.[117]

The escalating situation also caused Khrushchev to abandon plans for a possible Warsaw Pact invasion of Albania, which was being discussed in the Eastern Bloc following the Vlora incident the previous year.[127]

Secret negotiations

At 1:00 pm EDT on 26 October, John A. Scali of ABC News met Aleksandr Fomin, the cover name of Alexander Feklisov, the KGB station chief in Washington, at Fomin's request. Following the instructions of the Politburo of the CPSU,[128] Fomin noted, "War seems about to break out." He asked Scali to use his contacts to talk to his "high-level friends" at the State Department to see if the US would be interested in a diplomatic solution. He suggested that the language of the deal would contain an assurance from the Soviet Union to remove the weapons under UN supervision and that Castro would publicly announce that he would not accept such weapons again, in exchange for a public statement by the US that it would not invade Cuba.[129] The US responded by asking the Brazilian government to pass a message to Castro that the US would be "unlikely to invade" if the missiles were removed.[112]

Mr. President, we and you ought not now to pull on the ends of the rope in which you have tied the knot of war, because the more the two of us pull, the tighter that knot will be tied. And a moment may come when that knot will be tied so tight that even he who tied it will not have the strength to untie it, and then it will be necessary to cut that knot, and what that would mean is not for me to explain to you, because you yourself understand perfectly of what terrible forces our countries dispose.

Consequently, if there is no intention to tighten that knot and thereby to doom the world to the catastrophe of thermonuclear war, then let us not only relax the forces pulling on the ends of the rope, let us take measures to untie that knot. We are ready for this.

— Letter From Chairman Khrushchev to President Kennedy, 26 October 1962[130]

At 6:00 pm EDT on 26 October, the State Department started receiving a message that appeared to be written personally by Khrushchev. It was Saturday 2:00 am in Moscow. The long letter took several minutes to arrive, and it took translators additional time to translate and transcribe it.[112]

Robert F. Kennedy described the letter as "very long and emotional". Khrushchev reiterated the basic outline that had been stated to Scali earlier in the day: "I propose: we, for our part, will declare that our ships bound for Cuba are not carrying any armaments. You will declare that the United States will not invade Cuba with its troops and will not support any other forces which might intend to invade Cuba. Then the necessity of the presence of our military specialists in Cuba will disappear." At 6:45 pm EDT, news of Fomin's offer to Scali was finally heard and was interpreted as a "set up" for the arrival of Khrushchev's letter. The letter was then considered official and accurate, although it was later learned that Fomin was almost certainly operating without official backing. Additional study of the letter was ordered and continued into the night.[112]

Crisis continues

Direct aggression against Cuba would mean nuclear war. The Americans speak about such aggression as if they did not know or did not want to accept this fact. I have no doubt they would lose such a war.

— Che Guevara, October 1962[131]

S-75 Dvina with V-750V 1D missile (NATO designation SA-2 Guideline) on a launcher. A similar installation shot down Major Anderson's U-2 over Cuba.

Castro, on the other hand, was convinced that an invasion of Cuba was imminent, and on 26 October he sent a telegram to Khrushchev that appeared to call for a pre-emptive nuclear strike on the US in case of attack. In a 2010 interview, Castro expressed regret about his 1962 stance on first use: "After I've seen what I've seen, and knowing what I know now, it wasn't worth it at all."[132] Castro also ordered all anti-aircraft weapons in Cuba to fire on any US aircraft.[133] Previous orders had been to fire only on groups of two or more. At 6:00 am EDT on 27 October, the CIA delivered a memo reporting that three of the four missile sites at San Cristobal and both sites at Sagua la Grande appeared to be fully operational. It also noted that the Cuban military continued to organise for action but was under order not to act unless attacked.[citation needed]

At 9:00 am EDT on 27 October, Radio Moscow began broadcasting a message from Khrushchev. Contrary to the letter of the night before, the message offered a new trade: the missiles on Cuba would be removed in exchange for the removal of the Jupiter missiles from Italy and Turkey. At 10:00 am EDT, the executive committee met again to discuss the situation and came to the conclusion that the change in the message was because of internal debate between Khrushchev and other party officials in the Kremlin.[134] Kennedy realised that he would be in an "insupportable position if this becomes Khrushchev's proposal" because the missiles in Turkey were not militarily useful and were being removed anyway, and "It's gonna – to any man at the United Nations or any other rational man, it will look like a very fair trade." Bundy explained why Khrushchev's public acquiescence could not be considered: "The current threat to peace is not in Turkey, it is in Cuba."[135]

McNamara noted that another tanker, the Grozny, was about 600 miles (970 km) out and should be intercepted. He also noted that they had not made the Soviets aware of the blockade line and suggested relaying that information to them via U Thant at the United Nations.[136]

A Lockheed U-2F, the high altitude reconnaissance type shot down over Cuba, being refueled by a Boeing KC-135Q. The aircraft in 1962 was painted overall gray and carried USAF military markings and national insignia.

While the meeting progressed, at 11:03 am EDT a new message began to arrive from Khrushchev. The message stated, in part:

"You are disturbed over Cuba. You say that this disturbs you because it is ninety-nine miles by sea from the coast of the United States of America. But... you have placed destructive missile weapons, which you call offensive, in Italy and Turkey, literally next to us.... I therefore make this proposal: We are willing to remove from Cuba the means which you regard as offensive.... Your representatives will make a declaration to the effect that the United States... will remove its analogous means from Turkey... and after that, persons entrusted by the United Nations Security Council could inspect on the spot the fulfillment of the pledges made."

The executive committee continued to meet through the day.

Throughout the crisis, Turkey had repeatedly stated that it would be upset if the Jupiter missiles were removed. Italy's Prime Minister Amintore Fanfani, who was also Foreign Minister ad interim, offered to allow withdrawal of the missiles deployed in Apulia as a bargaining chip. He gave the message to one of his most trusted friends, Ettore Bernabei, general manager of RAI-TV, to convey to Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. Bernabei was in New York to attend an international conference on satellite TV broadcasting.

The engine of the Lockheed U-2 shot down over Cuba on display at Museum of the Revolution in Havana

On the morning of 27 October, a U-2F (the third CIA U-2A, modified for air-to-air refuelling) piloted by USAF Major Rudolf Anderson,[137] departed its forward operating location at McCoy AFB, Florida. At approximately 12:00 pm EDT, the aircraft was struck by an SA-2 surface-to-air missile launched from Cuba. The aircraft crashed, and Anderson was killed. Stress in negotiations between the Soviets and the US intensified; only later was it assumed that the decision to fire the missile was made locally by an undetermined Soviet commander, acting on his own authority. Later that day, at about 3:41 pm EDT, several US Navy RF-8A Crusader aircraft, on low-level photo-reconnaissance missions, were fired upon.

At 4:00 pm EDT, Kennedy recalled members of EXCOMM to the White House and ordered that a message should immediately be sent to U Thant asking the Soviets to suspend work on the missiles while negotiations were carried out. During the meeting, General Maxwell Taylor delivered the news that the U-2 had been shot down. Kennedy had earlier claimed he would order an attack on such sites if fired upon, but he decided to not act unless another attack was made. On 28 October 1962, Khrushchev told his son Sergei that the shooting down of Anderson's U-2 was by the "Cuban military at the direction of Raúl Castro".[138][139][140][141]

On 27 October Bobby Kennedy relayed a message to the Soviet Ambassador that President Kennedy was under pressure from the military to use force against Cuba and that "an irreversible chain of events could occur against his will" as "the president is not sure that the military will not overthrow him and seize power". He therefore implored Khrushchev to accept Kennedy's proposed agreement.[142]

Forty years later, McNamara said:

We had to send a U-2 over to gain reconnaissance information on whether the Soviet missiles were becoming operational. We believed that if the U-2 was shot down that—the Cubans didn't have capabilities to shoot it down, the Soviets did—we believed if it was shot down, it would be shot down by a Soviet surface-to-air-missile unit, and that it would represent a decision by the Soviets to escalate the conflict. And therefore, before we sent the U-2 out, we agreed that if it was shot down we wouldn't meet, we'd simply attack. It was shot down on Friday.... Fortunately, we changed our mind, we thought "Well, it might have been an accident, we won't attack." Later we learned that Khrushchev had reasoned just as we did: we send over the U-2, if it was shot down, he reasoned we would believe it was an intentional escalation. And therefore, he issued orders to Pliyev, the Soviet commander in Cuba, to instruct all of his batteries not to shoot down the U-2.[note 1][143]

Daniel Ellsberg said that Robert Kennedy (RFK) told him in 1964 that after the U-2 was shot down and the pilot killed, he (RFK) told Soviet ambassador Dobrynin, "You have drawn first blood ... . [T]he president had decided against advice ... not to respond militarily to that attack, but he [Dobrynin] should know that if another plane was shot at, ... we would take out all the SAMs and anti-aircraft ... . And that would almost surely be followed by an invasion."[144]

Drafting response

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Emissaries sent by both Kennedy and Khrushchev agreed to meet at the Yenching Palace Chinese restaurant in the Cleveland Park neighbourhood of Washington, DC, on Saturday evening, 27 October.[145] Kennedy suggested taking Khrushchev's offer to trade away the missiles. Unknown to most members of the EXCOMM, but with the support of his brother the president, Robert Kennedy had been meeting the Soviet Ambassador Dobrynin in Washington to discover whether the intentions were genuine.[146] The EXCOMM was against the proposal because it would undermine NATO's authority, and the Turkish government had repeatedly stated that it was against any such trade.

As the meeting progressed, a new plan emerged, and Kennedy was slowly persuaded. The new plan called for him to ignore the latest message and instead to return to Khrushchev's earlier one. Kennedy was initially hesitant, feeling that Khrushchev would no longer accept the deal because a new one had been offered, but Llewellyn Thompson argued that it was still possible.[97]: 135–56  White House Special Counsel and Adviser Ted Sorensen and Robert Kennedy left the meeting and returned 45 minutes later, with a draft letter to that effect. The President made several changes, had it typed, and sent it.

After the EXCOMM meeting, a smaller meeting continued in the Oval Office. The group argued that the letter should be underscored with an oral message to Dobrynin that stated that if the missiles were not withdrawn, military action would be used to remove them. Rusk added one proviso that no part of the language of the deal would mention Turkey, but there would be an understanding that the missiles would be removed "voluntarily" in the immediate aftermath. The president agreed, and the message was sent.

EXCOMM meeting in the White House Cabinet Room, with President Kennedy, Robert McNamara and Dean Rusk in attendance, 29 October 1962

At Rusk's request, Fomin and Scali met again. Scali asked why the two letters from Khrushchev were so different, and Fomin claimed it was because of "poor communications". Scali replied that the claim was not credible and shouted that he thought it was a "stinking double cross". He went on to claim that an invasion was only hours away, and Fomin stated that a response to the US message was expected from Khrushchev shortly and urged Scali to tell the State Department that no treachery was intended. Scali said that he did not think anyone would believe him, but he agreed to deliver the message. The two went their separate ways, and Scali immediately typed out a memo for the EXCOMM.[147]

Within the US establishment, it was understood that ignoring the second offer and returning to the first put Khrushchev in a terrible position. Military preparations continued, and all active duty Air Force personnel were recalled to their bases for possible action. Robert Kennedy later recalled the mood: "We had not abandoned all hope, but what hope there was now rested with Khrushchev's revising his course within the next few hours. It was a hope, not an expectation. The expectation was military confrontation by Tuesday [30 October], and possibly tomorrow [29 October] ...."[147]

At 8:05 pm EDT, the letter drafted earlier in the day was delivered. The message read, "As I read your letter, the key elements of your proposals—which seem generally acceptable as I understand them—are as follows: 1) You would agree to remove these weapons systems from Cuba under appropriate United Nations observation and supervision; and undertake, with suitable safe-guards, to halt the further introduction of such weapon systems into Cuba. 2) We, on our part, would agree—upon the establishment of adequate arrangements through the United Nations, to ensure the carrying out and continuation of these commitments (a) to remove promptly the quarantine measures now in effect and (b) to give assurances against the invasion of Cuba." The letter was also released directly to the press to ensure it could not be "delayed".[148] With the letter delivered, a deal was on the table. As Robert Kennedy noted, there was little expectation it would be accepted. At 9:00 pm EDT, the EXCOMM met again to review the actions for the following day. Plans were drawn up for air strikes on the missile sites as well as other economic targets, notably petroleum storage. McNamara stated that they had to "have two things ready: a government for Cuba, because we're going to need one; and secondly, plans for how to respond to the Soviet Union in Europe, because sure as hell they're going to do something there".[149]

At 12:12 am EDT, on 27 October, the US informed its NATO allies that "the situation is growing shorter.... the United States may find it necessary within a very short time in its interest and that of its fellow nations in the Western Hemisphere to take whatever military action may be necessary." To add to the concern, at 6:00 am, the CIA reported that all missiles in Cuba were ready for action.

A US Navy HSS-1 Seabat helicopter hovers over Soviet submarine B-59, driven to the surface by US Naval forces in the Caribbean near Cuba (28 or 29 October 1962).

On 27 October, Khrushchev also received a letter from Castro, what is now known as the Armageddon Letter (dated the day before), which urged the use of nuclear force in the event of an attack on Cuba:[150] "I believe the imperialists' aggressiveness is extremely dangerous and if they actually carry out the brutal act of invading Cuba in violation of international law and morality, that would be the moment to eliminate such danger forever through an act of clear legitimate defense, however harsh and terrible the solution would be," Castro wrote.[151]

Averted nuclear launch

Further information: List of nuclear close calls § 27 October 1962

Later that same day, what the White House later called "Black Saturday", the US Navy dropped a series of "signalling" depth charges ("practice" depth charges the size of hand grenades)[152] on a Soviet submarine (B-59) at the blockade line, unaware that it was armed with a nuclear-tipped torpedo that could be launched if the submarine was damaged by depth charges or surface fire.[153] The submarine was too deep to monitor radio traffic[154][155] and the captain of the B-59, Valentin Grigoryevich Savitsky, assuming after live ammunition fire at his submarine that a war had started, proposed to launch the nuclear torpedo at the US ships.[156] The decision to launch the "special weapon" normally only required the agreement of the ship's commanding officer and political officer, but the commander of the submarine flotilla, Vasily Arkhipov, was aboard B-59 and he also had to agree. Arkhipov did not give his consent and the nuclear torpedo was not launched. (These events only became publicly known in 2002. See Submarine close call.)

On the same day a U-2 spy plane made an accidental and unauthorised 90-minute overflight of the Soviet Union's far eastern coast.[157] The Soviets responded by scrambling MiG fighters from Wrangel Island; in turn, the Americans launched F-102 fighters armed with nuclear air-to-air missiles over the Bering Sea.[158]

Resolution

On Saturday, 27 October, after much deliberation between the Soviet Union and Kennedy's cabinet, Kennedy secretly agreed to remove all missiles in Turkey, on the border of the Soviet Union, and possibly those in southern Italy, in exchange for Khrushchev removing all missiles in Cuba.[159][160][161][162][163] There is some dispute as to whether removing the missiles from Italy was part of the secret agreement. Khrushchev wrote in his memoirs that it was, and when the crisis had ended McNamara gave the order to dismantle the missiles in both Italy and Turkey.[164]

At this point, Khrushchev knew things the US did not. First, that the shooting down of the U-2 by a Soviet missile violated direct orders from Moscow, and Cuban anti-aircraft fire against other US reconnaissance aircraft also violated direct orders from Khrushchev to Castro.[165] Second, the Soviets already had 162 nuclear warheads on Cuba that the US did not know were there.[166] Third, the Soviets and Cubans on the island would almost certainly have responded to an invasion by using them, even though Castro believed that everyone in Cuba would die as a result.[167] Khrushchev also knew, but may not have considered, that he had submarines nearby armed with nuclear weapons of which the US Navy may not have been aware.

Khrushchev knew he was losing control. President Kennedy had been told in early 1961 that a nuclear war would probably kill a third of humanity, with most or all of those deaths concentrated in the US, the USSR, Europe and China,[168] and Khrushchev may have received a similar estimate.

With this background, when Khrushchev heard of Kennedy's threats as relayed by Robert Kennedy to Soviet Ambassador Dobrynin, he immediately drafted his acceptance of Kennedy's latest terms from his dacha without involving the Politburo, as he had previously, and had them immediately broadcast over Radio Moscow, which he believed the US would hear. In that broadcast at 9:00 am EST, on 28 October 1962, Khrushchev stated that "the Soviet government, in addition to previously issued instructions on the cessation of further work at the building sites for the weapons, has issued a new order on the dismantling of the weapons which you describe as 'offensive' and their crating and return to the Soviet Union."[169][170][171] At 10:00 am on 28 October, Kennedy first learned of Khrushchev's solution to the crisis: the US would remove the 15 Jupiters in Turkey and the Soviets would remove the missiles from Cuba. Khrushchev had made the offer in a public statement for the world to hear. Despite almost solid opposition from his senior advisers, Kennedy accepted the Soviet offer. "This is a pretty good play of his," Kennedy said, according to a tape recording that he made secretly of the Cabinet Room meeting. Kennedy had deployed the Jupiters in March 1962, causing a stream of angry outbursts from Khrushchev. "Most people will think this is a rather even trade and we ought to take advantage of it," Kennedy said. Vice President Lyndon Johnson was the first to endorse the missile swap, but others continued to oppose it. Finally, Kennedy ended the debate. "We can't very well invade Cuba with all its toil and blood," Kennedy said, "when we could have gotten them out by making a deal on the same missiles on Turkey. If that's part of the record, then you don't have a very good war."[172]

Kennedy immediately responded to Khrushchev's letter, issuing a statement calling it "an important and constructive contribution to peace".[171] He continued this with a formal letter:

I consider my letter to you of October twenty-seventh and your reply of today as firm undertakings on the part of both our governments which should be promptly carried out.... The US will make a statement in the framework of the Security Council in reference to Cuba as follows: it will declare that the United States of America will respect the inviolability of Cuban borders, its sovereignty, that it take the pledge not to interfere in internal affairs, not to intrude themselves and not to permit our territory to be used as a bridgehead for the invasion of Cuba, and will restrain those who would plan to carry an aggression against Cuba, either from US territory or from the territory of other countries neighboring to Cuba.[171][173]: 103 

Kennedy's planned statement would also contain suggestions he had received from his adviser Arthur Schlesinger Jr. in a "Memorandum for the President" describing the "Post Mortem on Cuba".[174]

On 28 October, Kennedy participated in telephone conversations with Eisenhower[175] and fellow former US President Harry Truman.[176] In these calls, Kennedy revealed that he thought the crisis would result in the two superpowers being "toe to toe"[175] in Berlin by the end of the following month and expressed concern that the Soviet setback in Cuba would "make things tougher"[176] there. He also informed his predecessors that he had rejected the public Soviet offer to withdraw from Cuba in exchange for the withdrawal of US missiles from Turkey.[175][176]

Removal of Missiles in Cuba 11 November 1962 – NARA – 193868

The US continued the blockade of Cuba. In the following days aerial reconnaissance showed that the Soviets were making progress in removing the missile systems. The 42 missiles and their support equipment were loaded onto eight Soviet ships. On 2 November 1962, Kennedy addressed the US via radio and television broadcasts concerning the dismantling of the Soviet R-12 missile bases located in the Caribbean.[177] The ships left Cuba on November 5 to 9. The US made a final visual check as each of the ships passed the blockade line. Further diplomatic efforts were required to remove the Soviet Il-28 bombers, and they were loaded on three Soviet ships on 5 and 6 December. Concurrent with the Soviet commitment on the Il-28s, the US government announced the end of the blockade from 6:45 pm EST on 20 November 1962.[citation needed]

At the time when the Kennedy administration believed that the Cuban Missile Crisis was resolved, nuclear tactical rockets remained in Cuba which were not part of the Kennedy-Khrushchev understanding and the Americans did not know about them. The Soviets changed their minds, fearing possible future Cuban militant steps, and on 22 November 1962, Deputy Premier of the Soviet Union Anastas Mikoyan told Castro that the rockets with the nuclear warheads were being removed as well.[45]

Mikoyan with John F. Kennedy and State Department interpreter Natalie Kushnir at the Oval Office, November 28, 1962

The Cuban Missile Crisis was solved in part by a secret agreement between John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev. The Kennedy-Khrushchev Pact was known to only nine US officials at the time of its creation in October 1962 and was first officially acknowledged at a conference in Moscow in January 1989 by Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin and Kennedy's speechwriter Theodore Sorensen.[178][179][180] In his negotiations with Dobrynin, Robert Kennedy informally proposed that the Jupiter missiles in Turkey would be removed[180] "within a short time after this crisis was over".[181] Under an operation code-named Operation Pot Pie,[182][160][161][162][163] the removal of the Jupiters from Italy and Turkey began on 1 April, and was completed by 24 April 1963. The initial plans were to recycle the missiles for use in other programs, but NASA and the USAF were not interested in retaining the missile hardware. The missile bodies were destroyed on site, while warheads, guidance packages, and launching equipment worth $14 million were returned to the United States.[183][184] The dismantling operations were named Pot Pie I for Italy and Pot Pie II for Turkey by the United States Air Force.[161][163]

The outcome of the Kennedy-Khrushchev Pact was that the US would remove their rockets from Italy and Turkey[185][186] and that the Soviets had no intention of resorting to nuclear war if they were out-gunned by the US.[clarification needed][failed verification] Because the withdrawal of the Jupiter missiles from NATO bases in Italy and Turkey was not made public at the time,[180] Khrushchev appeared to have lost the conflict and become weakened. The perception was that Kennedy had won the contest between the superpowers and that Khrushchev had been humiliated. Both Kennedy and Khrushchev took every step to avoid full conflict despite pressures from their respective governments. Khrushchev held power for another two years.[173]: 102–105  As a direct result of the crisis, the United States and the Soviet Union set up a direct line of communication. The hotline between the Soviet Union and the United States was a way for the President and the Premier to have negotiations should a crisis like this ever happen again.[187]

Nuclear forces

By the time of the crisis in October 1962, the total number of nuclear weapons in the stockpiles of each country numbered approximately 26,400 for the United States and 3,300 for the Soviet Union. For the US, around 3,500 (with a combined yield of approximately 6,300 megatons) would have been used in attacking the Soviet Union. The Soviets had considerably less strategic firepower at their disposal: some 300–320 bombs and warheads, without submarine-based weapons in a position to threaten the US mainland and most of their intercontinental delivery systems based on bombers that would have difficulty penetrating North American air defence systems. They had already moved 158 warheads to Cuba and between 95 and 100 would have been ready for use if the US had invaded Cuba, most of them short-range. The US had approximately 4,375 nuclear weapons deployed in Europe, most of which were tactical weapons such as nuclear artillery, with around 450 of them for ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and aircraft; the Soviets had more than 550 similar weapons in Europe.[188][189]

United States

SAC

ICBM: 182 (at peak alert); 121 Atlas D/E/F, 53 Titan 1, 8 Minuteman 1A

Bombers: 1,595; 880 B-47, 639 B-52, 76 B-58 (1,479 bombers and 1,003 refuelling tankers available at peak alert)

Atlantic Command

112 UGM-27 Polaris in seven SSBNs (16 each); five submarines with Polaris A1 and two with A2

Pacific Command

4–8 Regulus cruise missiles

16 Mace cruise missiles

Three aircraft carriers with some 40 bombs each

Land-based aircraft with some 50 bombs

European Command

IRBM: 45 Jupiter (30 Italy, 15 Turkey)

48–90 Mace cruise missiles

Two US Sixth Fleet aircraft carriers with some 40 bombs each

Land-based aircraft with some 50 bombs

Soviet Union

Strategic (for use against North America):

ICBM: 42; four SS-6/R-7A at Plesetsk with two in reserve at Baikonur, 36 SS-7/R-16 with 26 in silos and ten on open launch pads

Bombers: 160 (readiness unknown); 100 Tu-95 Bear, 60 3M Bison B

Regional (mostly targeting Europe, and others targeting US bases in east Asia):

MRBM: 528 SS-4/R-12, 492 at soft launch sites and 36 at hard launch sites (approximately six to eight R-12s were operational in Cuba, capable of striking the US mainland at any moment until the crisis was resolved)

IRBM: 28 SS-5/R-14

Unknown number of Tu-16 Badger, Tu-22 Blinder, and MiG-21 aircraft tasked with nuclear strike missions

United Kingdom

Bomber Command[190]

Bombers: 120; Vulcan B.1/B.1A/B.2, Victor B.1/B.1A/B2, Valiant B.1

IRBM: 59 Thor (missiles operated by the RAF with warheads under US supervision)

Aftermath

The nuclear-armed Jupiter intermediate-range ballistic missile. The US secretly agreed to withdraw the missiles from Italy and Turkey.

Cuban leadership

Decisions on how to resolve the crisis had been made exclusively by Kennedy and Khrushchev and Cuba perceived the outcome as a betrayal by the Soviets. Castro was especially upset that certain questions of interest to Cuba, such as the status of the US Naval Base in Guantánamo, were not addressed, and Cuban–Soviet relations deteriorated.[44]: 278 

Historian Arthur Schlesinger believed that when the missiles were withdrawn, Castro was more angry with Khrushchev than with Kennedy because Khrushchev had not consulted him before making the decision.[note 2] Although Castro was infuriated by Khrushchev, he had still planned to strike the US with the remaining missiles if Cuba was invaded.[44]: 311 

A few weeks after the crisis, during an interview with British communist newspaper the Daily Worker, Guevara was still fuming over the perceived Soviet betrayal and told correspondent Sam Russell that, if the missiles had been under Cuban control they would have been launched.[191] Guevara said later that the cause of socialist liberation from global "imperialist aggression" would have been worth the possibility of "millions of atomic war victims".[192] The missile crisis further convinced Guevara that the world's two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, were using Cuba as a pawn in their global strategies, and after this he denounced the Soviets almost as frequently as he denounced the Americans.[193]

Romanian leadership

During the crisis, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, general secretary of Romania's communist party, sent a letter to President Kennedy dissociating Romania from Soviet actions. This convinced the American administration of Bucharest's intentions of detaching itself from Moscow.[194]

Soviet leadership

The realisation that the world had come close to thermonuclear war caused Khrushchev to propose a far-reaching easing of tensions with the US.[195] In a letter to President Kennedy dated 30 October 1962, Khrushchev suggested initiatives that were intended to prevent the possibility of another nuclear crisis. These included a non-aggression treaty between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Warsaw Pact, or even disbanding these military blocs; a treaty to cease all nuclear weapons testing and possibly eliminate all nuclear weapons; resolution of the difficult question of Germany by both sides accepting the existence of West Germany and East Germany; and US recognition of the government of mainland China. The letter invited counter-proposals and further exploration of these and other questions through peaceful negotiations. Khrushchev invited Norman Cousins, the editor of a major US periodical and an anti-nuclear weapons activist, to serve as liaison with Kennedy. Cousins met with Khrushchev for four hours in December 1962.[196]

Kennedy's response to Khrushchev's proposals was lukewarm, but he told Cousins that he felt obliged to consider them because he was under pressure from hardliners in the US national security apparatus. The United States and the Soviet Union subsequently agreed to a treaty banning atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons, known as the "Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty".[197] The US and the USSR also created a communications link, the Moscow–Washington hotline, to enable the leaders of the two Cold War countries to speak directly to each other in any future crisis.

These compromises embarrassed Khrushchev and the Soviet Union because the withdrawal of US missiles from Italy and Turkey had remained a secret deal between Kennedy and Khrushchev. Khrushchev went to Kennedy because he thought that the crisis was getting out of hand, but the Soviets were seen to be retreating from circumstances that they had started.

Khrushchev's fall from power two years later was partly because of the Soviet Politburo's embarrassment at his eventual concessions to the US and his ineptitude in precipitating the crisis in the first place. According to Dobrynin, the top Soviet leadership took the Cuban outcome as "a blow to its prestige bordering on humiliation".[5]

US leadership

The worldwide DEFCON 3 status of US Forces was returned to DEFCON 4 on 20 November 1962. General Curtis LeMay told Kennedy that the resolution of the crisis was the "greatest defeat in our history" but his was a minority view.[84] LeMay had pressed for an immediate invasion of Cuba as soon as the crisis began, and he still favored invading Cuba even after the Soviets had withdrawn their missiles.[198] Twenty-five years later, LeMay still believed that "We could have gotten not only the missiles out of Cuba, we could have gotten the Communists out of Cuba at that time."[122]

By 1962, President Kennedy had faced four crisis situations: the failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion;[199] settlement negotiations between the pro-Western government of Laos and the Pathet Lao communist movement ("Kennedy sidestepped Laos, whose rugged terrain was no battleground for American soldiers."[200]: 265 ); the construction of the Berlin Wall; and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Kennedy believed that another failure to gain control and stop communist expansion would irreparably damage US credibility. He was determined to "draw a line in the sand" and prevent a communist victory in Vietnam. He told James Reston of The New York Times immediately after his Vienna summit meeting with Khrushchev, "Now we have a problem making our power credible and Vietnam looks like the place."[201][202]

At least four contingency strikes were armed and launched from Florida against Cuban airfields and suspected missile sites in 1963 and 1964, although all were diverted to the Pinecastle Range Complex after the planes had passed Andros island.[203] Critics, including Seymour Melman[204] and Seymour Hersh,[205] suggested that the Cuban Missile Crisis had encouraged the United States to use military means, as in the later Vietnam War. Similarly, Lorraine Bayard de Volo suggested that the masculine brinksmanship of the Cuban Missile Crisis had become a "touchstone of toughness by which presidents are measured".[206] Actions in 1962 had a significant influence on the policy decisions of future occupants of the White House, and led to foreign policy decisions such as President Lyndon B. Johnson's escalation of the war in Vietnam three years later.[207]

Human casualties

The body of U-2 pilot Anderson was returned to the US and was buried with full military honours in South Carolina. He was the first recipient of the newly created Air Force Cross, which was awarded posthumously. Although Anderson was the only combatant fatality during the crisis, 11 crew members of three reconnaissance Boeing RB-47 Stratojets of the 55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing were also killed in crashes during the period between 27 September and 11 November 1962.[208] Seven crew died when a Military Air Transport Service Boeing C-135B Stratolifter delivering ammunition to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base stalled and crashed on landing approach on 23 October.[209]

Later revelations

Submarine close call

What may have been the most dangerous moment in the crisis was not recognized until the Cuban Missile Crisis Havana conference in October 2002, which marked its 40th anniversary. The three-day conference was sponsored by the private National Security Archive, Brown University and the Cuban government[210] and attended by many of the veterans of the crisis. They learned that on 27 October 1962, a group of eleven United States Navy destroyers and the aircraft carrier USS Randolph had located a diesel-powered, nuclear-armed Soviet Project 641 (NATO designation Foxtrot) submarine, the B-59, near Cuba. Despite being in international waters, the Americans started dropping practice depth charges to attempt to force the submarine to surface.

There had been no contact from Moscow for a number of days and the submarine was running too deep to monitor radio traffic, so those on board did not know whether war had broken out. The captain of the submarine, Valentin Savitsky, had no way of knowing that the depth charges were non-lethal "practice" rounds, intended as warning shots to force him to surface. Running out of air, the Soviet submarine was surrounded by American warships and desperately needed to surface. While surfacing, the B-59 “came under machine-gun fire from [U.S. ASW S-2] Tracker aircraft.[note 3] The fire rounds landed either to the sides of the submarine’s hull or near the bow. All these provocative actions carried out by surface ships in immediate proximity, and ASW aircraft flying some 10 to 15 meters above the boat had a detrimental impact on the commander, prompting him to take extreme measures… the use of special weapons.”[211] As firing live ammunition at a submarine was strictly prohibited, Captain Savitsky assumed that his submarine was doomed and that World War III had started. The Americans, for their part, did not know, that the B-59 was armed with a 15-kiloton nuclear torpedo, of roughly the power of the bomb at Hiroshima.[212][213][better source needed] The USS Beale was joined by other US destroyers who pummelled the submerged B-59 with more explosives.

Savitsky ordered the nuclear torpedo to be prepared for firing; its target was to be the USS Randolph, the aircraft carrier leading the task force. An argument broke out in the sweltering control room of the B-59 submarine among three senior officers, B-59 captain Savitsky, political officer Ivan Semyonovich Maslennikov, and Deputy brigade commander Captain 2nd rank (US Navy Commander rank equivalent) Vasily Arkhipov. Accounts differ about whether Arkhipov convinced Savitsky not to make the attack or whether Savitsky himself finally concluded that the only reasonable choice left open to him was to come to the surface.[214] The decision to launch the nuclear torpedo required the consent of all three senior officers, and of the three, Arkhipov alone refused to give his consent. Arkhipov's reputation was a key factor in the control room debate. The previous year he had exposed himself to severe radiation in order to save a submarine with an overheating nuclear reactor.[213][better source needed]

During the conference October 2002, McNamara stated that nuclear war had come much closer than people had thought. Thomas Blanton, director of the National Security Archive, said, "A guy called Vasily Arkhipov saved the world."[210]

Possibility of nuclear launch

In early 1992 it was confirmed that Soviet forces in Cuba had already received tactical nuclear warheads for their artillery rockets and Il-28 bombers when the crisis broke.[215] Castro stated that he would have recommended their use if the US had invaded, even if Cuba was destroyed.[215]

Fifty years after the crisis, Graham Allison wrote:

Fifty years ago, the Cuban Missile Crisis brought the world to the brink of nuclear disaster. During the standoff, US President John F. Kennedy thought the chance of escalation to war was "between 1 in 3 and even", and what we have learned in later decades has done nothing to lengthen those odds. We now know, for example, that in addition to nuclear-armed ballistic missiles, the Soviet Union had deployed 100 tactical nuclear weapons to Cuba, and the local Soviet commander there could have launched these weapons without additional codes or commands from Moscow. The US air strike and invasion that were scheduled for the third week of the confrontation would likely have triggered a nuclear response against American ships and troops, and perhaps even Miami. The resulting war might have led to the deaths of over 100 million Americans and over 100 million Russians.[216][217]

BBC journalist Joe Matthews published the story, on 13 October 2012, after news of the 100 tactical nuclear warheads mentioned by Graham Allison in the excerpt above.[218] Khrushchev feared that Castro's hurt pride and widespread Cuban indignation over the concessions he had made to Kennedy might lead to a breakdown of the agreement between the Soviet Union and the United States. To prevent this, Khrushchev decided to offer to give Cuba more than 100 tactical nuclear weapons that had been shipped there with the long-range missiles but, crucially, had escaped the notice of US intelligence. Khrushchev determined that because the Americans had not listed the missiles on their list of demands, keeping them in Cuba would be in the Soviet Union's interests.[218]

Anastas Mikoyan had the task of negotiating with Castro over the missile transfer deal to prevent a breakdown in relations between Cuba and the Soviet Union. While in Havana, Mikoyan witnessed the mood swings and paranoia of Castro, who was convinced that Moscow had made the agreement with the US at the expense of Cuba's defence. Mikoyan, on his own initiative, decided that Castro and his military should not under any circumstances be given control of weapons with an explosive force equal to 100 Hiroshima-sized bombs. He defused the seemingly intractable situation, which risked re-escalating the crisis, on 22 November 1962. During a tense, four-hour meeting, Mikoyan convinced Castro that despite Moscow's desire to help, it would be in breach of an unpublished Soviet law, which did not actually exist, to transfer the missiles permanently into Cuban hands and provide them with an independent nuclear deterrent. Castro was forced to give way and, much to the relief of Khrushchev and the rest of the Soviet government, the tactical nuclear weapons were crated and returned by sea to the Soviet Union during December 1962.[218]

In popular culture

A Soviet ship unloading a missile in the 1969 spy movie Topaz

The American popular media, especially television, made frequent use of the events of the missile crisis in both fictional and documentary forms.[219] Jim Willis includes the Crisis as one of the 100 "media moments that changed America".[220] Sheldon Stern found that a half century later there were still many "misconceptions, half-truths, and outright lies" that had shaped media versions of what happened in the White House during those two weeks.[221]

Historian William Cohn argued in a 1976 article that television programs were typically the main source used by the American public to know about and interpret the past.[222] According to Cold War historian Andrei Kozovoi, the Soviet media proved somewhat disorganized as it was unable to generate a coherent popular history. Khrushchev lost power and was airbrushed out of the story and Cuba was no longer portrayed as a heroic David against the American Goliath. One contradiction that pervaded the Soviet media campaign was between the pacifistic rhetoric of the peace movement that emphasized the horrors of nuclear war and the militancy of the need to prepare Soviets for war against American aggression.[223]

See also

flag Cuba portal

flag Soviet Union portal

flag United States portal

Bomber gap

Cuban thaw

Leninsky Komsomol class cargo ships

List of nuclear close calls

Norwegian rocket incident

Nuclear disarmament

Nuclear threats during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

Peaceful coexistence

Planned Soviet nuclear strike on China in 1969

Soviet Navy

Thirteen Days (film)

Thirteen Days

The Missiles of October

The Fog of War

Topaz

The Courier

The Kennedys

Notes

 McNamara mistakenly dates the shooting down of USAF Major Rudolf Anderson's U-2 on October 26.

 In his biography, Castro did not compare his feelings for either leader at that moment but makes it clear that he was angry with Khrushchev for failing to consult with him. (Ramonet 1978)

 This account of an USN S-2 firing on the Soviet B-59 submarine is highly doubtful. Grumman S-2s in US Navy service were not armed with integral machine guns, and there is no evidence that they were ever armed with podded machine guns on the underwing hard points. Either the aircraft type was misidentified or else the shooting never happened. That is not to say that the Soviet crew completely made up this story, it is possible they imagined a shooting due to the psychological pressure they were under, and that possibility certainly is a pertinent part of the event.

References

 Scott, Len; Hughes, R. Gerald (2015). The Cuban Missile Crisis: A Critical Reappraisal. Taylor & Francis. p. 17. ISBN 978-1-317-55541-4. Archived from the original on 29 July 2016. Retrieved 31 December 2015.

 Society, National Geographic (21 April 2021). "Kennedy 'Quarantines' Cuba". National Geographic Society. Retrieved 11 May 2022.

 Colman, Jonathan (1 May 2019). "Toward 'World Support' and 'The Ultimate Judgment of History': The U.S. Legal Case for the Blockade of Cuba during the Missile Crisis, October–November 1962". Journal of Cold War Studies. 21 (2): 150–173. doi:10.1162/jcws_a_00879. ISSN 1520-3972.

 "Milestones: 1961–1968 – The Cuban Missile Crisis, October 1962". Office of the Historian. Archived from the original on 3 April 2019.

 William Taubman, Khrushchev: The Man and His Era (2004) p. 579.

 Jeffery D. Shields (7 March 2016). "The Malin Notes: Glimpses Inside the Kremlin during the Cuban Missile Crisis" (PDF). Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

 The Kennedy Tapes Inside the White House During the Cuban Missile Crisis. Norton. 2002. p. 421. ISBN 978-0-393-32259-0.

 "'One Hell of a Gamble': Khrushchev, Castro and Kennedy, 1958–1964". Journal of Cold War Studies. 2002. Retrieved 31 August 2015.

 Yaffe, Helen (2020). We are Cuba!: How a Revolutionary People have Survived in a Post-Soviet World. New Haven: Yale University Press. pp. 14–22, 176–181. ISBN 978-0-300-23003-1. For the Cuban revolutionaries of the 1950s, US imperialism was the principal explanation for the island's structural weaknesses...Thus, the Revolution of 1959 faced two real alternatives: it could renounce all fundamental changes, beyond expelling the dictator Fulgencio Batista, so that it would be acceptable to Washington; or it could pursue the deep structural changes necessary to address the island's socioeconomic ills and dependent development, which would bring hostility from the United States.

 Bolender, Keith (2012). Cuba under Siege: American Policy, the Revolution, and its People. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. x, 14, 18–20, 45–57, 63–64, et passim. doi:10.1057/9781137275554. ISBN 978-1-137-27554-7. The economic inequality and social unrest was brought to a head under the brutal Batista dictatorship, supported by American arms, money, and authority. An estimated 20,000 were killed opposing the government from 1955 to his overthrow, with even President John F. Kennedy using this figure in a rare expression of sympathy for revolutionary goals. Kennedy also came closest to recognizing America could not claim ignorance of the harm its neocolonial control was inflicting on the inhabitants...Transformation came swiftly, completely, and often framed in direct conflict with American immoderations. Popular support for radicalization was possible only by aiming it at the social inequalities associated with foreign domination, of which the greater part of the Cuban population, particularly in the rural areas, had tired of finally. The backing of the countryside permitted Castro to act ruthlessly to ensure his revolution would not suffer the same fate as Grau's. Concurrently, America's hostile reaction worked in harmony, if not intentionally, with Castro's political ambitions. He comprehended the turmoil and incongruities of American dominated prerevolution society had to end.

 Kapstein, Ethan B. (December 2020). "Private Enterprise, International Development, and the Cold War". Journal of Cold War Studies. 22 (4). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press: 113–145. doi:10.1162/jcws_a_00967. ISSN 1520-3972.

 Yaffe, Helen (2020). We are Cuba!: How a Revolutionary People have Survived in a Post-Soviet World. New Haven: Yale University Press. pp. 67, 176–181. ISBN 978-0-300-23003-1. What have Cuba's revolutionary people survived? For six decades, the Caribbean island has withstood manifold and unrelenting aggression from the world's dominant economic and political power: overt and covert military actions; sabotage and terrorism by US authorities and allied exiles...The first Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) plan for paramilitary action in Cuba was developed in December 1959, less than a year after Batista fled the island and well before the US blockade was imposed. The CIA recruited operatives inside Cuba to carry out terrorism and sabotage, killing civilians and causing economic damage.

 Piccone, Ted; Miller, Ashley (19 December 2016). Cuba, the U.S., and the Concept of Sovereignty: Toward a Common Vocabulary? (Report). Washington: Brookings Institution. Archived from the original on 7 July 2017. Retrieved 6 January 2023. President Dwight D. Eisenhower approved a plan to train Cuban exiles to commit violent acts of terrorism within Cuba against civilians, and the CIA trained and commanded pilots to bomb civilian airfields...U.S. government officials justified some of the terrorist attacks on Cuban soil on the grounds of coercive regime change

 Domínguez López, Ernesto; Yaffe, Helen (2 November 2017). "The Deep, Historical Roots of Cuban Anti-imperialism" (PDF). Third World Quarterly. 38 (11). Abingdon: Taylor & Francis: 2517–2535. doi:10.1080/01436597.2017.1374171. S2CID 149249232. In international terms, Cuba's Revolution dented the US sphere of influence, weakening the US position as a global power. These were the structural geopolitical motivations for opposing Cuba's hard-won independence. The Bay of Pigs (Playa Giron) invasion and multiple military invasion plans, programmes of terrorism, sabotage and subversion were part of Washington's reaction.

 Franklin, Jane (2016). Cuba and the U.S. Empire: a Chronological History. New York: New York University Press. pp. 45–63, 388–392, et passim. ISBN 978-1-58367-605-9. Retrieved 2 February 2020.

 [12][13][14][15]

 Absher, Kenneth Michael (2009). "Mind-Sets and Missiles: A First Hand Account of the Cuban Missile Crisis". Strategic Studies Institute, United States Army War College. Archived from the original on 20 April 2010. Retrieved 29 April 2010.

 Domínguez, Jorge I. (April 2000). "The @#$%& Missile Crisis" (PDF). Diplomatic History. 24 (2). Boston/Oxford: Blackwell Publishers/Oxford University Press: 305–316. doi:10.1111/0145-2096.00214. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 September 2020. Retrieved 6 September 2019 – via Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University. On the afternoon of 16 October... Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy convened in his office a meeting on Operation Mongoose, the code name for a U.S. policy of sabotage and related covert operation aimed at Cuba... The Kennedy administration returned to its policy of sponsoring terrorism against Cuba as the confrontation with the Soviet Union lessened... Only once in these nearly thousand pages of documentation did a US official raise something that resembled a faint moral objection to US-government sponsored terrorism.

 Schoultz, Lars (2009). "State Sponsored Terrorism". That Infernal Little Cuban Republic: the United States and the Cuban Revolution. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. pp. 170–211. ISBN 978-0-8078-8860-5. Retrieved 2 February 2020. What more could be done? How about a program of sabotage focused on blowing up "such targets as refineries, power plants, micro wave stations, radio and TV installations, strategic highway bridges and railroad facilities, military and naval installations and equipment, certain industrial plants and sugar refineries." The CIA proposed just that approach a month after the Bay of Pigs, and the State Department endorsed the proposal... In early November, six months after the Bay of Pigs, JFK authorized the CIA's "Program of Covert Action", now dubbed Operation Mongoose, and named Lansdale its chief of operations. A few days later, President Kennedy told a Seattle audience, "We cannot, as a free nation, compete with our adversaries in tactics of terror, assassination, false promises, counterfeit mobs and crises." Perhaps – but the Mongoose decision indicated that he was willing to try.

 Prados, John; Jimenez-Bacardi, Arturo, eds. (3 October 2019). Kennedy and Cuba: Operation Mongoose. National Security Archive (Report). Washington, D.C.: George Washington University. Archived from the original on 2 November 2019. Retrieved 3 April 2020. The Kennedy administration had been quick to set up a Cuba Task Force—with strong representation from CIA's Directorate of Plans—and on August 31 that unit decided to adopt a public posture of ignoring Castro while attacking civilian targets inside Cuba: 'our covert activities would now be directed toward the destruction of targets important to the [Cuban] economy' (Document 4)...While acting through Cuban revolutionary groups with potential for real resistance to Castro, the task force 'will do all we can to identify and suggest targets whose destruction will have the maximum economic impact.' The memorandum showed no concern for international law or the unspoken nature of these operations as terrorist attacks.

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Further reading

Allison, Graham; Zelikow, Philip (1999). Essence of Decision, Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis. New York: Addison Wesley Longman. ISBN 978-0-321-01349-1.

Barrett, David M. and Max Holland (2012). Blind Over Cuba: The Photo Gap and the Missile Crisis. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2012.

Beschloss, Michael R. (1991). The Crisis Years: Kennedy and Khruschev, 1960–1963. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-060-16454-6.

Campus, Leonardo (2014). I sei giorni che sconvolsero il mondo. La crisi dei missili di Cuba e le sue percezioni internazionali [=Six Days that Shook the World. The Cuban Missile Crisis and Its International Perceptions]. Florence: Le Monnier. ISBN 9788800745321

Chayes, Abram (1974). The Cuban Missile Crisis. International crises and the role of law. London: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-825320-4.

Cockburn, Andrew, "Defensive, Not Aggressive" (review of Theodore Voorhees, The Silent Guns of Two Octobers: Kennedy and Khrushchev Play the Double Game, Michigan, September 2021, ISBN 978 0 472 03871 8, 384 pp.; and Serhii Plokhy, Nuclear Folly: A New History of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Allen Lane, April 2021, ISBN 978 0 241 45473 2, 464 pp.), London Review of Books, vol. 43, no. 17 (9 September 2021), pp. 9–10. "[F]or Kennedy, the [Cuban Missile] crisis was entirely about [internal US] politics." [...] Voorhees argues convincingly that there was never any real danger of war, since Kennedy and Khrushchev were equally determined to avoid one..." (p. 10.)

Colman, Jonathan, The Cuban Missile Crisis: Origins, Course and Aftermath (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2016). Presents the episode in a novel global perspective and explores its longer-term consequences.

Daley, Jason (28 January 2019). "How CIA-Backed Spies Detected Soviet Nukes First During Cuban Missile Crisis". Smithsonian Magazine. Smithsonian Institution.

Diez Acosta, Tomás (2002). October 1962: The "Missile" Crisis As Seen from Cuba. New York: Pathfinder. ISBN 978-0-87348-956-0.

Divine, Robert A. (1988). The Cuban Missile Crisis. New York: M. Wiener Pub. ISBN 978-0-910129-15-2.

Dobbs, Michael (2008). One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War. New York: Knopf. ISBN 978-1-4000-7891-2.

Dobbs, Michael (October 2012). "The Photographs That Prevented World War III". Smithsonian Magazine. Smithsonian Institution.

Feklisov, Aleksandr; Kostin, Sergueï (2001). The Man Behind the Rosenbergs: By the KGB Spymaster Who Was the Case Officer of Julius Rosenberg, Klaus Fuchs, and Helped Resolve the Cuban Missile Crisis. New York: Enigma Books. ISBN 978-1-929631-08-7.

Frankel, Max (2004). High Noon in the Cold War: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and the Cuban Missile Crisis. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 978-0-345-46505-4.

Fursenko, Aleksandr; Naftali, Timothy J. (1998). One Hell of a Gamble: Khrushchev, Castro, and Kennedy, 1958–1964. New York: Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-31790-9.

Fursenko, Aleksandr (Summer 2006). "Night Session of the Presidium of the Central Committee, 22–23 October 1962". Naval War College Review. 59 (3). Archived from the original on 6 October 2011.

George, Alice L. (2003). Awaiting Armageddon: How Americans Faced the Cuban Missile Crisis. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-0-8078-2828-1.

Gibson, David R. (2012). Talk at the Brink: Deliberation and Decision during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-15131-1.

Hornsby, R. (2023). The Soviet Sixties. Yale University Press.

Hoversten, Paul (17 September 2012). "Due South of Key West". Smithsonian Air & Space Magazine. Smithsonian Institution.

Jones, Milo; Silberzahn, Philppe (2013). Constructing Cassandra, Reframing Intelligence Failure at the CIA, 1947–2001. Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-9336-0.

Khrushchev, Sergei (October 2002). "How My Father And President Kennedy Saved The World". American Heritage. 53 (5).

Kolbert, Elizabeth, "This Close: The day the Cuban missile crisis almost went nuclear" (a review of Martin J. Sherwin's Gambling with Armageddon: Nuclear Roulette from Hiroshima to the Cuban Missile Crisis, New York, Knopf, 2020), The New Yorker, 12 October 2020, pp. 70–73. Article includes information from recently declassified sources.

Lima, Rafael (November 2012). "Cuba During the Missile Crisis". Smithsonian Air & Space Magazine. Smithsonian Institution.

Mersky, Peter (1986). Vought F-8 Crusader (Osprey Air Combat). Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 0-85045-905-2.

Mola, Roger (17 September 2012). "Kennedy's Evidence". Smithsonian Air & Space Magazine. Smithsonian Institution.

Plokhy, Serhii. Nuclear Folly: A History of the Cuban Missile Crisis (W.W. Norton & Company, 2021).

Polmar, Norman; Gresham, John D. (2006). DEFCON-2: Standing on the Brink of Nuclear War During the Cuban Missile Crisis. Foreword by Tom Clancy. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. ISBN 978-0-471-67022-3.

Pope, Ronald R. (1982). Soviet Views on the Cuban Missile Crisis: Myth and Reality in Foreign Policy Analysis. Washington, DC: Univ. Press of America. ISBN 978-0-8191-2584-2.

Powers, Thomas, "The Nuclear Worrier" (review of Daniel Ellsberg, The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner, New York, Bloomsbury, 2017, ISBN 9781608196708, 420 pp.), The New York Review of Books, vol. LXV, no. 1 (January 18, 2018), pp. 13–15.

Pressman, Jeremy (2001). "September Statements, October Missiles, November Elections: Domestic Politics, Foreign-Policy Making, and the Cuban Missile Crisis". Security Studies. 10 (3): 80–114. doi:10.1080/09636410108429438. S2CID 154854331.

Radchenko, Sergey; Zubok, Vladislav (May–June 2023). "Blundering on the Brink: The Secret History and Unlearned Lessons of the Cuban Missile Crisis". Foreign Affairs. 102 (3): 44–63.

Russell, Bertrand (1963). Unarmed Victory. London: Allen & Unwin.

Seydi, SÜleyman (2010). Turkish–American Relations and the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1957–63. Middle Eastern Studies 46#3. p. 433–455. ISBN 978-0-04-327024-0.

Stern, Sheldon M. (2003). Averting 'the Final Failure': John F. Kennedy and the Secret Cuban Missile Crisis Meetings. Stanford nuclear age series. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-4846-9. Retrieved 4 November 2011.

Stern, Sheldon M. (2005). The Week the World Stood Still: Inside the Secret Cuban Missile Crisis. Stanford nuclear age series. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-5077-6. Archived from the original on 14 October 2011. Retrieved 4 November 2011.

Stern, Sheldon M. (2012). The Cuban Missile Crisis in American Memory: Myths versus Reality. Stanford nuclear age series. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press.

Trahair, Richard C. S.; Miller, Robert L. (2009). Encyclopedia of Cold War Espionage, Spies, and Secret Operations. New York: Enigma Books. ISBN 978-1-929631-75-9.

Matthews, Joe (October 2012). "Cuban missile crisis: The other, secret one". BBC.

Weaver, Michael E. The Relationship between Diplomacy and Military Force: An Example from the Cuban Missile Crisis, Diplomatic History, January 2014, Volume 38, Number 1, pp. 137–81. The Relationship between Diplomacy and Military Force: An Example from the Cuban Missile Crisis

White, Mark. "The Other Missiles of October: Eisenhower, Kennedy, and the Jupiters, 1957–1963." Diplomatic History (2002) 26#1 pp 147–153.

"Nose, McDonnell RF-101C Voodoo". Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 4 August 2024.

Historiography

Allison, Graham T. (September 1969). "Conceptual Models and the Cuban Missile Crisis". American Political Science Review. 63 (3): 689–718. doi:10.2307/1954423. JSTOR 1954423. S2CID 251094337.

Dorn, A. Walter; Pauk, Robert (April 2009). "Unsung Mediator: U Thant and the Cuban Missile Crisis". Diplomatic History. 33 (2): 261–292. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7709.2008.00762.x.

Garthoff, Raymond L. (Spring 2004). "Foreign Intelligence and the Historiography of the Cold War". Journal of Cold War Studies. 6 (2): 21–56. doi:10.1162/152039704773254759. ISSN 1520-3972. S2CID 57563600.

Gibson, David R. (2011). "Avoiding Catastrophe: The Interactional Production of Possibility during the Cuban Missile Crisis". The American Journal of Sociology. 117 (2): 361–419. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.374.2005. doi:10.1086/661761. JSTOR 10.1086/661761. S2CID 143717875.

Jones, John A.; Jones, Virginia H. (Spring 2005). "Through the Eye of the Needle: Five Perspectives on the Cuban Missile Crisis". Rhetoric & Public Affairs. 8 (1): 133–144. doi:10.1353/rap.2005.0044. S2CID 154894890.

Jones, Milo; Silberzahn, Philppe (2013). Constructing Cassandra, Reframing Intelligence Failure at the CIA, 1947–2001. Stanford University Press. pp. 135–191. ISBN 978-0-8047-9336-0.

Lebow, Richard Ned (October 1990). "Domestic Politics and the Cuban Missile Crisis: The Traditional and Revisionist Interpretations Reevaluated". Diplomatic History. 14 (4): 471–492. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7709.1990.tb00103.x.

Bayard de Volo, Lorraine (July 2022) "Masculinity and the Cuban Missile Crisis: gender as pre-emptive deterrent", International Affairs, 98 (4): 1211–1229. doi:10.1093/ia/iiac121.

Primary sources

Getchell, Michelle. Cuban Missile Crisis and the Cold War: A Short History with Documents(Hackett Publishing, 2018) 200 pp. online review[permanent dead link]

Chang, Laurence; Kornbluh, Peter, eds. (1998). "Introduction". The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962: A National Security Archive Documents Reader (2nd ed.). New York: New Press. ISBN 978-1-56584-474-2.

"Cuban Missile Crisis". JFK in History. John F. Kennedy Library.

"Cuban Missile Crisis 1962". Presidential Recordings Program. Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia. Archived from the original on 16 August 2011.

"Cuban Missile Crisis". Wilson Center Digital Archive. Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Archived from the original on 29 June 2015. Retrieved 27 June 2015.

Karnow, Stanley (1997). Vietnam: A History (2nd ed.). New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-026547-7.

Keefer, Edward C.; Sampson, Charles S.; Smith, Louis J., eds. (1996). Cuban Missile Crisis and Aftermath. Foreign relations of the United States, 1961–1963. Vol. XI. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. ISBN 978-0-16-045210-9. Archived from the original on 23 December 2016. Retrieved 8 December 2018.

Kennedy, Robert F. (1969). Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis. New York: W.W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-31834-0.

May, Ernest R.; Zelikow, Philip D., eds. (2002) [1997]. The Kennedy Tapes: Inside the White House During the Cuban Missile Crisis (2nd ed.). New York: Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-32259-0.

McAuliffe, Mary S., ed. (October 1992). "CIA Documents on the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962" (PDF). Historical Review Program. Washington, DC: Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 December 2011. Retrieved 11 May 2011.

"The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962: The 40th Anniversary". National Security Archive: Special Exhibits. Gelman Library: George Washington University.

"The World On the Brink: John F. Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis". Interactive Exhibits. John F. Kennedy Library. Archived from the original on 18 January 2011. Retrieved 9 April 2011.

Gavrov, Sergei, ed. (November 2013). "America and Russia: The Crisis of 1962. On the 50th anniversary of the missile crisis". Moscow: Vzglyad (Russia). Archived from the original on 17 October 2016. Retrieved 10 September 2016.

Dallek, Robert. "If We Listen to Them, None of Us Will Be Alive." In Camelot's Court, 279–334. New York: HarperCollins, 2013.

Lesson plans

"Cuban Missile Crisis". Slideshows for Educators. Bureau of Public Affairs, U.S. Department of State. Archived from the original on 5 January 2011.

Moser, John; Hahn, Lori (15 July 2010). "The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962: 'The Missiles of October'". EDSITEment: Lesson Plans. National Endowment for the Humanities. Archived from the original on 16 January 2011. Retrieved 26 January 2011.

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Cuban Missile Crisis.

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Cuban Missile Crisis: Операция Анадырь (Operation Anadyr) on Flickr

Cuban Missile Crisis and the Fallout from the Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives

"Cuban Missile Crisis". Topics. History Channel. 2011.

"Cuban Missile Crisis". Nuclear Weapons History: Cold War. Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. Archived from the original on 5 October 2018. Retrieved 8 December 2018.

"Cuban Missile Crisis Bibliography". Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues. Archived from the original on 7 August 2011. Retrieved 11 May 2011.

Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962

October 1962: DEFCON 4, DEFCON 3

Spartacus Educational(UK): Cuban Missile Crisis

Document – Britain's Cuban Missile Crisis

No Time to Talk: The Cuban Missile Crisis

Patrick J. Kiger (7 June 2019): Key Moments in the Cuban Missile Crisis. A Timeline of the Cuban Missile Crisis with the links to the correspondence between John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev during the crisis. In: History.com. Archived 29 March 2022 at archive.today

The 32nd Guards Air Fighter Regiment in Cuba (1962–1963) S.Isaev.

The short film Symposium on Intelligence and the Cuban Missile Crisis 1962 (1992) is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive.

The Woodrow Wilson Center's Digital Archive has a collection of primary source archival documents on the Cuban Missile Crisis.

EDSITEment lesson plan Cuban Missile Crisis

EDSITEment Cuban Missile Crisis Interactive

Cuban Missile Crisis: Three Men Go To War Archived 10 February 2017 at the Wayback Machine Documentary produced by PBS

The Armageddon Letters, a transmedia storytelling of the crisis with animated short films and other digital content

The Man Who Saved the World Documentary produced by PBS series Secrets of the Dead

Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) collected news and commentary at The New York Times

vte

Cold War

United StatesSoviet UnionNATOWarsaw PactANZUSMETOSEATONEATORio PactNon-Aligned Movement

1940s

Morgenthau PlanHukbalahap rebellionJamaican political conflictDekemvrianaGuerrilla war in the Baltic states Operation PriboiOperation JungleOccupation of the Baltic statesCursed soldiersOperation UnthinkableGouzenko AffairDivision of KoreaIndonesian National RevolutionOperation MasterdomOperation BeleaguerOperation Blacklist FortyIran crisis of 1946Greek Civil WarBaruch PlanCorfu Channel incidentTurkish Straits crisisRestatement of Policy on GermanyFirst Indochina War1947 Polish parliamentary electionTruman DoctrineAsian Relations ConferenceMay 1947 crisesPartition of IndiaIndo-Pakistani war of 1947–19481947–1949 Palestine war 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine1948 Arab–Israeli War1948 Palestinian expulsion and flightMarshall PlanComecon1948 Czechoslovak coup d'étatIncapacitation of the Allied Control CouncilAl-Wathbah uprisingTito–Stalin splitBerlin BlockadeAnnexation of HyderabadMadiun AffairWestern betrayalIron CurtainEastern BlocWestern BlocChinese Civil War Chinese Communist RevolutionMalayan EmergencyMarch 1949 Syrian coup d'étatOperation Valuable

1950s

Bamboo curtainMcCarthyismKorean WarArab Cold War (1952–1979)1952 Egyptian revolutionIraqi Intifada (1952)Mau Mau rebellionEast German uprising of 19531953 Iranian coup d'étatPact of MadridBricker Amendment1954 Syrian coup d'étatPetrov AffairDomino theory1954 Geneva Conference1954 Guatemalan coup d'étatCapture of the TuapseFirst Taiwan Strait CrisisJebel Akhdar WarAlgerian WarKashmir PrincessBandung ConferenceGeneva Summit (1955)Vietnam WarCyprus Emergency"On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences"1956 Poznań protestsHungarian Revolution of 1956Polish OctoberSuez Crisis"We will bury you"Operation GladioSyrian Crisis of 1957Sputnik crisisIfni WarIraqi 14 July Revolution1958 Lebanon crisisSecond Taiwan Strait Crisis1959 Mosul uprising1959 Tibetan uprisingLaotian Civil WarKitchen DebateCuban Revolution Consolidation of the Cuban RevolutionSino-Soviet splitNight Frost Crisis

1960s

Congo CrisisSimba rebellion1960 U-2 incidentJohn F. KennedyBay of Pigs Invasion1960 Turkish coup d'étatAlbanian–Soviet split Expulsion of Soviets from AlbaniaIraqi–Kurdish conflict First Iraqi–Kurdish WarBerlin Crisis of 1961Berlin WallAnnexation of GoaPapua conflictIndonesia–Malaysia confrontationSand WarPortuguese Colonial War Angolan War of IndependenceGuinea-Bissau War of IndependenceMozambican War of IndependenceCuban Missile CrisisEl PorteñazoSino-Indian WarCommunist insurgency in SarawakRamadan RevolutionEritrean War of IndependenceNorth Yemen civil war1963 Syrian coup d'étatAssassination of John F. KennedyLyndon B. JohnsonAden EmergencyCyprus crisis of 1963–1964Shifta WarMexican Dirty War Tlatelolco massacreGuatemalan Civil WarColombian conflict1964 Brazilian coup d'étatDominican Civil WarRhodesian Bush WarIndonesian mass killings of 1965–1966Transition to the New Order (Indonesia)ASEAN Declaration1966 Syrian coup d'étatCultural RevolutionArgentine RevolutionSouth African Border WarKorean DMZ Conflict12-3 incidentGreek junta1967 Hong Kong riotsYears of Lead (Italy)Six-Day WarWar of AttritionDhofar WarAl-Wadiah WarNigerian Civil WarProtests of 1968 May 68Prague SpringUSS Pueblo incident1968 Polish political crisisCommunist insurgency in MalaysiaWarsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia17 July Revolution1968 Peruvian coup d'état Revolutionary Government1969 Sudanese coup d'état1969 Libyan revolutionGoulash CommunismSino-Soviet border conflictNew People's Army rebellionNote Crisis

1970s

DétenteNuclear Non-Proliferation TreatyBlack SeptemberAlcora ExerciseCorrective Movement (Syria)Western Sahara conflictCambodian Civil WarCommunist insurgency in Thailand1970 Polish protestsKoza riotRealpolitikPing-pong diplomacy1971 JVP insurrectionCorrective revolution (Egypt)1971 Turkish military memorandum1971 Sudanese coup d'état1971 Bolivian coup d'étatFour Power Agreement on BerlinBangladesh Liberation War1972 visit by Richard Nixon to ChinaNorth Yemen-South Yemen Border conflict of 1972First Yemenite WarMunich massacre1972–1975 Bangladesh insurgencyEritrean Civil Wars1973 Uruguayan coup d'état1973 Afghan coup d'état1973 Chilean coup d'étatYom Kippur War1973 oil crisisCarnation RevolutionSpanish transition to democracyMetapolitefsiStrategic Arms Limitation TalksSecond Iraqi–Kurdish WarTurkish invasion of Cyprus15 August 1975 Bangladeshi coup d'étatSiege of Dhaka (1975)Sipahi-Janata revolutionAngolan Civil WarCambodian genocideJune 1976 protestsMozambican Civil WarOromo conflictOgaden War1978 Somali coup attemptWestern Sahara WarEthiopian Civil WarLebanese Civil WarSino-Albanian splitThird Indochina WarCambodian–Vietnamese WarCambodian conflictOperation CondorDirty War (Argentina)1976 Argentine coup d'étatEgyptian–Libyan WarGerman AutumnKorean Air Lines Flight 902Nicaraguan RevolutionUganda–Tanzania WarNDF RebellionChadian–Libyan WarSecond Yemenite WarGrand Mosque seizureIranian revolutionSaur RevolutionSino-Vietnamese WarNew Jewel Movement1979 Herat uprisingSeven Days to the River RhineStruggle against political abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union

1980s

Salvadoran Civil WarSoviet–Afghan War1980 and 1984 Summer Olympics boycottsGera DemandsPeruvian RevolutionGdańsk Agreement SolidarityEritrean Civil Wars1980 Turkish coup d'étatUgandan Bush WarGulf of Sidra incidentMartial law in PolandCasamance conflictFalklands War1982 Ethiopian–Somali Border WarNdogboyosoi WarUnited States invasion of GrenadaAble Archer 83Star Wars1985 Geneva SummitIran–Iraq WarSomali RebellionReykjavík Summit1986 Black Sea incidentSouth Yemen civil warToyota War1987 Lieyu massacreOperation Denver1987–1989 JVP insurrectionLord's Resistance Army insurgency1988 Black Sea bumping incident8888 UprisingSolidarity (Soviet reaction)ContrasCentral American crisisOperation RYANKorean Air Lines Flight 007People Power RevolutionGlasnostPerestroikaBougainville conflictFirst Nagorno-Karabakh WarAfghan Civil WarUnited States invasion of Panama1988 Polish strikesPolish Round Table Agreement1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacreRevolutions of 1989Fall of the Berlin WallFall of the inner German borderVelvet RevolutionRomanian RevolutionPeaceful Revolution

1990s

Mongolian Revolution of 1990Min Ping Yu No. 5540 incidentGulf WarMin Ping Yu No. 5202German reunificationYemeni unificationFall of communism in AlbaniaBreakup of YugoslaviaDissolution of the Soviet Union 1991 August CoupDissolution of Czechoslovakia

Frozen conflicts

AbkhaziaChina-TaiwanKoreaKosovoSouth OssetiaTransnistriaSino-Indian border disputeNorth Borneo dispute

Foreign policy

Truman DoctrineContainmentEisenhower DoctrineDomino theoryHallstein DoctrineKennedy DoctrinePeaceful coexistenceOstpolitikJohnson DoctrineBrezhnev DoctrineNixon DoctrineUlbricht DoctrineCarter DoctrineReagan DoctrinePaasikivi–Kekkonen doctrineRollbackKinmen Agreement

Ideologies

Capitalism

LiberalismChicago schoolConservatism American conservatismKeynesianismLibertarianismMonetarismNeoclassical economicsReaganomicsSupply-side economicsDemocratic capitalism

Socialism

CommunismMarxism–LeninismCastroismEurocommunismGuevarismHoxhaismJucheHo Chi Minh ThoughtMaoismTrotskyismStalinismTitoism

Other

ImperialismAnti-imperialismNationalismUltranationalismChauvinismEthnic nationalismRacismZionismAnti-ZionismFascismNeo-NazismIslamismTotalitarianismAuthoritarianismAutocracyLiberal democracyIlliberal democracyGuided democracySocial democracyThird-worldismWhite supremacyWhite nationalismWhite separatismApartheidFinlandization

Organizations

NATOSEATOMETOEECWarsaw PactComeconNon-Aligned MovementNN StatesASEANSAARCSafari Club

Propaganda

Pro-communist

Active measuresIzvestiaNeues DeutschlandPravdaRadio MoscowRudé právoTrybuna LuduTASSSoviet Life

Pro-Western

AmerikaCrusade for FreedomPaix et LibertéRadio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Red ScareVoice of America

Technological

competition

Arms raceNuclear arms raceSpace Race

Historians

Gar AlperovitzThomas A. BaileyMichael BeschlossArchie BrownWarren H. CarrollAdrian CioroianuJohn CostelloMichael CoxNicholas J. CullNorman DaviesWillem DreesRobert D. EnglishHerbert FeisRobert Hugh FerrellAndré FontaineAnneli Ute GabanyiJohn Lewis GaddisLloyd GardnerTimothy Garton AshGabriel GorodetskyFred HallidayJussi HanhimäkiJohn Earl HaynesPatrick J. HeardenTvrtko JakovinaTony JudtHarvey KlehrGabriel KolkoWalter LaFeberWalter LaqueurMelvyn P. LefflerGeir LundestadVojtech MastnyJack F. Matlock Jr.Thomas J. McCormickTimothy NaftaliMarius OpreaDavid S. PainterWilliam B. PickettRonald E. PowaskiYakov M. RabkinM. E. SarotteArthur M. Schlesinger Jr.Ellen SchreckerGiles Scott-SmithShen ZhihuaTimothy SnyderAthan TheoharisAndrew ThorpeVladimir TismăneanuPatrick VaughanAlex von TunzelmannOdd Arne WestadWilliam Appleman WilliamsJonathan Reed WinklerRudolph WinnackerKen Young

Espionage and

intelligence

List of Eastern Bloc agents in the United StatesSoviet espionage in the United StatesRussian espionage in the United StatesAmerican espionage in the Soviet Union and Russian FederationCIA and the Cultural Cold WarCIAMI5MI6United States involvement in regime changeSoviet involvement in regime changeMVDKGBStasi

See also

Allied intervention in the Russian Civil WarSoviet Union–United States relationsSoviet Union–United States summitsRussia–NATO relationsWar on terrorBrinkmanshipPax AtomicaSecond Cold WarRussian Revolution

CategoryList of conflictsTimeline

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Cuba Cuba–United States relations United States

Diplomatic posts

Embassy of Cuba, Washington, D.C.Ambassadors of Cuba to the United StatesEmbassy of the United States, HavanaAmbassadors of the United States to CubaUnited States Interests Section in HavanaBureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs

Diplomacy

Cuban–American Treaty of Relations (1903)Hay-Quesada TreatyCuban–American Treaty of Relations (1934)Good Neighbor policyInter-American Treaty of Reciprocal AssistanceEl DiálogoCuba–United States Maritime Boundary AgreementTripartite Accord (1988)Cuban thaw JetBlue Flight 387

Conflicts

Spanish–American War Ostend ManifestoUSS Maine Monument to the Victims of the USS Maine (Havana)United States Senate Committee on Cuban RelationsThe Paquete HabanaArmy of Cuban Occupation MedalPropagandaUnited States Military Government in CubaSecond Occupation of Cuba Cuban Pacification Medal (Army)Banana Wars Negro RebellionSugar InterventionCuban Revolution AftermathLa Coubre explosionCuban exodusCuban exileGolden exileBay of Pigs Invasion Brigade 2506Cuban Democratic Revolutionary FrontCuban Revolutionary CouncilOperation OrtsacPolita GrauJosé Antonio LlamaBay of Pigs MonumentBay of Pigs MuseumOperation Peter PanOperation 40Operation Mongoose JMWAVEOperation NorthwoodsJamaican political conflictUnited States invasion of GrenadaUnited States embargo against Cuba

Incidents

Cubana de Aviación Flight 493Matthew Edward DukeCuban Missile Crisis CrateologyBanco Nacional de Cuba v. SabbatinoZemel v. RuskCuba–United States aircraft hijackings Pan Am Flight 281Trans World Airlines Flight 106Southern Airways Flight 49Cubana de Aviación Flight 455Leyla Express and Johnny Express incidentsMariel boatlift Garcia-Mir v. MeeseCuban boat peopleSandy PollackRegan v. Wald1994 Cuban rafter crisis Operations Safe Haven and Safe PassageBill Gaede1996 shootdown of Brothers to the Rescue aircraftCuban FiveElián GonzálezAna MontesCarlos AlvarezElsa AlvarezKendall MyersAlan GrossHavana syndromeAmerican fugitives in CubaAssassination attempts on Fidel Castro

Legislation

Teller AmendmentPlatt AmendmentCuban Assets Control RegulationsCuban Adjustment Act Wet feet, dry feet policyHelms–Burton ActFreedom to Travel to Cuba ActCuban Democracy ActTrade Sanction Reform and Export Enhancement Act

Related

Americans in CubaCuban Americans Little HavanaCuban migration to MiamiHavana on the HudsonCuban–American lobbyGuantánamo Bay TimelineGuantanamo Bay Naval BaseGuantanamo Bay detention camp1999 Baltimore Orioles–Cuba national baseball team exhibition seriesAlpha 66Antonio Maceo BrigadeBrothers to the RescueBalserosCommission for Assistance to a Free CubaCongressional Cuba Democracy CaucusCoordination of United Revolutionary OrganizationsCuban American National FoundationCuban dissident movementCuban Liberty CouncilCubaOne FoundationCuban PowerDirectorio Revolucionario EstudiantilEngage CubaFair Play for Cuba CommitteeFriends of Democratic CubaHavana JamOmega 7Radio Free DixieRadio y Televisión MartíUS-Cuba Democracy PACVarela ProjectVenceremos BrigadeZunZuneoCuban football players who defected to the United StatesFilibuster (military)NOAAS Oregon II (R 332)Silver certificateTroika of tyrannyCuban Baseball Hall of FameBoquerón, CubaStraits of FloridaThird Border InitiativeState Sponsors of TerrorismUnited States and state-sponsored terrorism Luis Posada CarrilesOrlando BoschCuba–OAS relations United Nations Security Council Resolution 144OverthrowThe Cuba WarsBalseros638 Ways to Kill Castro

 Category:Cuba–United States relations

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John F. Kennedy

35th President of the United States (1961–1963)U.S. Senator from Massachusetts (1953–1960)U.S. Representative for MA–11 (1947–1953)

Presidency

(timeline)

TransitionInaugurationCabinetJudicial appointments Supreme CourtExecutive OrdersPresidential ProclamationsPresidential pardonsPresidential limousinePresidential yachtResolute deskSituation Room

Foreign policy

Alliance for ProgressArms Control and Disarmament Agency Partial Nuclear Test Ban TreatyFlexible responseKennedy DoctrinePeace CorpsTrade Expansion ActMigration and Refugee Assistance ActUSAIDVietnam WarCuba: Bay of Pigs InvasionCuban ProjectCuban Missile Crisis ExCommSoviet Union: Berlin CrisisMoscow–Washington hotlineVienna summit

New Frontier

Communications Satellite ActCommunity Mental Health ActEqual Pay ActExecutive Order 11110Federal affirmative actionFederal housing segregation banFifty-mile hikesFood for PeacePilot Food Stamp ProgramPresidential Medal of FreedomSpace policyStatus of Women (Presidential Commission)University of Alabama integrationVoter Education ProjectAll-Channel Receiver ActOil Pollution Act of 1961Revenue Act of 1962Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act of 1961Wetlands Loan Act

Presidential

speeches

Inaugural addressAmerican University speech"We choose to go to the Moon"Report to the American People on Civil Rights"Ich bin ein Berliner""A rising tide lifts all boats"Remarks at Amherst College on the ArtsState of the Union Address 196119621963

Elections

U.S. House of Representatives elections: 194619481950U.S. Senate elections in Massachusetts: 195219581960 presidential primaries1960 presidential campaignDemocratic National Conventions: 19561960U.S. presidential election 1960 debates

Personal life

Birthplace and childhood homeKennedy CompoundHickory HillLa QueridaWexfordNavy service: PT-109 Biuku Gasa and Eroni KumanaArthur EvansPT-59Castle Hot SpringsHammersmith FarmCoretta Scott King phone call"Happy Birthday, Mr. President"John F. Kennedy document hoax

Books

Why England Slept (1940)Profiles in Courage (1956)A Nation of Immigrants (1958)

Death

Assassination timelinemedia coveragereactionsin popular cultureState funeral Riderless horseattending dignitariesGravesite and Eternal Flame

Legacy

BibliographyJohn F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum Profile in Courage AwardTwenty-fourth AmendmentCivil Rights Act of 1964Apollo 11 Moon landingEqual Employment Opportunity CommissionKennedy Space CenterKennedy RoundU.S. Department of Housing and Urban DevelopmentVISTACultural depictions filmsKennedy half dollarU.S. postage stampsU.S. five cent stampLincoln–Kennedy coincidencesOperation Sail

Memorials,

namesakes

Harvard Kennedy SchoolKennedy Center for the Performing ArtsJohn F. Kennedy Federal Building (Boston)John F. Kennedy International AirportBoston statueBrooklyn bustDallas memorialHyannis memorialLondon bustNashua bustPortland memorialRunnymede memorialJohn F. Kennedy ArboretumJohn F. Kennedy Memorial BridgeJohn F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and SchoolJohn F. Kennedy University (defunct)John F. Kennedy StadiumKennedy ExpresswayMount KennedyMV John F. KennedyUSS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79)Yad KennedyLove Park

Family

Jacqueline Bouvier (wife)Caroline Kennedy (daughter)John F. Kennedy Jr. (son)Patrick Bouvier Kennedy (son)Rose Schlossberg (granddaughter)Tatiana Schlossberg (granddaughter)Jack Schlossberg (grandson)Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. (father)Rose Fitzgerald (mother)Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. (brother)Rosemary Kennedy (sister)Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington (sister)Eunice Kennedy Shriver (sister)Patricia Kennedy Lawford (sister)Robert F. Kennedy (brother)Jean Kennedy Smith (sister)Ted Kennedy (brother)P. J. Kennedy (grandfather)John F. Fitzgerald (grandfather)Pushinka (dog)Billie and Debbie (hamsters)Sardar (horse)

← Dwight D. EisenhowerLyndon B. Johnson →

 Category

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Robert F. Kennedy

November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968

64th United States Attorney General, 1961–1964United States senator from New York, 1965–1968

Life

1948 Palestine visitSenate Committee investigation of Labor and ManagementCuban Missile Crisis ExCommCivil rights Freedom RidersVoter Education ProjectBaldwin–Kennedy meeting1964 Democratic National ConventionBedford Stuyvesant Restoration CorporationMississippi Delta tourKennedy CompoundHickory Hill home

Electoral

1964 U.S. Senate election1968 presidential campaign primariesBoiler Room Girls

Speeches

Law Day Address (1961)Day of Affirmation Address (1966)Conflict in Vietnam and at Home (1968)University of Kansas (1968)Ball State (1968)On the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. (1968)"On the Mindless Menace of Violence" (1968)

Books

The Enemy Within (1960)The Pursuit of Justice (1964)To Seek a Newer World (1967)Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis (1969)

Assassination

Sirhan SirhanAmbassador HotelConspiracy theoriesGravesite

Legacy and

memorials

Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice BuildingRobert F. Kennedy silver dollarRobert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights Human Rights AwardJournalism AwardBook AwardRobert F. Kennedy Memorial StadiumBrooklyn MemorialLandmark for Peace MemorialArch of Dignity, Equality, and JusticeKennedy–King CollegeRobert F. Kennedy Community SchoolsRobert F. Kennedy Bridge

Popular

culture

Robert F. Kennedy in mediaCrisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment (1963 documentary)Robert Kennedy Remembered (1968 documentary)"Abraham, Martin and John" (1968 song)The Missiles of October (1974 docudrama)Kennedy (1983 miniseries)Blood Feud (1983 film)Prince Jack (1985 film)Robert Kennedy and His Times (1985 miniseries)Hoover vs. The Kennedys (1987 miniseries)Thirteen Days (2000 film)RFK (2002 film)Bobby (2006 film)RFK Must Die (2007 documentary)The Kennedys (2011 miniseries)Ethel (2012 documentary)Killing Kennedy (2013 film)Jackie (2016 film)Bobby Kennedy for President (2018 miniseries)

Family,

family tree

Ethel Skakel (wife)Kathleen Kennedy (daughter)Joseph Patrick Kennedy (son)Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (son)Michael LeMoyne Kennedy (son)Kerry Kennedy (daughter)Christopher G. Kennedy (son)Max Kennedy (son)Douglas Harriman Kennedy (son)Rory Kennedy (daughter)Maeve Kennedy McKean (granddaughter)Joseph P. Kennedy III (grandson)Max Kennedy Jr. (grandson)Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. (father)Rose Kennedy (mother)Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. (brother)John F. Kennedy (brotherpresidency)Rosemary Kennedy (sister)Kathleen Kennedy Cavendish (sister)Eunice Kennedy Shriver (sister)Patricia Kennedy Lawford (sister)Jean Kennedy Smith (sister)Ted Kennedy (brother)Patrick J. Kennedy (grandfather)Mary Augusta Kennedy (grandmother)John F. Fitzgerald (grandfather)

 Category

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Che Guevara

Events

Guatemalan CoupCuban Revolution Landing of the GranmaBattle of Alegría de PíoBattle of La Plata (1957)Battle of Santa ClaraConsolidation of the Cuban Revolution La Coubre explosionGuanahacabibes campBay of Pigs InvasionFour Year Plan (Cuba)Cuban Missile CrisisGreat Debate (Cuba)Congo CrisisBolivian Campaign

Ideas

FocoGuerrillerismoNew Man

People

Alberto GranadoHilda GadeaAleida MarchAleida GuevaraRaúl CastroFidel CastroCamilo CienfuegosTamara BunkeSimeon Cuba SarabiaHarry "Pombo" VillegasRégis DebrayFélix RodríguezOrlando BorregoCanek Sánchez GuevaraMario Terán

Books

The Motorcycle DiariesGuerrilla WarfareEpisodes of the Cuban Revolutionary War

Films

The Motorcycle DiariesChe (Part 1 & Part 2)Che!The Hands of Che GuevaraChe: Rise and FallChevolution

Theatre

Che'r Cycle

Iconography

Guerrillero Heroico photoLegacyIn popular cultureIn fashionMausoleumAlberto KordaJim Fitzpatrick

Comics

Vida del Che

 Category

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Fidel Castro

Timeline

Early lifeParticipation in Cuban Revolution Attack on the Moncada Barracks"History Will Absolve Me"26th of July MovementLanding of the GranmaTriumph of the RevolutionPolitical career Revolution first, elections laterAgrarian reformsBay of Pigs InvasionP.M. affairEscalante affairCuban Missile CrisisMachurucuto raidRevolutionary OffensiveIntervention in AngolaBattle of IdeasTransfer of dutiesDeath and state funeral

Family

Ángel Castro y Argiz (father)Ramón Castro Ruz (brother)Raúl Castro (brother)Juanita Castro (sister)Mirta Díaz-Balart (wife)Natalia Revuelta Clews (lover)Vilma Espín (sister-in-law)Alina Fernández (daughter)Fidel Castro Díaz-Balart (son)Mariela Castro (niece)Alejandro Castro Espín (nephew)

Popular culture

Films

Fidel: The Untold Story (2001)Fidel (2002)Comandante (2003)Looking for Fidel (2004)638 Ways to Kill Castro (2006)

Other

Guerrilla War (1987)The Real Fidel Castro (2003)Fidel Castro Handbook (2006)Castro's Beard (2006)The Cuba Wars (2008)

Other

Assassination attempts Robert MaheuAwards and honoursBiránEponymous thingsPoliticsReligious viewsRelationship with dairyMy LifeGranma (yacht)

vte

United States intervention in Latin America

Policy

Monroe Doctrine (1823)Platt Amendment (1901–1934)Roosevelt Corollary/Big stick ideology (1904)Dollar diplomacy (1909–1913)Good Neighbor policy (1933)Banana Wars

Wars

Mexican–American War (1846–1848)Spanish–American War (1898)Mexican Border War (1910–1919)United States involvement in the Mexican Revolution (1916–1919)

Overt actions

and occupations

First occupation of Cuba (1898–1902)Separation of Panama from Colombia and Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty (1903)Second occupation of Cuba (1906–1909)United States occupation of Nicaragua (1912–1933)United States occupation of Veracruz (1914)United States occupation of Haiti (1915–1934)United States occupation of the Dominican Republic (1916–1924)Sugar Intervention (1917–1922)Operation Power Pack (1965–1966)United States invasion of Panama (1989–1990)Operation Uphold Democracy (1994–1995)

Covert actions

Operation PBFortune (1952)1954 Guatemalan coup d'étatOperation PBHistory (1954)Bay of Pigs Invasion (1961)Operation Mongoose (1961)1964 Brazilian coup d'état and Operation Brother SamProject FUBELT (1970)1971 Bolivian coup d'état1973 Chilean coup d'étatBanzer Plan (1975)Operation Condor (1975–1983)Operation Charly (1977)

Other

United States involvement in regime change in Latin AmericaContras (1979–1990)Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)Nicaragua's case against the United States (1986)

Foreign policy of the United StatesLatin America–United States relations History

vte

History of the United States

TimelineOutline

Events

Pre-Colonial

PrehistoricPre-Columbian Era

Colonial

Exploration of North AmericaEuropean colonizationNative American epidemicsSettlement of JamestownThirteen ColoniesAtlantic slave tradeKing William's WarQueen Anne's WarDummer's WarFirst Great AwakeningWar of Jenkins' EarKing George's WarPrelude to Revolution American EnlightenmentFrench and Indian WarProclamation of 1763Sugar ActStamp Act CongressSons of LibertyBoston MassacreBoston Tea PartyIntolerable ActsFirst Continental CongressContinental Association

1776–1789

American Revolution WarSecond Continental CongressLee ResolutionDeclaration of IndependenceTreaty of ParisConfederation period Articles of Confederation and Perpetual UnionPennsylvania MutinyShays' RebellionNorthwest OrdinanceDrafting and ratification of the Constitution

1789–1815

Bill of RightsFederalist Era Whiskey RebellionQuasi-WarJeffersonian era Louisiana PurchaseWar of 1812

1815–1849

Era of Good Feelings Missouri CompromiseMonroe DoctrineJacksonian era Trail of TearsNat Turner's slave rebellionNullification crisisWestward expansionMexican–American WarSeneca Falls ConventionFirst Industrial RevolutionSecond Great Awakening

1849–1865

Antebellum EraCalifornia Gold RushGreater ReconstructionPrelude to War Compromise of 1850Fugitive Slave ActKansas–Nebraska Act Bleeding KansasDred Scott decisionElection of LincolnSecessionCivil War Emancipation ProclamationAssassination of Abraham Lincoln

1865–1917

Reconstruction era AmendmentsFirst transcontinental railroadKu Klux KlanEnforcement ActsCompromise of 1877Second Industrial RevolutionGilded Age The Gospel of WealthAssassination of James A. GarfieldChinese Exclusion ActPendleton Civil Service Reform ActHaymarket affairSherman Antitrust ActProgressive Era Spanish–American WarImperialismAssassination of William McKinleySquare DealNadir of American race relations

1917–1945

World War I Paris Peace ConferenceFirst Red ScareRoaring Twenties ProhibitionWomen's suffrageTulsa race massacreSecond KlanBath School disasterHarlem RenaissanceGreat Depression Wall Street crash of 1929Dust BowlNew DealWorld War II Pearl Harborhome frontManhattan Project Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

1945–1964

Strike wave of 1945–1946Start of Cold War Truman DoctrineEarly Cold War North Atlantic TreatyKorean WarIvy MikeMcCarthyismPost-war boomProject MercuryCivil Rights MovementEarly–mid Cold War Cuban Missile CrisisAssassination of John F. Kennedy

1964–1980

Great SocietySpace Race Project GeminiApollo programMid Cold War DétenteVietnam WarFall of SaigonAssassination of Martin Luther King Jr.CountercultureSecond-wave feminismGay liberation Stonewall riotsWatergate scandalPardon of Richard NixonIran hostage crisisMoral Majority

1980–1991

Reagan era ReaganomicsIran–Contra affairCrack epidemicLate Cold War Invasion of GrenadaReagan DoctrineEnd of the Cold WarSpace Shuttle programWar on drugsInvasion of Panama

1991–2016

Gulf WarNAFTALos Angeles riotsWTC bombingWaco siegeRepublican RevolutionOklahoma City bombingColumbineBush v. GoreSeptember 11 attacksWar on terror War in AfghanistanIraq WarHurricane KatrinaVirginia Tech shootingGreat RecessionKilling of Osama bin LadenRise in mass shootings TucsonAuroraSandy HookOrlandoBlack Lives MatterObergefell v. Hodges

2016–present

Unite the Right rallyContinued rise in mass shootings Las VegasParklandEl PasoUvaldeCOVID-19 pandemic recessionGeorge Floyd protestsJanuary 6 insurrectionAfghanistan withdrawalDobbs v. Jackson Women's Health OrganizationSupport of UkraineIndictments of Donald Trump

Topics

American CenturyAntisemitismCultural CinemaMusicNewspapersSportsDemography ImmigrationEconomy BankingEducation Higher educationFlagGovernment AbortionCapital punishmentCivil RightsCorruptionThe ConstitutionDebt ceilingDirect democracyForeign policyLaw enforcementPostal serviceTaxationVoting rightsJournalismMerchant MarineMilitary ArmyMarine CorpsNavyAir ForceSpace ForceCoast GuardParty Systems FirstSecondThirdFourthFifthSixthReligionGenocideSlavery Sexual slaveryTechnology and industry AgricultureLaborLumberMedicineRailway

Groups

African AmericanAsian American Chinese AmericanFilipino AmericanIndian AmericanJapanese AmericanKorean AmericanThai AmericanVietnamese AmericanEuropean American Albanian AmericanEnglish AmericanEstonian AmericanFinnish AmericanIrish AmericanItalian AmericanLithuanian AmericanPolish AmericanSerbian AmericanHispanic and Latino American Mexican AmericanJewish AmericanMiddle Eastern American Egyptian AmericanIranian AmericanIraqi AmericanLebanese AmericanPalestinian AmericanSaudi AmericanNative Americans CherokeeComancheWomenLGBTQ Gay menLesbiansTransgender people

Places

Territorial evolution

Admission to the UnionHistorical regionsAmerican frontierManifest destinyIndian removal

Regions

New EnglandThe SouthThe West Coast

States

AlabamaAlaskaArizonaArkansasCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutDelawareFloridaGeorgiaHawaiiIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyLouisianaMaineMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaMississippiMissouriMontanaNebraskaNevadaNew HampshireNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaOhioOklahomaOregonPennsylvaniaRhode IslandSouth CarolinaSouth DakotaTennesseeTexasUtahVermontVirginiaWashingtonWest VirginiaWisconsinWyoming

Federal District

Washington, D.C.

Insular areas

American SamoaGuamNorthern Mariana IslandsPuerto Rico U.S. Virgin Islands

Outlying islands

Baker IslandHowland IslandJarvis IslandJohnston AtollKingman ReefMidway AtollNavassa IslandPalmyra AtollWake Island

Cities

Urban history Cities

List of yearsHistoriography Category Portal

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Soviet Union topics

Bibliography of the Russian Revolution and Civil WarBibliography of Stalinism and the Soviet UnionBibliography of the Post Stalinist Soviet Union

History

Index of Soviet Union–related articlesOutlineRussian Revolution FebruaryOctoberRussian Civil WarRussian SFSRCreation treatyNew Economic PolicyStalinismGreat PurgeGreat Patriotic War (World War II) EvacuationThe HolocaustCold WarKhrushchev ThawSino-Soviet splitSoviet space programCaribbean CrisisStagnationSoviet–Afghan WarPerestroikaGlasnostChernobyl disasterRevolutions of 1989August CoupDissolutionTransition period and cessation of the existenceSuccession, continuity and legacyPost-Soviet statesNostalgia

Geography

Subdivisions

Republics AutonomousKraisOblasts AutonomousAutonomous okrugsClosed city

Regions

Caspian SeaCaucasus MountainsEuropean RussiaNorth CaucasusSiberiaUral MountainsWest Siberian Plain

Politics

General

ConscriptionConstitution 192419361977ElectionsForeign relations Brezhnev DoctrineGun controlGovernment ListMinistriesState CommitteesHuman rights LGBTLawCapital punishmentLeaders Collective leadershipNational delimitationPassport systemPropiskaPolitical partiesState ideology Marxism–LeninismLeninismStalinismSoviet anti-Zionism

Bodies

Communist Party organisationCongressCentral Committee Presidium/PolitburoSecretariatGeneral SecretaryCongress of Soviets (1922–1936)Supreme Soviet (1938–1991)Congress of People's Deputies (1989–1991)Supreme Court Military CollegiumAll-Union Central Council of Trade UnionsCreative unions

Offices

Heads of state PresidentPremierDeputy PremierFirst Deputy Premier

Security services

ChekaGPUNKVD Destruction battalionsMVD MilitsiyaMGBKGB ChairmenSoviet Border TroopsSoviet Armed Forces Soviet Army/Spetsnaz GRU • Soviet Navy • Soviet Air Forces/Soviet Airborne Forces

Political repression

Red TerrorCollectivizationGreat PurgePopulation transferForced laborForeign forced laborGulag ListHolodomorPolitical abuse of psychiatry Anti-abuse struggle

Ideological repression

Persecution of Christians Eastern CatholicsScienceCensorshipCensorship of images

Economy

AgricultureBanking Central BankState Labor Savings Banks SystemEconomic planningEnergy policyEnterprisesFive-year plansIndustrializationInternet domainInventionsNet material productOGASEconomic reforms 1956–1962 Wage reform1957196519731979Rouble (currency)Monetary reforms 194719611991Automotive industryConstruction

Transport

Ministry of RailwaysRailway systemRail transportRailway electrificationList of metro systemsVehicle registration plates

Science

Communist AcademyCyberneticsAcademy of SciencesAcademy of Medical SciencesLenin All-Union Academy of Agricultural SciencesSharashkasNaukograds List

Society

AntisemitismCrimeDemographics Soviet peopleWorking class1989 censusDrug policyEthnic conflictsFamilyLanguages LinguisticsCyrillisationProhibitionRacism

Culture

BalletCinemaFashionLiteratureMusic OperaPhraseologyPrinted mediaPropagandaPublishing housesRadioReligion IslamSportsStalinist architectureTelevision

Opposition

Anti-Soviet agitationSoviet dissidents and their groups List

Symbols

Anthem RepublicsEmblem RepublicsFlag RepublicsHammer and sickle

flag Soviet Union portal Category

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Armed conflicts involving Cuba

External and

international

Ten Years' WarCuban War of IndependenceSpanish–American WarWorld War IWorld War II1952 Cuban coup d'étatCuban RevolutionEscambray rebellionCongo CrisisBay of Pigs InvasionSand WarCuban Missile CrisisVietnam WarÑancahuazú GuerrillaEritrean War of IndependenceSouth African Border WarYom Kippur WarEthiopian Civil WarAngolan Civil War interventionOgaden WarNicaraguan Revolution interventionSalvadoran Civil WarUnited States invasion of Grenada

Related articles

Military historyForeign interventionsMilitary internationalismFAR MINFARCold WarSphere of influence

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NARA

Categories: Cuban Missile CrisisAftermath of the Cuban RevolutionCold War conflictsConflicts in 19621962 in international relationsCold War history of CubaCold War history of the Soviet UnionCold War history of the United States1962 in Cuba1962 in the Soviet Union1962 in the United StatesBlockadesCold War military history of CubaHistory of Key West, FloridaNuclear history of the Soviet UnionNuclear history of the United StatesFidel CastroNikita KhrushchevPresidency of John F. KennedyCuba–Soviet Union relationsCuba–United States relationsSoviet Union–United States military relations1962 establishments in Cuba1962 disestablishments in Cuba1960s in Cuba1960s in the Soviet Union1960s in the United StatesOctober 1962 in North AmericaPolitical crisis

Cuba

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Republic of Cuba" redirects here. For the historical period of the first republic, see Republic of Cuba (1902–1959). For other uses, see Cuba (disambiguation).

Republic of Cuba

República de Cuba (Spanish)

Flag of Cuba

Flag

A shield in front of a Fasces crowned by the Phrygian Cap, all supported by an oak branch and a laurel wreath

Coat of arms

Motto: Patria o Muerte, Venceremos

("Homeland or Death, We Shall Overcome!")[1]

Anthem: La Bayamesa

("The Bayamo Song")[2]

Duration: 53 seconds.0:53

Cuba, shown in dark green

Cuba, shown in dark green

Capital

and largest city

23°8′N 82°23′W

Official languages Spanish

Ethnic groups (2012)[a][3]

    64.12% White

    26.62% Mixed

    9.26% Afro-Cuban

Religion (2020)[4]

    58.9% Christianity

    23.2% no religion

    17.6% folk religions

    0.3% other

Demonym(s) Cuban

Government Unitary Marxist–Leninist one-party socialist republic[5][6]

• First Secretary and President[b]

• Vice President

• Prime Minister

• President of the National Assembly

Legislature National Assembly of People's Power

Independence from Spain and the United States

• Declaration of Independence

• War of Independence

• Recognized (Handed over to the United States from Spain)

• Republic declared (Independence from the United States)

• Cuban Revolution

• Current constitution

Area

• Total

• Water (%)

Population

• 2024 estimate

• 2022 census

• Density

GDP (PPP) 2015 estimate

• Total

• Per capita

GDP (nominal) 2023 estimate

• Total

• Per capita

Gini (2000) 38.0[14]

medium inequality

HDI (2023) Decrease 0.762[15]

high (97th)

Currency Cuban peso (CUP)

Time zone UTC−5 (CST)

• Summer (DST)

Calling code +53

ISO 3166 code CU

Internet TLD .cu

Data represents racial self-identification from Cuba's 2012 national census.

    The most powerful political position is First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, not President. The first secretary controls the Politburo and the Secretariat, Cuba's top decision-making bodies, making the officeholder de facto leader of Cuba.

Cuba,[a] officially the Republic of Cuba,[b] is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the northern Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and Atlantic Ocean meet. Cuba is located east of the Yucatán Peninsula (Mexico), south of both Florida and the Bahamas, west of Hispaniola (Haiti/Dominican Republic), and north of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Havana is the largest city and capital. Cuba is the third-most populous country in the Caribbean after Haiti and the Dominican Republic, with about 10 million inhabitants. It is the largest country in the Caribbean by area.

The territory that is now Cuba was inhabited as early as the 4th millennium BC, with the Guanahatabey and Taíno peoples inhabiting the area at the time of Spanish colonization in the 15th century. It was then a colony of Spain, through the abolition of slavery in 1886, until the Spanish–American War of 1898, when Cuba was occupied by the United States and gained independence in 1902. In 1940, Cuba implemented a new constitution, but mounting political unrest culminated in the 1952 Cuban coup d'état and the subsequent dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. The Batista government was overthrown in January 1959 by the 26th of July Movement during the Cuban Revolution. That revolution established communist rule under the leadership of Fidel Castro. The country was a point of contention during the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, and the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 is widely considered the closest the Cold War came to escalating into nuclear war. During the 1970s, Fidel Castro dispatched tens of thousands of troops in support of Marxist governments in Africa. According to a CIA declassified report, Cuba received $33 billion in Soviet aid by 1984. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Cuba faced a severe economic downturn in the 1990s, known as the Special Period. In 2008, Fidel Castro retired after 49 years; Raúl Castro was elected his successor. Raúl Castro retired as president of the Council of State in 2018 and Miguel Díaz-Canel was elected president by the National Assembly following parliamentary elections. Raúl Castro retired as First Secretary of the Communist Party in 2021 and Díaz-Canel was elected.

Cuba is a socialist state, in which the role of the Communist Party is enshrined in the Constitution. Cuba has an authoritarian government where political opposition is not permitted.[16][17] Censorship is extensive and independent journalism is repressed;[18][19][20] Reporters Without Borders has characterized Cuba as one of the worst countries for press freedom.[21][20] Culturally, Cuba is considered part of Latin America.[22] Cuba is a founding member of the United Nations, G77, Non-Aligned Movement, Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States, ALBA, and Organization of American States. It has one of the world's few planned economies, and its economy is dominated by tourism and the exports of skilled labor, sugar, tobacco, and coffee. Cuba has historically—before and during communist rule—performed better than other countries in the region on several socioeconomic indicators, such as literacy,[23][24] infant mortality and life expectancy. Cuba has a universal health care system which provides free medical treatment to all Cuban citizens,[25][26] although challenges include low salaries for doctors, poor facilities, poor provision of equipment, and the frequent absence of essential drugs.[27][28] A 2023 study by the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH), estimated 88% of the population is living in extreme poverty.[29] The traditional diet is of international concern due to micronutrient deficiencies and lack of diversity. As highlighted by the World Food Programme (WFP) of the United Nations, rationed food meets only a fraction of daily nutritional needs for many Cubans, leading to health issues.[30] Since 1960, the U.S. embargo on Cuba stands as one of the longest-running trade and economic measures in bilateral relations in history, having endured for almost six decades. [31]

Etymology

Historians believe the name Cuba comes from the Taíno language; however, "its exact derivation [is] unknown".[32] The exact meaning of the name is unclear, but it may be translated either as 'where fertile land is abundant' (cubao),[33] or 'great place' (coabana).

History

Main articles: History of Cuba and Timeline of Cuban history

Pre-Columbian era

Humans first settled Cuba around 6,000 years ago, descending from migrations from northern South America or Central America.[34] The arrival of humans on Cuba is associated with extinctions of the islands native fauna, particularly its endemic sloths.[35] The Arawakan-speaking ancestors of the Taíno people arrived in the Caribbean in a separate migration from South America around 1,700 years ago. Unlike the previous settlers of Cuba, the Taíno extensively produced pottery and engaged in intensive agriculture.[34] The earliest evidence of the Taíno people on Cuba dates to the 9th century AD.[36] Descendants of the first settlers of Cuba persisted on the western part of the island until Columbian contact, where they were recorded as the Guanahatabey people, who lived a hunter-gatherer lifestyle.[37][34]

Spanish colonization and rule (1492–1898)

Main articles: Governorate of Cuba and Captaincy General of Cuba

After first landing on an island then called Guanahani on 12 October 1492,[38] Christopher Columbus landed on Cuba on 27 October 1492, and landing in the northeastern coast on 28 October.[39] Columbus claimed the island for the new Kingdom of Spain[40] and named it Isla Juana ("John's Island") after John, Prince of Asturias.[41]

Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, conquistador of Cuba

In 1511, the first Spanish settlement was founded by Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar at Baracoa. Other settlements soon followed, including San Cristobal de la Habana, founded in 1514 (southern coast of the island) and then in 1519 (current place), which later became the capital (1607). The Indigenous Taíno were forced to work under the encomienda system,[42] which resembled the feudal system in medieval Europe.[43] Within a century, the Indigenous people faced high incidence of mortality due to multiple factors, primarily Eurasian infectious diseases, to which they had no natural resistance (immunity), aggravated by the harsh conditions of the repressive colonial subjugation.[44] In 1529, a measles outbreak killed two-thirds of those few Natives who had previously survived smallpox.[45][46]

On 18 May 1539, conquistador Hernando de Soto departed from Havana with some 600 followers into a vast expedition through the American Southeast, in search of gold, treasure, fame and power.[47] On 1 September 1548, Gonzalo Perez de Angulo was appointed governor of Cuba. He arrived in Santiago, Cuba, on 4 November 1549, and immediately declared the liberty of all Natives.[48] He became Cuba's first permanent governor to reside in Havana instead of Santiago, and he built Havana's first church made of masonry.[49][c]

A map of Cuba, c. 1680

By 1570, most residents of Cuba comprised a mixture of Spanish, African, and Taíno heritages.[51] Cuba developed slowly and, unlike the plantation islands of the Caribbean, had a diversified agriculture. Most importantly, the colony developed as an urbanized society that primarily supported the Spanish colonial empire. By the mid-18th century, there were 50,000 slaves on the island. Estimates suggest that between 1790 and 1820 some 325,000 Africans were imported to Cuba as slaves, which was four times the amount that had arrived between 1760 and 1790.[52]

In 1812, the Aponte Slave Rebellion took place, but it was ultimately suppressed.[53] The population of Cuba in 1817 was 630,980 (of which 291,021 were white, 115,691 were free people of color (mixed-race), and 224,268 black slaves).[54]

In part due to Cuban slaves working primarily in urbanized settings, by the 19th century, the practice of coartacion had developed (or "buying oneself out of slavery", a "uniquely Cuban development"), according to historian Herbert S. Klein.[55] Due to a shortage of white labor, blacks dominated urban industries "to such an extent that when whites in large numbers came to Cuba in the middle of the nineteenth century, they were unable to displace Negro workers."[56] A system of diversified agriculture, with small farms and fewer slaves, served to supply the cities with produce and other goods.[56]

In the 1820s, when the rest of Spain's empire in Latin America rebelled and formed independent states, Cuba remained loyal to Spain. Its economy was based on serving the empire. By 1860, Cuba had 213,167 free people of color (39% of its non-white population of 550,000).[56]

Independence movements

Main article: Republic of Cuba in Arms

Carlos Manuel de Céspedes is known as Father of the Homeland in Cuba, having declared its independence from Spain in 1868.

Full independence from Spain was the goal of a rebellion in 1868 led by planter Carlos Manuel de Céspedes. De Céspedes, a sugar planter, freed his slaves to fight with him for an independent Cuba.[57] On 27 December 1868, he issued a decree condemning slavery in theory but accepting it in practice and declaring free any slaves whose masters present them for military service.[58] The 1868 rebellion resulted in a prolonged conflict known as the Ten Years' War.[57][59] The Cuban rebels were joined by former Dominican colonial officers and volunteers from Canada, Colombia, France, Mexico, the United States, and Chinese indentured servants,[d] but lacked support from wealthy planters and the majority of slaves.[51]

Calixto García, a general of Cuban separatist rebels (right) with U.S. Brigadier General William Ludlow (Cuba, 1898)

The United States declined to recognize the new Cuban government, although many European and Latin American nations did so.[62] In 1878, the Pact of Zanjón ended the conflict, with Spain promising greater autonomy to Cuba. In 1879–80, Cuban patriot Calixto García attempted to start another war known as the Little War but failed to receive enough support.[63][64][65][66]Slavery in Cuba was abolished in 1875 but the process was completed only in 1886.[67][68] An exiled dissident named José Martí founded the Cuban Revolutionary Party in New York City in 1892. The aim of the party was to achieve Cuban independence from Spain.[69] In January 1895, Martí traveled to Monte Cristi and Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic to join the efforts of Máximo Gómez.[69] Martí recorded his political views in the Manifesto of Montecristi.[70] Fighting against the Spanish army began in Cuba on 24 February 1895, but Martí was unable to reach Cuba until 11 April 1895.[69] Martí was killed in the Battle of Dos Rios on 19 May 1895.[69] His death immortalized him as Cuba's national hero.[70]

Cuban victims of Spanish reconcentration policies

Around 200,000 Spanish troops outnumbered the much smaller rebel army, which relied mostly on guerrilla and sabotage tactics. The Spaniards began a campaign of suppression. General Valeriano Weyler, the military governor of Cuba, herded the rural population into what he called reconcentrados, described by international observers as "fortified towns". These are often considered the prototype for 20th-century concentration camps.[71] Between 200,000[72] and 400,000 Cuban civilians died from starvation and disease in the Spanish concentration camps, numbers verified by the Red Cross and United States Senator Redfield Proctor, a former Secretary of War. American and European protests against Spanish conduct on the island followed.[73][74]

The U.S. battleship USS Maine was sent to protect American interests, but soon after arrival, it exploded in Havana harbor and sank quickly, killing nearly three-quarters of the crew. The cause and responsibility for the sinking of the ship remained unclear after a board of inquiry. Popular opinion in the U.S., fueled by active yellow press, concluded that the Spanish were to blame and demanded action.[75] Spain and the United States declared war on each other in late April 1898.[76][77][78]

Republic (1902–1959)

Main article: Republican period (Cuba)

First years (1902–1925)

Raising the Cuban flag on the Governor General's Palace at noon on 20 May 1902

After the Spanish–American War, Spain and the United States signed the Treaty of Paris (1898), by which Spain ceded Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam to the United States for the sum of US$20 million[79] and Cuba became a protectorate of the United States. Cuba gained formal independence from the U.S. on 20 May 1902, as the Republic of Cuba.[80] Under Cuba's new constitution, the U.S. retained the right to intervene in Cuban affairs and to supervise its finances and foreign relations. Under the Platt Amendment, the U.S. leased the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base from Cuba.

Following disputed elections in 1906, the first president, Tomás Estrada Palma, faced an armed revolt by independence war veterans who defeated the meager government forces.[81] The U.S. intervened by occupying Cuba and named Charles Edward Magoon as Governor for three years. Cuban historians have characterized Magoon's governorship as having introduced political and social corruption.[82] In 1908, self-government was restored when José Miguel Gómez was elected president, but the U.S. continued intervening in Cuban affairs. In 1912, the Partido Independiente de Color attempted to establish a separate black republic in Oriente Province,[83] but was suppressed by General Monteagudo with considerable bloodshed.

In 1924, Gerardo Machado was elected president.[84] During his administration, tourism increased markedly, and American-owned hotels and restaurants were built to accommodate the influx of tourists.[84] The tourist boom led to increases in gambling and prostitution in Cuba.[84] The Wall Street crash of 1929 led to a collapse in the price of sugar, political unrest, and repression.[85] Protesting students, known as the Generation of 1930, turned to violence in opposition to the increasingly unpopular Machado.[85] A general strike (in which the Communist Party sided with Machado),[86] uprisings among sugar workers, and an army revolt forced Machado into exile in August 1933. He was replaced by Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y Quesada.[85]

Revolution of 1933–1940

Main article: Cuban Revolution of 1933

The Pentarchy of 1933. Fulgencio Batista, who controlled the armed forces, appears at far right

In September 1933, the Sergeants' Revolt, led by Sergeant Fulgencio Batista, overthrew Céspedes.[87] A five-member executive committee (the Pentarchy of 1933) was chosen to head a provisional government.[88] Ramón Grau San Martín was then appointed as provisional president.[88] Grau resigned in 1934, leaving the way clear for Batista, who dominated Cuban politics for the next 25 years, at first through a series of puppet-presidents.[87] The period from 1933 to 1937 was a time of "virtually unremitting social and political warfare".[89] On balance, during the period 1933–1940 Cuba suffered from fragile political structures, reflected in the fact that it saw three different presidents in two years (1935–1936), and in the militaristic and repressive policies of Batista as Head of the Army.

Constitution of 1940

Main article: 1940 Constitution of Cuba

A new constitution was adopted in 1940, which engineered radical progressive ideas, including the right to labor and health care.[90] Batista was elected president in the same year, holding the post until 1944.[91] He is so far the only non-white Cuban to win the nation's highest political office.[92][93][94] His government carried out major social reforms. Several members of the Communist Party held office under his administration.[95] Cuban armed forces were not greatly involved in combat during World War II—though president Batista did suggest a joint U.S.-Latin American assault on Francoist Spain to overthrow its authoritarian regime.[96] Cuba lost six merchant ships during the war, and the Cuban Navy was credited with sinking the German submarine U-176.[97]

Batista adhered to the 1940 constitution's strictures preventing his re-election.[98] Ramon Grau San Martin was the winner of the next election, in 1944.[91] Grau further corroded the base of the already teetering legitimacy of the Cuban political system, in particular by undermining the deeply flawed, though not entirely ineffectual, Congress and Supreme Court.[99] Carlos Prío Socarrás, a protégé of Grau, became president in 1948.[91] The two terms of the Auténtico Party brought an influx of investment, which fueled an economic boom, raised living standards for all segments of society, and created a middle class in most urban areas.[100]

Batista regime

Main articles: 1952 Cuban coup d'état and Cuban Revolution

Slum (bohío) dwellings in Havana, Cuba in 1954, just outside Havana baseball stadium. In the background is advertising for a nearby casino.

After finishing his term in 1944 Batista lived in Florida, returning to Cuba to run for president in 1952. Facing certain electoral defeat, he led a military coup that preempted the election.[101] Back in power, and receiving financial, military, and logistical support from the United States government, Batista suspended the 1940 Constitution and revoked most political liberties, including the right to strike. He then aligned with the wealthiest landowners who owned the largest sugar plantations, and presided over a stagnating economy that widened the gap between rich and poor Cubans.[102] Batista outlawed the Cuban Communist Party in 1952.[103] After the coup, Cuba had Latin America's highest per capita consumption rates of meat, vegetables, cereals, automobiles, telephones and radios, though about one-third of the population was considered poor and enjoyed relatively little of this consumption.[104] However, in his "History Will Absolve Me" speech, Fidel Castro mentioned that national issues relating to land, industrialization, housing, unemployment, education, and health were contemporary problems.[105]

In 1958, Cuba was a well-advanced country in comparison to other Latin American regions.[106] Cuba was also affected by perhaps the largest labor union privileges in Latin America, including bans on dismissals and mechanization. They were obtained in large measure "at the cost of the unemployed and the peasants", leading to disparities.[107] Between 1933 and 1958, Cuba extended economic regulations enormously, causing economic problems.[92][108] Unemployment became a problem as graduates entering the workforce could not find jobs.[92] The middle class, which was comparable to that of the United States[how?], became increasingly dissatisfied with unemployment and political persecution. The labor unions, manipulated by the previous government since 1948 through union "yellowness", supported Batista until the very end.[92][93] Batista stayed in power until he resigned in December 1958 under the pressure of the US Embassy and as the revolutionary forces headed by Fidel Castro were winning militarily (Santa Clara city, a strategic point in the middle of the country, fell into the rebels hands on 31 December, in a conflict known as the Battle of Santa Clara).[109][110]

In the 1950s, various organizations, including some advocating armed uprising, competed for public support in bringing about political change.[111] In 1956, Fidel Castro and about 80 supporters landed from the yacht Granma in an attempt to start a rebellion against the Batista government.[111] In 1958, Castro's July 26th Movement emerged as the leading revolutionary group.[111] The U.S. supported Castro by imposing a 1958 arms embargo against Batista's government. Batista evaded the American embargo and acquired weapons from the Dominican Republic.

By late 1958, the rebels had broken out of the Sierra Maestra and launched a general popular insurrection. After Castro's fighters captured Santa Clara, Batista fled with his family to the Dominican Republic on 1 January 1959. Later he went into exile on the Portuguese island of Madeira and finally settled in Estoril, near Lisbon. Fidel Castro's forces entered the capital on 8 January 1959. The liberal Manuel Urrutia Lleó became the provisional president.[112]

Before the revolution, U.S. and other foreign investors dominated the Cuban economy, controlling 75% of arable land, 90% of essential services, and 40% of sugar production.[51] One of the goals of Castro's revolution was to achieve economic independence, but Cuba instead became heavily dependent on Soviet subsidies, with additional economic aid provided by Eastern European countries through COMECON.[113]

Militant anti-Castro groups, funded by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Rafael Trujillo, carried out armed attacks and set up guerrilla bases in Cuba's mountainous regions. This led to the unsuccessful Escambray rebellion (1959–65), which lasted longer and involved more soldiers than the Cuban Revolution.[114][115]

Revolutionary government (1959–present)

Consolidation and nationalization (1959–1970)

Main articles: Consolidation of the Cuban Revolution and Revolutionary Offensive

Che Guevara and Fidel Castro, photographed by Alberto Korda in 1961

According to Amnesty International, official death sentences from 1959 to 1987 numbered 237 of which all but 21 were carried out.[116] The vast majority of those executed directly following the 1959 Revolution were policemen, politicians, and informers of the Batista regime accused of crimes such as torture and murder, and their public trials and executions had widespread popular support among the Cuban population.[117]

The United States government initially reacted favorably to the Cuban Revolution, seeing it as part of a movement to bring democracy to Latin America.[118] Castro's legalization of the Communist Party and the hundreds of executions of Batista agents, policemen, and soldiers that followed caused a deterioration in the relationship between the two countries.[118] The promulgation of the Agrarian Reform Law, expropriating thousands of acres of farmland (including from large U.S. landholders), further worsened relations.[118][119] In response, between 1960 and 1964 the U.S. imposed a range of sanctions, eventually including a total ban on trade between the countries and a freeze on all Cuban-owned assets in the U.S.[120] In February 1960, Castro signed a commercial agreement with Soviet Vice-Premier Anastas Mikoyan.[118]

Brigade 2506 prisoners, 1961

In March 1960, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave his approval to a CIA plan to arm and train a group of Cuban refugees to overthrow the Castro government. The CIA provided B-26 light bombers and ships to the rebels for the invasion. On 15 April 1961 at dawn, Brigade 2506 flew from Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, and carried out preemptive airstrikes on Cuban military airfields at San Antonio de Los Baños, Ciudad Libertad, Pinar del Río, and Santiago de Cuba, destroying five aircraft and damaging an indeterminable number.[121] The invasion (known as the Bay of Pigs Invasion) took place on 17 April 1961, during the term of President John F. Kennedy.[119] About 1,400 Cuban exiles disembarked at the Bay of Pigs. Cuban troops and local militias defeated the invasion by 19 April, killing over 100 invaders and taking the remainder prisoner.[119] Five rebel B-26s were shot down by the Cuban air force, and one was downed by anti-aircraft fire.[122] In January 1962, Cuba was suspended from the Organization of American States (OAS), and later the same year the OAS started to impose sanctions against Cuba of similar nature to the U.S. sanctions.[123] The failed amphibious assault on Cuba contributed to the Soviet decision to deploy R-12 missiles there,[124] and the ensuing Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 almost sparked World War III.[125][126] In 1962, American generals proposed Operation Northwoods which would entail committing terrorist attacks in American cities and against refugees and falsely blaming the attacks on the Cuban government, manufacturing a reason for the United States to invade Cuba. This plan was rejected by President Kennedy.[127] By 1963, Cuba was moving towards a full-fledged communist state system modeled on the USSR.[128]

Eloy Gutiérrez Menoyo founded the anti-Castro group Alpha 66 in the early 1960s, which used small craft to attack Cuban and Soviet merchant ships, killing or wounding crew members. In 1964, Menoyo set up a guerrilla training camp in the Dominican Republic, and after entering Cuba in 1965, he was captured; however, Alpha 66 continued its raids under new leadership.[129] By the mid-1960s, Soviet aid had strengthened the Cuban air force and navy, making raids against the island by Cuban dissidents costly without significant U.S. support.[130]

In 1963, Cuba sent 686 troops together with 22 tanks and other military equipment to support Algeria in the Sand War against Morocco.[131] The Cuban forces remained in Algeria for over a year, providing training to the Algerian army.[132] Che Guevara, authorized by Fidel Castro, engaged in guerrilla activities in Africa and was killed in 1967 while attempting to start a revolution in Bolivia.[51] By the middle of 1965, Cuba had begun supplying arms to the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA). In 1966, Cuban aid also reached the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde. Furthermore, by the late 1960s, Cuban instructors were providing military training to members of the Mozambique Liberation Front.[132] Cuban troops prevented the 1966 Republic of the Congo coup attempt. The coup collapsed when the Congolese army refused to engage in combat against the Cubans.[132] In February 1967, Cuban advisors began operating with guerrillas in the Guinea-Bissau War of Independence, and in November 1969, the Portuguese captured Cuban Captain Pedro Rodriguez Peralta.[132]

Starting in 1968 a campaign titled the "revolutionary offensive" was initiated to nationalize all remaining private small businesses, which at the time totaled to be about 58,000 small enterprises.[133] The campaign would spur industrialization in Cuba and focus the economy on sugar production, specifically to a deadline for an annual sugar harvest of 10 million tons by 1970. The economic focus on sugar production involved international volunteers and the mobilization of workers from all sectors of the Cuban economy.[134] Economic mobilization also coincided with greater militarization of Cuban political structures and society in general.[135] The ten million ton harvest goal was not reached.[136]: 37–38  The Cuban economy fell into decline after large sectors of the economy were neglected when large amounts of urban labor mobilized to the countryside.[136]: 38 

The standard of living in the 1970s was "extremely spartan" and discontent was rife.[137] Fidel Castro admitted the failures of economic policies in a 1970 speech.[137] In 1975, the OAS lifted its sanctions against Cuba, with the approval of 16 member states, including the United States. The U.S., however, maintained its own sanctions.[123]

Foreign interventions (1971–1991)

Main article: Foreign interventions by Cuba

Cuban artillery crew in Ethiopia during the Ogaden War.

During the Cold War, Cuba received $33 billion in Soviet aid,[113] and Cuban forces were deployed to all corners of Africa, either as military advisors or as combatants.[138] Soviet pilots and technicians assumed defense duties in Cuba, freeing up Cuban personnel to be deployed in Africa.[132] In 1979, the U.S. objected to the presence of Soviet combat troops on the island.[51]

In November 1975, Cuba deployed more than 65,000 troops and 400 Soviet-made tanks in Angola in one of the fastest military mobilizations in history.[139] South Africa developed nuclear weapons due to the threat to its security posed by the presence of large numbers of Cuban troops in Angola.[140] In 1975–76 and again in 1988 at the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale, the Cubans alongside their MPLA allies fought UNITA rebels and apartheid South African forces. In December 1977, Cuba sent its combat troops from Angola, the People's Republic of the Congo, and the Caribbean to Ethiopia,[132] assisted by mechanized Soviet battalions, to help defeat a Somali invasion. On 24 January 1978, Ethiopian and Cuban troops counterattacked, inflicting 3,000 casualties on the Somali forces.[132] In February, Cuban troops launched a major offensive and forced the Somali army back into its own territory.[132] Cuban forces remained in Ethiopia until September 1989.[132]

Despite Cuba's small size and the long distance separating it from the Middle East, Castro's Cuba played an active role in the region during the Cold War. In 1972, a major Cuban military mission consisting of tank, air, and artillery specialists was dispatched to South Yemen. Cuban military advisors were sent to Iraq in the mid-1970s but their mission was canceled after Iraq invaded Iran in 1980.[132] The Cubans were also involved in the Syrian-Israeli conflict (November 1973–May 1974) that followed the Yom Kippur War (October 1973).[141] Israeli sources reported the presence of a Cuban tank brigade in the Golan Heights, which was supported by two brigades.[142] The Israelis and the Cuban-Syrian tank forces engaged in battle on the Golan front.[143]: 37–38 

After the U.S. was defeated in the Vietnam War, Castro began supporting Marxist insurgencies in Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Colombia by supplying weapons, munitions, and training.[144] Following the 1983 coup that resulted in the execution of Grenadian Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and establishment of the military government led by Hudson Austin, U.S. forces invaded Grenada in 1983, overthrowing the pro-Castro government. In a few days of fighting, 6,000 American combat troops defeated 784 Cubans (636 construction workers with military training, 43 military advisors, and 18 diplomats).[145]

Cuba gradually withdrew its troops from Angola in 1989–91.[132] An important psychological and political aspect of the Cuban military involvement in Africa was the significant presence of black or mixed-race soldiers among the Cuban forces. According to one source, more than 300,000 Cuban military personnel and civilian experts were deployed in Africa. The source also states that out of the 50,000 Cubans sent to Angola, half contracted AIDS and that 10,000 Cubans died as a consequence of their military actions in Africa.[132]

Cuban leader Fidel Castro in Geneva, Switzerland, May 1998

Political readjustments (1991–present)

Main articles: Special Period and 2006–2008 Cuban transfer of presidential duties

Soviet troops began to withdraw from Cuba in September 1991,[51] and Castro's rule was severely tested in the aftermath of the Soviet collapse in December 1991 (known in Cuba as the Special Period). The country faced a severe economic downturn following the withdrawal of Soviet subsidies worth $4 billion to $6 billion annually, resulting in effects such as food and fuel shortages.[146][147] The government did not accept American donations of food, medicines and cash until 1993.[146] On 5 August 1994, state security dispersed protesters in a spontaneous protest in Havana. From the start of the crisis until 1995, Cuba saw its gross domestic product (GDP) shrink by 35%. It took another five years for its GDP to reach pre-crisis levels.[148] In 1996, after Cuba shot down two small aircraft piloted by a Florida-based anti-Castro group, the U.S. Congress passed the Helms–Burton Act.[51]

Cuba has since found a new source of aid and support in the People's Republic of China. In addition, Hugo Chávez, then president of Venezuela, and Evo Morales, former president of Bolivia, became allies and both countries are major oil and gas exporters. In 2003, the government arrested and imprisoned a large number of civil activists, a period known as the "Black Spring".[149][150]

In February 2008, Fidel Castro resigned as President of the State Council due to the serious gastrointestinal illness which he had suffered since July 2006.[151] On 24 February, the National Assembly elected his brother Raúl Castro the new president.[152] In his inauguration speech, Raúl promised that some of the restrictions on freedom in Cuba would be removed.[153] In March 2009, Raúl Castro removed some of his brother's appointees.[154]

On 3 June 2009, the Organization of American States adopted a resolution to end the 47-year ban on Cuban membership of the group.[155] The resolution stated, however, that full membership would be delayed until Cuba was "in conformity with the practices, purposes, and principles of the OAS".[123] Fidel Castro wrote that Cuba would not rejoin the OAS, which, he said, was a "U.S. Trojan horse" and "complicit" in actions taken by the U.S. against Cuba and other Latin American nations.[156]

Raúl Castro and U.S. President Barack Obama at their joint press conference in Havana, Cuba, 21 March 2016

Effective 14 January 2013, Cuba ended the requirement established in 1961, that any citizens who wish to travel abroad were required to obtain an expensive government permit and a letter of invitation.[157][158][159] In 1961 the Cuban government had imposed broad restrictions on travel to prevent the mass emigration of people after the 1959 revolution;[160] it approved exit visas only on rare occasions.[161] Requirements were simplified: Cubans need only a passport and a national ID card to leave; and they are allowed to take their young children with them for the first time.[162] However, a passport costs on average five months' salary. Observers expect that Cubans with paying relatives abroad are most likely to be able to take advantage of the new policy.[163] In the first year of the program, over 180,000 left Cuba and returned. As of December 2014, talks with Cuban officials and American officials, including President Barack Obama, resulted in the release of Alan Gross, fifty-two political prisoners, and an unnamed non-citizen agent of the United States in return for the release of three Cuban agents currently imprisoned in the United States. Additionally, while the embargo between the United States and Cuba was not immediately lifted, it was relaxed to allow import, export, and certain limited commerce.[164]

Raúl Castro stepped down from the presidency on 19 April 2018 and Miguel Díaz-Canel was elected president of the State Council by the National Assembly following parliamentary elections. Raúl Castro remained the First Secretary of the Communist Party and retained broad authority, including oversight over the president.[165]

Cuba approved a new constitution in 2019. The optional vote attracted 84.4% of eligible voters. 90% of those who voted approved of the new constitution and 9% opposed it. The new constitution states that the Communist Party is the only legitimate political party, describes access to health and education as fundamental rights, imposes presidential term limits, enshrines the right to legal representation upon arrest, recognizes private property, and strengthens the rights of multinationals investing with the state.[166] Any form of discrimination harmful to human dignity is banned under the new constitution.[167]

Raúl Castro announced at the Eighth Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba, which began on 16 April 2021, that he was retiring as first secretary of the Communist Party.[168] His successor, Miguel Díaz-Canel, was voted in on 19 April.[169]

In July 2021, there were several large protests against the government under the banner of Patria y Vida. Cuban exiles also conducted protests overseas.[170][171][172] The song associated with the movement received international acclaim including a Latin Grammy Award.[173]

On 25 September 2022, Cuba approved a referendum which amended the Family Code to legalise same-sex marriage and allow surrogate pregnancy and same-sex adoption. Gender reassignment surgery and transgender hormone therapy are provided free of charge under Cuba's national healthcare system. The proposed changes were supported by the government and opposed by conservatives and parts of the opposition. Official policies of the Cuban government from 1959 until the 1990s were hostile towards homosexuality, with the LGBT community marginalized on the basis of heteronormativity, traditional gender roles, and strict criteria for moralism.[167][174]

Geography

Main articles: Geography of Cuba, Environment of Cuba, and List of islands of Cuba

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Topographic map of Cuba

Cuba is an archipelago of 4,195 islands, cays and islets located in the northern Caribbean Sea at the confluence with the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. It lies between latitudes 19° and 24°N, and longitudes 74° and 85°W. Florida (Key West, Florida) is about 150 km (93 miles) across the Straits of Florida to the north and northwest, and The Bahamas (Cay Lobos) 22.5 km (14 mi) to the north. Mexico lies 210 km (130.5 mi) west across the Yucatán Channel (to the closest tip of Cabo Catoche in the State of Quintana Roo).

Haiti is 77 km (47.8 mi) east and Jamaica 140 km (87 mi) south. Cuba is the principal island, surrounded by four smaller groups of islands: the Colorados Archipelago on the northwestern coast, the Sabana-Camagüey Archipelago on the north-central Atlantic coast, the Jardines de la Reina on the south-central coast and the Canarreos Archipelago on the southwestern coast.

Sierra Maestra

The main island, named Cuba, is 1,250 km (780 mi) long, constituting most of the nation's land area (104,338 km2 or 40,285 sq mi) and is the largest island in the Caribbean and 17th-largest island in the world by land area. The main island consists mostly of flat to rolling plains apart from the Sierra Maestra mountains in the southeast, whose highest point is Pico Turquino (1,974 m or 6,476 ft).

The second-largest island is Isla de la Juventud (Isle of Youth) in the Canarreos archipelago, with an area of 2,204 km2 (851 sq mi). Cuba has an official area of 109,884 km2 (42,426 sq mi). Its area is 110,860 km2 (42,803 sq mi) including coastal and territorial waters.

Climate

Main article: Climate of Cuba

Köppen climate classification of Cuba

With the entire island south of the Tropic of Cancer, the local climate is tropical, moderated by northeasterly trade winds that blow year-round. The temperature is also shaped by the Caribbean current, which brings in warm water from the equator. This makes the climate of Cuba warmer than that of Hong Kong, which is at around the same latitude as Cuba but has a subtropical rather than a tropical climate. In general (with local variations), there is a drier season from November to April, and a rainier season from May to October. The average temperature is 21 °C (70 °F) in January and 27 °C (81 °F) in July. The warm temperatures of the Caribbean Sea and the fact that Cuba sits across the entrance to the Gulf of Mexico combine to make the country prone to frequent hurricanes. These are most common in September and October.

Climate change in Cuba is causing an increase in temperature, rising sea levels and shifting precipitation patterns, with an overall decrease in rainfall predicted. These will severely impact industries key to the economy, including agriculture, forestry and tourism. As rainfall is Cuba's only water source, water security is an issue. Warmer temperatures may affect the health of the population, causing an increase in cardiovascular, respiratory and viral diseases.[175] A temperature rise of 2 °C above preindustrial levels can increase the likelihood of extreme hurricane rainfall by three times in Cuba.[176] Cuba's climate mitigation and adaptation plans include renewable energy generation and nature-based solutions, such as restoring mangrove ecosystems.[177][178]

Hurricane Irma hit the island on 8 September 2017, with winds of 260 km/h (72 m/s),[179] at the Camagüey Archipelago; the storm reached Ciego de Avila province around midnight and continued to pound Cuba the next day.[180] The worst damage was in the keys north of the main island. Hospitals, warehouses and factories were damaged; much of the north coast was without electricity. By that time, nearly a million people, including tourists, had been evacuated.[181] The Varadero resort area also reported widespread damage; the government believed that repairs could be completed before the start of the main tourist season.[182] Subsequent reports indicated that ten people had been killed during the storm, including seven in Havana, most during building collapses. Sections of the capital had been flooded.[182]

Biodiversity

The Cuban trogon is the island's national bird. Its white, red and blue feathers match those of the Cuban flag.

Cuba signed the Rio Convention on Biological Diversity on 12 June 1992, and became a party to the convention on 8 March 1994.[183] It has subsequently produced a National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, with one revision, that the convention received on 24 January 2008.[184]

The country's fourth national report to the CBD contains a detailed breakdown of the numbers of species of each kingdom of life recorded from Cuba, the main groups being: animals (17,801 species), bacteria (270), chromista (707), fungi, including lichen-forming species (5,844), plants (9,107) and protozoa (1,440).[185] The native bee hummingbird or zunzuncito is the world's smallest known bird, with a length of 55 mm (2+1⁄8 in). The Cuban trogon or tocororo is the national bird of Cuba and an endemic species. Other endemic species are the Cuban crocodile, Cuban hutia, Cuban solenodon, Cuban gar, Cuban boa, and Polymita picta. Hedychium coronarium, named mariposa in Cuba, is the national flower.[186]

Cuba is home to six terrestrial ecoregions: Cuban moist forests, Cuban dry forests, Cuban pine forests, Cuban wetlands, Cuban cactus scrub, and Greater Antilles mangroves.[187] It had a 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 5.4/10, ranking it 102nd globally out of 172 countries.[188]

According to a 2012 study, Cuba is the only country in the world to meet the conditions of sustainable development put forth by the WWF.[189]

Government and politics

Main article: Politics of Cuba

Miguel Díaz-Canel

Miguel Díaz-Canel

First Secretary of the Communist Party and President of Cuba

Manuel Marrero Cruz

Manuel Marrero Cruz

Prime Minister

Salvador Valdés Mesa

Salvador Valdés Mesa

Vice President

Esteban Lazo Hernández

Esteban Lazo Hernández

President of the National Assembly

The Republic of Cuba is a communist state that self-designates as a socialist state that adheres to the ideology of Marxism–Leninism. The Constitution of 1976, which defined Cuba as a socialist republic, was replaced by the Constitution of 1992, which is "guided by the ideas of José Martí and the political and social ideas of Marx, Engels and Lenin."[190] The constitution describes the Communist Party of Cuba as the "leading force of society and of the state".[190] The political system in Cuba reflects the Marxist–Leninist concept of democratic centralism.[191]: 38 

The First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba is the most senior position in the one-party state.[192] The First Secretary leads the Politburo and the Secretariat, making the office holder the most powerful person in Cuban government.[193] Members of both councils are elected by the National Assembly of People's Power.[190] The President of Cuba, who is also elected by the Assembly, serves for five years and since the ratification of the 2019 Constitution, there is a limit of two consecutive five-year terms.[190]

The headquarters of the Communist Party

The People's Supreme Court serves as Cuba's highest judicial branch of government. It is also the court of last resort for all appeals against the decisions of provincial courts.

Cuba's national legislature, the National Assembly of People's Power (Asamblea Nacional de Poder Popular), is the supreme organ of power; 474 members serve five-year terms.[190] The assembly meets twice a year; between sessions legislative power is held by the 31 member Council of Ministers. Candidates for the Assembly are approved by public referendum. All Cuban citizens over 16 who have not been convicted of a criminal offense can vote.[194] Article 131 of the Constitution states that voting shall be "through free, equal and secret vote".[190] Article 136 states: "In order for deputies or delegates to be considered elected they must get more than half the number of valid votes cast in the electoral districts".[190]

There are elections in Cuba, but they are not considered democratic.[195][196] In elections for the National Assembly of People's Power there is only one candidate for each seat, and candidates are nominated by committees that are firmly controlled by the Communist Party.[197][198] Most legislative districts elect multiple representatives to the Assembly. Voters can select individual candidates on their ballot, select every candidate, or leave every question blank, with no option to vote against candidates.[199][200] No political party is permitted to nominate candidates or campaign on the island, including the Communist Party.[201] The Communist Party of Cuba has held six party congress meetings since 1975. In 2011, the party stated that there were 800,000 members, and representatives generally constitute at least half of the Councils of state and the National Assembly. The remaining positions are filled by candidates nominally without party affiliation. Other political parties campaign and raise finances internationally, while activity within Cuba by opposition groups is minimal.

Cuba is considered an authoritarian regime according to The Economist's Democracy Index[202] and Freedom in the World reports.[203] More specifically, Cuba is considered a military dictatorship in the Democracy-Dictatorship Index, and has been described as "a militarized society"[204] with the armed forces having long been the most powerful institution in the country.[205]

In February 2013, President of the State Council Raúl Castro announced he would resign in 2018, ending his five-year term, and that he hopes to implement permanent term limits for future Cuban presidents, including age limits.[206]

Miguel Díaz-Canel was elected president on 18 April 2018 after the resignation of Raúl Castro. On 19 April 2021, Díaz-Canel became First Secretary of the Communist Party. He is the first non-Castro to be in such top position since the Cuban revolution of 1959.[207]

Administrative divisions

Main articles: Provinces of Cuba and Municipalities of Cuba

The country is subdivided into 15 provinces and one special municipality (Isla de la Juventud). These were formerly part of six larger historical provinces: Pinar del Río, Habana, Matanzas, Las Villas, Camagüey and Oriente. The present subdivisions closely resemble those of the Spanish military provinces during the Cuban Wars of Independence, when the most troublesome areas were subdivided. The provinces are divided into municipalities.

Provinces of Cuba

    Pinar del Río

    Artemisa

    Havana

    Mayabeque

    Matanzas

    Cienfuegos

    Villa Clara

    Sancti Spíritus

    Ciego de Ávila

    Camagüey

    Las Tunas

    Granma

    Holguín

    Santiago de Cuba

    Guantánamo

    Isla de la Juventud

Foreign relations

Main article: Foreign relations of Cuba

See also: Cuban medical internationalism

Fidel Castro and Ali Khamenei at a meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement in Zimbabwe, 3 September 1986

Cuba is a founding member of the United Nations, G77, Non-Aligned Movement, Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States, ALBA, and Organization of American States.

Cuba has conducted a foreign policy that is uncharacteristic of such a minor, developing country.[208][209] Under Castro, Cuba was heavily involved in wars in Africa, Central America and Asia. Cuba supported Algeria in 1961–1965[210] and sent tens of thousands of troops to Angola during the Angolan Civil War.[211] Other countries that featured Cuban involvement include Ethiopia,[212][213] Guinea,[214] Guinea-Bissau,[215] Mozambique,[216] and Yemen.[217] Lesser known actions include the 1959 missions to the Dominican Republic.[218] The expedition failed, but a prominent monument to its members was erected in their memory in Santo Domingo by the Dominican government, and they feature prominently at the country's Memorial Museum of the Resistance.[219]

In 2008, the European Union (EU) and Cuba agreed to resume full relations and cooperation activities.[220] Cuba is a founding member of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas.[221] At the end of 2012, tens of thousands of Cuban medical personnel worked abroad,[222] with as many as 30,000 doctors in Venezuela alone via the two countries' oil-for-doctors programme.[223]

Raúl Castro with Russian President Vladimir Putin in New York City, 28 September 2015

Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Paris, France, 22 June 2023

In 1996, the United States, then under President Bill Clinton, brought in the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act, better known as the Helms–Burton Act.[224][e] In 2009, United States President Barack Obama stated on 17 April, in Trinidad and Tobago that "the United States seeks a new beginning with Cuba",[226] and reversed the Bush Administration's prohibition on travel and remittances by Cuban-Americans from the United States to Cuba.[227] Five years later, an agreement between the United States and Cuba, popularly called the "Cuban thaw", brokered in part by Canada and Pope Francis, began the process of restoring international relations between the two countries. They agreed to release political prisoners and the United States began the process of creating an embassy in Havana.[228][229][230][231][232] This was realized on 30 June 2015, when Cuba and the U.S. reached a deal to reopen embassies in their respective capitals on 20 July 2015[233] and reestablish diplomatic relations.[234] Earlier in the same year, the White House announced that President Obama would remove Cuba from the American government's list of nations that sponsor terrorism,[235][236] which Cuba reportedly welcomed as "fair".[237] On 17 September 2017, the United States considered closing its Cuban embassy following mysterious medical symptoms experienced by its staff.[238] In the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing international isolation of Russia, Cuba emerged as one of the few countries that maintained friendly relations with the Russian Federation.[239][240] Cuban leader Miguel Diaz-Canel visited Vladimir Putin in Moscow in November 2022, where the two leaders opened a monument of Fidel Castro, as well as speaking out against U.S. sanctions against Russia and Cuba.[241]

Embargo by the United States (1960–present)

Main article: United States embargo against Cuba

Since 1960, the U.S. embargo on Cuba stands as one of the longest-running trade and economic measures in bilateral relations history, having endured for almost six decades. This action was initiated in response to a wave of nationalizations that impacted American properties valued at over US$1 billion, the then U.S.[31] President, Dwight Eisenhower, instated an embargo that prohibited all exports to Cuba, with the exception of medicines and certain foods.[31] This measure was intensified in 1962 under the administration of John F. Kennedy, extending the restrictions to Cuban imports, based on the Foreign Assistance Act approved by Congress in 1961.[31] During the Missile Crisis in 1962, the United States even imposed a naval blockade on Cuba, but this was lifted following the resolution of the crisis. The embargo, however, remained in place and has been modified on several occasions over the years.[31]

The Cuban Democracy Act of 1992 states that sanctions will continue "so long as it continues to refuse to move toward democratization and greater respect for human rights".[242][non-primary source needed] American diplomat Lester D. Mallory wrote an internal memo on 6 April 1960, arguing in favor of an embargo: "The only foreseeable means of alienating internal support is through disenchantment and disaffection based on economic dissatisfaction and hardship. [...] to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government."[243][244] The UN General Assembly has passed a resolution every year since 1992 condemning the embargo and stating that it violates the Charter of the United Nations and international law.[245] Cuba considers the embargo a human rights violation.[246]

Propaganda sign in front of the United States Interests Section in Havana

The impact and effectiveness of the embargo have been subjects of intense debate. While some argue it has been "extraordinarily porous" and isn't the primary cause of Cuba's economic hardships, others see it as a pressure mechanism aimed at driving change in the Cuban government.[31] According to Arturo Lopez Levy, a professor of international relations, it would be more appropriate to refer to the measure as a "blockade" or "siege", as it goes beyond mere trade restrictions.[31] Other critics of the Cuban government argue that the embargo has been used by the government as an excuse to justify its own economic and political shortcomings.[31]

On 17 December 2014, United States President Barack Obama announced the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba, pushing for Congress to put an end to the embargo,[247] as well as the United States-run Guantanamo Bay detention camp. These diplomatic improvements were later reversed by the Trump Administration, which enacted new rules and re-enforced the business and travel restrictions which were loosened by the Obama Administration.[248] These sanctions were inherited and strengthened by the Biden Administration.[249]

Despite the embargo, Cuba has maintained trade relations with other countries.[31] According to 2019 data, China stands as Cuba's main trading partner, followed by countries such as Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, and Cyprus. Cuba's main exports include tobacco, sugar, and alcoholic beverages, while it primarily imports chicken meat, wheat, corn, and condensed milk.[31]

Military

Main article: Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces

As of 2018, Cuba spent about US$91.8 million on its armed forces or 2.9% of its GDP.[250] In 1985, Cuba devoted more than 10% of its GDP to military expenditures.[251] During the Cold War, Cuba built up one of the largest armed forces in Latin America, second only to that of Brazil.[252]

From 1975 until the late 1980s, Soviet military assistance enabled Cuba to upgrade its military capabilities. After the loss of Soviet subsidies, Cuba scaled down the numbers of military personnel, from 235,000 in 1994 to about 49,000 in 2021.[253]

In 2017, Cuba signed the UN treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.[254]

Cuba is the 98th most peaceful country in the world, according to the 2024 Global Peace Index.[255]

Law enforcement

Main article: Law enforcement in Cuba

See also: Committees for the Defense of the Revolution and Crime in Cuba

A Lada Riva police car in Holguín

All law enforcement agencies are maintained under Cuba's Ministry of the Interior, which is supervised by the Revolutionary Armed Forces. In Cuba, citizens can receive police assistance by dialing "106" on their telephones.[256] The police force, which is referred to as "Policía Nacional Revolucionaria" or PNR is then expected to provide help. The Cuban government also has an agency called the Intelligence Directorate that conducts intelligence operations and maintains close ties with the Russian Federal Security Service.[257] The US Justice Department considers Cuba a significant counterintelligence threat.[258]

Civilians are also involved in law enforcement, in a limited capacity. The Committees for the Defense of the Revolution are an official neighborhood watch organization, made up of dedicated citizens who monitor their neighbors.[259] Membership is not selective, but leading members are approved by the Cuban Communist Party.[260]

Human rights

Main article: Human rights in Cuba

See also: LGBT rights in Cuba, Women in Cuba, Censorship in Cuba, and Cuban dissident movement

Ladies in White demonstration in Havana (April 2012)

In 2003, the European Union (EU) accused the Cuban government of "continuing flagrant violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms".[261] As of 2009, it has continued to call regularly for social and economic reform in Cuba, along with the unconditional release of all political prisoners.[262]

Cuba was ranked 19th by the number of imprisoned journalists of any nation in 2021 according to various sources, including the Committee to Protect Journalists and Human Rights Watch.[263][264] Cuba ranks 171st out of 180 on the 2020 World Press Freedom Index.[265]

In July 2010, the unofficial Cuban Human Rights Commission said there were 167 political prisoners in Cuba, a fall from 201 at the start of the year. The head of the commission stated that long prison sentences were being replaced by harassment and intimidation.[266]

Economy

Main article: Economy of Cuba

Further information: Dual economy of Cuba, Rationing in Cuba, Sociolismo, and United States embargo against Cuba

Historical GDP per capita development

The Cuban state asserts its adherence to socialist principles in organizing its largely state-controlled planned economy. Most of the means of production are owned and run by the government and most of the labor force is employed by the state. Recent years have seen a trend toward more private sector employment. By 2006, public sector employment was 78% and private sector 22%, compared to 91.8% to 8.2% in 1981.[267] Government spending is 78.1% of GDP.[268] Since the early 2010s, following the initial market reforms, it has become popular to describe the economy as being, or moving toward, market socialism.[269][270][271] Any firm that hires a Cuban must pay the Cuban government, which in turn pays the employee in Cuban pesos.[272] After a reform in 2021, the minimum monthly wage is about 2100 CUP (US$81) and the median monthly wage is about 4000 CUP (US$155).[273]

Cuba had Cuban pesos (CUP) set at par with the US dollar before 1959.[274] Every Cuban household has a ration book (known as libreta) entitling it to a monthly supply of food and other staples, which are provided at nominal cost.[275]

According to the Havana Consulting Group, in 2014, remittances to Cuba amounted to US$3,129 million, the seventh highest in Latin America.[276] In 2019, remittances had grown to US$6,616 million, but dropped down to US$1,967 million in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[277] The pandemic has also devastated Cuba's tourist industry, which along with a tightening of U.S. sanctions, has led to large increase in emigration among younger working-age Cubans. It has been described as a crisis that is "threatening the stability" of Cuba, which "already has one of the hemisphere's oldest populations".[278] According to a controversial 2023 report by the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH), 88% of Cuban citizens live in extreme poverty. The report stated that Cubans were concerned about food security and the difficulty in acquiring basic goods.[279]

According to the World Bank, Cuba's GDP per capita was $9,500 as of 2020.[280] But according to the CIA World Factbook, it was $12,300 as of 2016.[281] The United Nations Development Programme gave Cuba a Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.764 in 2021.[282] The same United Nations agency estimated the country's Multidimensional Poverty Index of 0.003 in 2023.[283]

In 2005, Cuba had exports of US$2.4 billion, ranking 114 of 226 world countries, and imports of US$6.9 billion, ranking 87 of 226 countries.[284] Its major export partners are Canada 17.7%, China 16.9%, Venezuela 12.5%, Netherlands 9%, and Spain 5.9% (2012).[285] Cuba's major exports are sugar, nickel, tobacco, fish, medical products, citrus fruits, and coffee;[285] imports include food, fuel, clothing, and machinery. Cuba presently holds debt in an amount estimated at $13 billion,[286] approximately 38% of GDP.[287]

According to The Heritage Foundation, Cuba is dependent on credit accounts that rotate from country to country.[288] Cuba's prior 35% supply of the world's export market for sugar has declined to 10% due to a variety of factors, including a global sugar commodity price drop that made Cuba less competitive on world markets.[289] It was announced in 2008 that wage caps would be abandoned to improve the nation's productivity.[290]

Cuba's leadership has called for reforms in the country's agricultural system. In 2008, Raúl Castro began enacting agrarian reforms to boost food production, as at that time 80% of food was imported. The reforms aim to expand land use and increase efficiency.[291] Venezuela supplies Cuba with an estimated 110,000 barrels (17,000 m3) of oil per day in exchange for money and the services of some 44,000 Cubans, most of them medical personnel, in Venezuela.[292][293]

Cubans are now permitted to own small businesses in certain sectors.

In 2010, Cubans were allowed to build their own houses. According to Raúl Castro, they could now improve their houses, but the government would not endorse these new houses or improvements.[294] There is virtually no homelessness in Cuba,[295][296] and 85% of Cubans own their homes[297] and pay no property taxes or mortgage interest. Mortgage payments may not exceed 10% of a household's combined income.[citation needed]

On 2 August 2011, The New York Times reported that Cuba reaffirmed its intent to legalize "buying and selling" of private property before the year's end. According to experts, the private sale of property could "transform Cuba more than any of the economic reforms announced by Cuban leader Raúl Castro's government".[298] It would cut more than one million state jobs, including party bureaucrats who resist the changes.[299] The reforms created what some call "New Cuban Economy".[300][301] In October 2013, Raúl said he intended to merge the two currencies, but as of August 2016, the dual currency system remains in force.

Tobacco fields in Viñales

In 2016, the Miami Herald wrote, "... about 27 percent of Cubans earn under $50 per month; 34 percent earn the equivalent of $50 to $100 per month; and 20 percent earn $101 to $200. Twelve percent reported earning $201 to $500 a month; and almost 4 percent said their monthly earnings topped $500, including 1.5 percent who said they earned more than $1,000."[302]

In May 2019, Cuba imposed rationing of staples such as chicken, eggs, rice, beans, soap and other basic goods. (Some two-thirds of food in the country is imported.) A spokesperson blamed the increased U.S. trade embargo although economists believe that an equally important problem is the massive decline of aid from Venezuela and the failure of Cuba's state-run oil company which had subsidized fuel costs.[303]

In June 2019, the government announced an increase in public sector wages of about 300%, specifically for teachers and health personnel.[304] In October, the government allowed stores to purchase house equipment and similar items, using international currency, and send it to Cuba by emigration. The leaders of the government recognized that the new measures were unpopular but necessary to contain the capital flight to other countries as Panamá where Cuban citizens traveled and imported items to resell on the island. Other measures included allowing private companies to export and import, through state companies, resources to produce products and services in Cuba.

Hotel Parque Central in Havana

On 1 January 2021, Cuba's dual currency system was formally ended, and the convertible Cuban peso (CUC) was phased out, leaving the Cuban peso (CUP) as the country's sole currency unit. Cuban citizens had until June 2021 to exchange their CUCs. However, this devalued the Cuban peso and caused economic problems for people who had been previously paid in CUCs, particularly workers in the tourism industry.[305][306][307] Also, in February, the government dictated new measures to the private sector, with prohibitions for only 124 activities,[308] in areas like national security, health and educational services.[309] The wages were increased again, between 4 and 9 times, for all the sectors. Also, new facilities were allowed to the state companies, with much more autonomy.[306]

The first problem with the new reform, in terms of public opinion, were electricity prices, but that was amended quickly. Other measures corrected were in the prices for private farmers.[citation needed] In July 2020, Cuba opened new stores accepting only foreign currency while simultaneously eliminating a special tax on the U.S. dollar[310] to combat an economic crisis arising initially due to economic sanctions imposed by the Trump administration,[311] then later worsened by a lack of tourism during the coronavirus pandemic. These economic sanctions have since been sustained by the Biden administration.[312] Cooperatives will play a larger role in the emerging Cuban economy. The transfer of state-run businesses into cooperatives could result in 20 – 30 percent of Cuba's workers being actively involved in cooperatives. All state-run restaurants (over 8,000) will be converted to worker owned cooperatives, and by 2017 the Cuban government expects there to be approximately 10,000 cooperatives operating.[313]

Resources

Cuba's natural resources include sugar, tobacco, fish, citrus fruits, coffee, beans, rice, potatoes, and livestock. Cuba's most important mineral resource is nickel, with 21% of total exports in 2011.[314] The output of Cuba's nickel mines that year was 71,000 tons, approaching 4% of world production.[315] As of 2013 its reserves were estimated at 5.5 million tons, over 7% of the world total.[315] Sherritt International of Canada operates a large nickel mining facility in Moa. Cuba is also a major producer of refined cobalt, a by-product of nickel mining.[316]

Oil exploration in 2005 by the US Geological Survey revealed that the North Cuba Basin could produce about 4.6 billion barrels (730,000,000 m3) to 9.3 billion barrels (1.48×109 m3) of oil. In 2006, Cuba started to test-drill these locations for possible exploitation.[317]

Tourism

Main article: Tourism in Cuba

Historic Centre of Camagüey, a colonial city UNESCO World Heritage Site

Varadero resort area

Tourism was initially restricted to enclave resorts where tourists would be segregated from Cuban society, referred to as "enclave tourism" and "tourism apartheid".[318] Contact between foreign visitors and ordinary Cubans were de facto illegal between 1992 and 1997.[319] The rapid growth of tourism during the Special Period had widespread social and economic repercussions in Cuba, and led to speculation about the emergence of a two-tier economy.[320]

1.9 million tourists visited Cuba in 2003, predominantly from Canada and the European Union, generating revenue of US$2.1 billion.[321] Cuba recorded 2,688,000 international tourists in 2011, the third-highest figure in the Caribbean (behind the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico).[322] American tourism was incredibly limited due to the Cuban Missile Crisis until 2016, when most restrictions were limited but some remained in place.[323]

The medical tourism sector caters to thousands of European, Latin American, Canadian, and American consumers every year.[citation needed]

A study in 2018 indicated that Cuba has a potential for mountaineering activity, and that mountaineering could be a key contributor to tourism, along with other activities, e.g. biking, diving, caving. Promoting these resources could contribute to regional development, prosperity, and well-being.[324]

The Cuban Justice minister downplays allegations of widespread sex tourism.[325] According to a Government of Canada travel advice website, "Cuba is actively working to prevent child sex tourism, and a number of tourists, including Canadians, have been convicted of offenses related to the corruption of minors aged 16 and under. Prison sentences range from 7 to 25 years."[326]

Some tourist facilities were extensively damaged on 8 September 2017 when Hurricane Irma hit the island. The storm made landfall in the Camagüey Archipelago; the worst damage was in the keys north of the main island, however, and not in the most significant tourist areas.[181]

Transport

Main article: Transport in Cuba

Demographics

Main articles: Cubans and Demographics of Cuba

According to the official census of 2010, Cuba's population was 11,241,161, comprising 5,628,996 men and 5,612,165 women.[327] Its birth rate (9.88 births per thousand population in 2006)[328] is one of the lowest in the Western Hemisphere. Although the country's population has grown by about four million people since 1961, the rate of growth slowed during that period, and the population began to decline in 2006, due to the country's low fertility rate (1.43 children per woman) coupled with emigration.[329]

Largest cities

See also: List of cities in Cuba

 

 

Largest cities or towns in Cuba

According to the 2018 Estimate[330]

Havana

Havana

Santiago de Cuba

Santiago de Cuba 1 Havana La Habana 2,131,480 Camagüey

Camagüey

Holguín

Holguín

2 Santiago de Cuba Santiago de Cuba 433,581

3 Camagüey Camagüey 308,902

4 Holguín Holguín 297,433

5 Santa Clara Villa Clara 216,854

6 Guantánamo Guantánamo 216,003

7 Las Tunas Las Tunas 173,552

8 Bayamo Granma 159,966

9 Cienfuegos Cienfuegos 151,838

10 Pinar del Río Pinar del Río 145,193

Ethnoracial groups

Racial groups in Cuba (2012 census)[331]

    White (64.12%)

    Mulatto (26.62%)

    Black (9.26%)

Mixed heritage is common in Cuba, shown in this 1919 photograph of the Barrientos family, headed by a former Spanish soldier and an indigenous woman from Baracoa, Cuba.

Cuba's population is multiethnic, reflecting its complex colonial origins. Intermarriage between diverse groups is widespread, and consequently there is some discrepancy in reports of the country's racial composition: whereas the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami determined that 62% of Cubans are black using the one drop rule,[332] the 2002 Cuban census found that a similar proportion of the population, 65.05%, was white.

In fact, the Minority Rights Group International determined that "An objective assessment of the situation of Afro-Cubans remains problematic due to scant records and a paucity of systematic studies both pre- and post-revolution. Estimates of the percentage of people of African descent in the Cuban population vary enormously, ranging from 34% to 62%".[333]

A 2014 study found that, based on ancestry informative markers (AIM), autosomal genetic ancestry in Cuba is 72% European, 20% African, and 8% Indigenous.[334]

Asians make up about 1% of the population, and are largely of Chinese ancestry, followed by Japanese and Filipino.[335][336] Many are descendants of farm laborers brought to the island by Spanish and American contractors during the 19th and early 20th century.[337] The current recorded number of Cubans with Chinese ancestry is 114,240.[338]

Afro-Cubans are descended primarily from the Yoruba people, Bantu people from the Congo basin, Kalabari tribe and Arará from the Dahomey, as well as several thousand North African refugees, most notably the Sahrawi Arabs of Western Sahara.[339]

Migration

Immigration

Main articles: French immigration to Cuba and Spanish immigration to Cuba

Immigration and emigration have played a prominent part in Cuba's demographic profile. Between the 18th and early 20th century, large waves of Canarian, Catalan, Andalusian, Galician, and other Spanish people immigrated to Cuba. Between 1899 and 1930 alone, close to a million Spaniards entered Cuba, although many eventually returned to Spain.[340] Other prominent immigrant groups included French,[341] Portuguese, Italian, Russian, Dutch, Greek, British, and Irish, as well as small number of descendants of U.S. citizens who arrived in Cuba in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As of 2015, the foreign-born population in Cuba was 13,336 inhabitants per the World Bank data.[342]

Emigration

Main articles: Cuban exile and Cuban immigration to the United States

North Hudson, New Jersey, is home to a large Cuban American population.

Post-revolution Cuba has been characterized by significant levels of emigration, which has led to a large and influential diaspora community. During the three decades after January 1959, more than one million Cubans of all social classes—constituting 10% of the total population—emigrated to the United States, a proportion that matches the extent of emigration to the U.S. from the Caribbean as a whole during that period.[343][344][345][346][347] Prior to 13 January 2013, Cuban citizens could not travel abroad, leave or return to Cuba without first obtaining official permission along with applying for a government-issued passport and travel visa, which was often denied.[348] Those who left the country typically did so by sea, in small boats and fragile rafts.

On 9 September 1994, the U.S. and Cuban governments agreed that the U.S. would grant at least 20,000 visas annually in exchange for Cuba's pledge to prevent further unlawful departures on boats.[349]

In 2023, Cuba is undergoing its most severe socioeconomic crisis since the fall of the Soviet Union, leading to a record number of Cubans fleeing the island.[350] In 2022 alone, the number of Cubans trying to enter the United States, primarily through the Mexican border, surged from 39,000 in 2021 to over 224,000. Many have resorted to selling their homes at very low prices to afford one-way flights to Nicaragua, hoping to travel through Mexico to reach the U.S.[350] For those remaining among the island's 11 million inhabitants, life grows increasingly desperate. Internal migration has led to overpopulation in the capital, Havana, resulting in people living in makeshift shelters or overcrowded buildings, some of which are on the brink of collapse. The island's persistent shortages of food and medicine can be attributed to the U.S. trade embargo in place since 1962 and stringent government control over the economy since 1959. Regular power outages harken back to the early 1990s, a time when Soviet subsidies ended, plunging the island into economic hardship.[350]

Cuba's "Special Period" saw the country relying heavily on foreign tourism and the earnings of nationals working abroad. The pandemic, however, severely affected this revenue stream, decreasing the number of tourists by 75% in 2020. Monetary reforms in 2021 introduced shocks of inflation, further exacerbating the country's food scarcity and boosting the black market's prominence.[350] Despite the increasing hardships, the Cuban spirit remains resilient. Access to the internet since 2018 and widespread use of social media have fueled calls for political and economic liberalization. The power of the internet was evident during the Cuban protests of 2021, which were promptly suppressed by the police, with many prominent artists and bloggers detained.[350]

As of 2013 the top emigration destinations were the United States, Spain, Italy, Puerto Rico, and Mexico.[351] Following a tightening of U.S. sanctions and damage to the tourist industry by the COVID-19 pandemic, emigration has accelerated. In 2022, more than 2% of the population (almost 250,000 Cubans out of 11 million) migrated to the United States, and thousands more went to other countries, a number "larger than the 1980 Mariel boatlift and the 1994 Cuban rafter crisis combined", which were Cuba's previous largest migration events.[278]

Languages

Main article: Cuban Spanish

The official language of Cuba is Spanish and the vast majority of Cubans speak it. Spanish as spoken in Cuba is known as Cuban Spanish and is a form of Caribbean Spanish. Lucumí, a dialect of the West African language Yoruba, is also used as a liturgical language by practitioners of Santería,[352] and so only as a second language.[353] Haitian Creole is the second-most spoken language in Cuba, and is spoken by Haitian immigrants and their descendants.[354] Other languages spoken by immigrants include Galician and Corsican.[355]

Religion

Main article: Religion in Cuba

Havana Cathedral, built between 1748 and 1777

In 2010, the Pew Forum estimated that religious affiliation in Cuba is 59.2% Christian, 23% unaffiliated, 17.4% folk religion (such as santería), and the remaining 0.4% consisting of other religions.[356] In a 2015 survey sponsored by Univision, 44% of Cubans said they were not religious and 9% did not give an answer while only 34% said they were Christian.[357]

Cuba is officially a secular state. Religious freedom increased through the 1980s,[358] with the government amending the constitution in 1992 to drop the state's characterization as atheistic.[359]

Roman Catholicism is the largest religion, with its origins in Spanish colonization. Despite less than half of the population identifying as Catholics in 2006, it nonetheless remains the dominant faith.[288] Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI visited Cuba in 1998 and 2011, respectively, and Pope Francis visited Cuba in September 2015.[360][361] Prior to each papal visit, the Cuban government pardoned prisoners as a humanitarian gesture.[362][363]

The government's relaxation of restrictions on house churches in the 1990s led to an explosion of Pentecostalism, with some groups claiming as many as 100,000 members. However, Evangelical Protestant denominations, organized into the umbrella Cuban Council of Churches, remain much more vibrant and powerful.[364]

The religious landscape of Cuba is also strongly defined by syncretisms of various kinds. Christianity is often practiced in tandem with Santería, a mixture of Catholicism and mostly African faiths, which include a number of cults. La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre (the Virgin of Cobre) is the Catholic patroness of Cuba, and a symbol of Cuban culture. In Santería, she has been syncretized with the goddess Oshun. A breakdown of the followers of Afro-Cuban religions showed that most practitioners of Palo Mayombe were black and dark brown-skinned, most practitioners of Vodú were medium brown and light brown-skinned, and most practitioners of Santeria were light brown and white-skinned.[365]

Cuba also hosts small communities of Jews (500 in 2012), Muslims (6,000 in 2011) and members of the Baháʼí Faith.[366]

Several well-known Cuban religious figures have operated outside the island, including the humanitarian and author Jorge Armando Pérez.

Education

Main article: Education in Cuba

University of Havana, founded in 1728

The University of Havana was founded in 1728 and there are a number of other well-established colleges and universities. In 1957, just before Castro came to power, the literacy rate was as low as fourth in the region at almost 80% according to the United Nations, yet higher than in Spain.[106] Castro created an entirely state-operated system and banned private institutions. School attendance is compulsory from ages six to the end of basic secondary education (normally at age 15), and all students, regardless of age or gender, wear school uniforms with the color denoting grade level. Primary education lasts for six years, secondary education is divided into basic and pre-university education.[367] Cuba's literacy rate of 99.8 percent[285][368] is the tenth-highest globally, largely due to the provision of free education at every level.[369] Cuba's high school graduation rate is 94 percent.[370]

Higher education is provided by universities, higher institutes, higher pedagogical institutes, and higher polytechnic institutes. The Cuban Ministry of Higher Education operates a distance education program that provides regular afternoon and evening courses in rural areas for agricultural workers. Education has a strong political and ideological emphasis, and students progressing to higher education are expected to have a commitment to the goals of Cuba.[367] Cuba has provided free education to foreign nationals from disadvantaged backgrounds at the Latin American School of Medicine.[371][372]

According to the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities, the top-ranking universities in the country are Universidad de la Habana (1680th worldwide), Instituto Superior Politécnico José Antonio Echeverría (2893rd) and the University of Santiago de Cuba (3831st).[373]

Health

Main article: Healthcare in Cuba

Life expectancy development in Cuba

After the revolution, Cuba established a free public health system.[26]

Cuba's life expectancy at birth is 80.1 years (77.8 for males and 82.6 for females). This ranks Cuba 58th in the world and 5th in the Americas, behind Canada, the United States, Costa Rica, and Chile.[374] Infant mortality declined from 32 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in 1957, to 10 in 1990–95,[375] 6.1 in 2000–2005 and 5.13 in 2009.[368][285] Historically, Cuba has ranked high in numbers of medical personnel and has made significant contributions to world health since the 19th century.[106] Today, Cuba has universal health care and despite persistent shortages of medical supplies, there is no shortage of medical personnel.[376] Primary care is available throughout the island and infant and maternal mortality rates compare favorably with those in developed nations.[376] That an impoverished nation like Cuba has health outcomes rivaling the developed world is referred to by researchers as the Cuban Health Paradox.[377] Cuba ranks 29th on the 2024 Bloomberg Healthiest Country Index, the highest ranking of a developing country.[378] The Cuban healthcare system, renowned for its medical services, has emphasized the export of health professionals through international missions, aiding global health efforts.[379] However, while these missions generate significant revenue and serve as a tool for political influence, domestically, Cuba faces challenges including medication shortages and disparities between medical services for locals and foreigners.[379] Despite the income from these missions, only a small fraction of the national budget has been allocated to public health, underscoring contrasting priorities within the nation's healthcare strategy.[379]

Disease and infant mortality increased in the 1960s immediately after the revolution, when half of Cuba's 6,000 doctors left the country.[380] Recovery occurred by the 1980s,[93] and the country's health care has been widely praised.[381] The Communist government stated that universal health care was a priority of state planning and progress was made in rural areas.[382] After the revolution, the government increased rural hospitals from one to 62.[26] Like the rest of the Cuban economy, medical care suffered from severe material shortages following the end of Soviet subsidies in 1991, and a tightening of the U.S. embargo in 1992.[383]

Challenges include low salaries for doctors,[27] poor facilities, poor provision of equipment, and the frequent absence of essential drugs.[28]

Cuba has the highest doctor-to-population ratio in the world and has sent thousands of doctors to more than 40 countries around the world.[384] According to the World Health Organization, Cuba is "known the world over for its ability to train excellent doctors and nurses who can then go out to help other countries in need".[385] As of September 2014, there are around 50,000 Cuban-trained health care workers aiding 66 nations.[386] Cuban physicians have played a leading role in combating the Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa.[387] Preventative medicine is very important within the Cuban medical system, which provides citizens with easy to obtain regular health checks.[26]

Import and export of pharmaceutical drugs is done by the Quimefa Pharmaceutical Business Group (FARMACUBA) under the Ministry of Basic Industry (MINBAS). This group also provides technical information for the production of these drugs.[388] Isolated from the West by the US embargo, Cuba developed the successful lung cancer vaccine, Cimavax, which is now available to US researchers for the first time, along with other novel Cuban cancer treatments. The vaccine has been available for free to the Cuban population since 2011.[389] According to Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center CEO Candace Johnson: "They've had to do more with less, so they've had to be even more innovative with how they approach things. For over 40 years, they have had a preeminent immunology community."[390] During the thaw in Cuba–U.S. relations starting in December 2014 under the Obama administration, a growing number of U.S. lung cancer patients traveled to Cuba to receive vaccine treatment. The end of the thaw under the Trump Administration has resulted in a tightening of travel restrictions, making it harder for U.S. citizens to travel to Cuba for treatment.[391]

In 2015, Cuba became the first country to eradicate mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis,[392] a milestone hailed by the World Health Organization as "one of the greatest public health achievements possible".[393]

Diet and Nutrition in the Cuban Household

The traditional diet in Cuban households has raised international concerns due to its lack of micronutrients and diversity. According to the World Food Programme (WFP), an entity of the United Nations, the average diet in Cuba lacks adequate nutritional quality. This is attributed to various factors, including limited availability of nutrient-rich foods, socioeconomic issues, and poor dietary habits.[30] The WFP's annual report on Cuba supports previous testimonies and evidence, pointing to a concerning situation. Even though the country has rolled out food subsidy programs, many backed by the WFP, the populace's diet remains nutritionally insufficient. Specifically, rationed food covers only a small percentage of the daily energy, protein, and fat requirements for the population aged 14 to 60.[30]

Such deficiencies have led to health issues like overweight and obesity, largely due to a diet high in sugars and salts. Additionally, there is a significant disparity in accessing proper nutrition. Individuals without access to foreign currencies and remittances are the most affected. The inadequacy of the minimum wage to meet recommended nutritional requirements is another concern highlighted in the report.[30] The political and socioeconomic landscape has influenced this scenario. The implementation of the "Tarea Ordenamiento", an economic reform that removed many food subsidies, has spurred alarming inflation, intensifying the shortage of basic foods like cereals, vegetables, dairy, and meat. As a result, Cuban households spend between 55% and 65% of their income on food, a proportion deemed disproportionate compared to international standards.[30]

Nevertheless, the report acknowledges the Cuban government's efforts in areas like social protection and universal access to basic services. It highlights Cuba's position in the Human Development Report 2021–2022 and the extensive COVID-19 vaccination coverage.[30] To address food security challenges, the WFP has enhanced its collaboration with Cuban authorities. In 2022, the organization procured essential foods and macronutrients worth $10.7 million in response to alarming figures about anemia prevalence in infants.[30]

Amid this nutritional crisis, international interventions and collaborations are anticipated to alleviate the food and nutrition issues plaguing the Cuban populace.[30]

Culture

Main article: Culture of Cuba

A local musical house, Casa de la Trova in Santiago de Cuba

Cuban culture is influenced by its melting pot of cultures, primarily those of Spain, West Africa and the Indigenous Guanahatabey and Taínos of Cuba. After the 1959 revolution, the government started a national literacy campaign, offered free education to all and established rigorous sports, ballet, and music programs.[394]

Architecture

Main article: Architecture of Cuba

The 18th-century entrance of the Castillo del Príncipe in Havana, photo taken in 1997

Cuban architecture reflects a range of historical influences, with its foundations rooted primarily in the Spanish colonial period. Early settlements, or villas, were typically organized around a central church, surrounded by residential structures. These homes often featured interior courtyards and iron grilles, a characteristic element of colonial domestic architecture. Spanish Baroque architecture played a significant role during this era, exemplified by religious buildings such as the Basílica de San Francisco in Havana. In response to the threat of piracy, large fortifications were also constructed, contributing to the island’s defensive infrastructure.

Several historic urban centers developed during the colonial period, many of which have been recognized for their architectural and cultural value. Notable examples include Havana, Camagüey, Cienfuegos and Trinidad, all of which are inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. These cities display a variety of architectural styles, ranging from Baroque and Neoclassical to eclectic influences. Additional towns such as Santiago de Cuba, Matanzas or Remedios also preserve significant colonial-era architecture.

During the Republican period (1902–1959), Cuban architecture saw the construction of prominent public and commercial buildings. Notable examples include El Capitolio, inspired by the United States Capitol, as well as modern high-rise structures such as the FOCSA Building and the Habana Hilton (later renamed Habana Libre). Architect Antonio Quintana Simonetti emerged as a leading figure during the mid-20th century, contributing to the development of modern Cuban architecture.

Following the Cuban Revolution in 1959, architectural styles were heavily influenced by Soviet urban planning, emphasizing functionality, uniformity, and efficiency. Residential neighborhoods constructed during this period reflected the characteristics of socialist realism seen in cities like Moscow and Minsk. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, Cuban architecture became more varied. The 1990s and early 21st century saw a rise in the construction of luxury hotels, incorporating modern materials such as glass and steel, and reflecting global architectural trends similar to those found in cities like Mexico City, Caracas, and New York.

Literature

Main article: Cuban literature

Cuban literature began to find its voice in the early 19th century. Dominant themes of independence and freedom were exemplified by José Martí, who led the Modernist movement in Cuban literature. Writers such as Nicolás Guillén and José Z. Tallet focused on literature as social protest. The poetry and novels of Dulce María Loynaz and José Lezama Lima have been influential. Romanticist Miguel Barnet, who wrote Everyone Dreamed of Cuba, reflects a more melancholy Cuba.[395]

Alejo Carpentier was important in the magic realism movement. Writers such as Reinaldo Arenas, Guillermo Cabrera Infante, and Daína Chaviano, Pedro Juan Gutiérrez, Zoé Valdés, Guillermo Rosales and Leonardo Padura have earned international recognition in the post-revolutionary era, though many of these have felt compelled to continue their work in exile due to ideological control of media by the Cuban authorities. However, some Cuban writers continue living and writing in Cuba, including Nancy Morejón.[396]

Music

Main article: Music of Cuba

Gloria Estefan and Celia Cruz

Cuban music is very rich and is the most commonly known expression of Cuban culture. The central form of this music is son, which has been the basis of many other musical styles like "Danzón de nuevo ritmo", mambo, cha-cha-chá and salsa music. Rumba ("de cajón o de solar") music originated in the early Afro-Cuban culture, mixed with Spanish elements of style.[397] The Tres was invented in Cuba from Spanish cordophone instruments models (the instrument is actually a fusion of elements from the Spanish guitar and lute). Other traditional Cuban instruments are of African origin, Taíno origin, or both, such as the maracas, güiro, marímbula and various wooden drums including the mayohuacán.

Popular Cuban music of all styles has been enjoyed and praised widely across the world. Cuban classical music, which includes music with strong African and European influences, and features symphonic works as well as music for soloists, has received international acclaim thanks to composers like Ernesto Lecuona. Havana was the heart of the rap scene in Cuba when it began in the 1990s. In December 2012, the director of the Cuban Music Institute, Orlando Vistel, threatened to bar sexually explicit songs and music videos from public radio and television.[398]

Dance

Main article: Dance from Cuba

Cuban culture encompasses a wide range of dance forms.[399] Danzón was the official musical genre and dance of Cuba.[400] Mambo music and dance developed originally in Cuba, with further significant developments by Cuban musicians in Mexico and the US. The cha-cha-cha is another dance of Cuban origin,[401] while the Cuban bolero originated in Santiago de Cuba in the last quarter of the 19th century.[402] Concert dance is supported by the government and includes internationally renowned companies such as the Ballet Nacional de Cuba.[403]

Salsa dancing originated in Cuba and Cuban salsa is danced around the world.

Media

Main article: Mass media in Cuba

Users of a public WiFi hotspot in Havana, Cuba

ETECSA opened 118 cybercafes across the country in 2013.[404] The government of Cuba provides an online encyclopedia website called EcuRed that operates in a "wiki" format.[405] Internet access is controlled, and e-mail is closely monitored.[406]

Since 2018, access to Internet by mobile data is available. In 2019, 7.1 million Cubans could access the Internet.[407] The prices of connections, since[clarification needed] WiFi zones, or mobile data, or from houses through "Nauta Hogar" service have been decreasing, especially since the economic reform of January 2021, when all the salaries increased by at least 5 times, and the prices of Internet remain in the same point.[408][409] In 2024, it was reported that 8.19 million Cuban people have Internet access.[410] There were 6.68 million mobile connections in Cuba in January 2021.[410]

Cuisine

Main article: Cuban cuisine

A traditional meal of ropa vieja (shredded flank steak in a tomato sauce base), black beans, yellow rice, plantains and fried yuca with beer

Cuban cuisine is a fusion of Spanish and Caribbean cuisines. Cuban recipes share spices and techniques with Spanish cooking, with some Caribbean influence in spice and flavor. Food rationing, which has been the norm in Cuba for the last four decades, restricts the common availability of these dishes.[411] The traditional Cuban meal is not served in courses; all food items are served at the same time.

The typical meal could consist of plantains, black beans and rice, ropa vieja (shredded beef), Cuban bread, pork with onions, and tropical fruits. Black beans and rice, referred to as moros y cristianos (or moros for short), and plantains are staples of the Cuban diet. Many of the meat dishes are cooked slowly with light sauces. Garlic, cumin, oregano, and bay leaves are the dominant spices.[citation needed]

Sports

Main article: Sport in Cuba

Due to historical associations with the United States, many Cubans participate in sports that are popular in North America, rather than sports traditionally played in other Latin American nations. Baseball is the most popular. Other popular sports include volleyball, boxing, athletics, wrestling, basketball and water sports.[412] Cuba is a dominant force in amateur boxing, consistently achieving high medal tallies in major international competitions. Boxers Rances Barthelemy and Erislandy Lara defected to the U.S. and Mexico respectively.[413][414] Cuba also provides a national team that competes in the Olympic Games.[415] Jose R. Capablanca was a Cuban world chess champion from 1921 to 1927.

See also

    flagCuba portalmapCaribbean portaliconIslands portal

    Index of Cuba-related articles

    List of Caribbean islands

    Outline of Cuba

    The Cuba Libre Story

Notes

/ˈkjuːbə/ ⓘ KEW-bə, Spanish: [ˈkuβa] ⓘ

Spanish: República de Cuba [reˈpuβlika ðe ˈkuβa]

After the French captured Havana in 1555, the governor's son, Francisco de Angulo, went to the Viceroyalty of New Spain.[50]

According to one military historian, "The thirty-eight individuals who responded to the call for independence on 9 October 1868 had almost no military experience. They, and other Cubans, ignorant of the martial skills, were soon joined by a small band of political refugees from Santo Domingo. A number of these individuals had fought for Spain in Santo Domingo following its re-annexation (1861–65). When Spain quit Santo Domingo for the second time, some Dominican colonial officers immigrated to Cuba. Most were unable to find service in the Spanish army in Cuba. Some of these former soldiers joined the new Revolutionary army and provided its initial training and leadership."[60] Mercenaries from Canada, Colombia, France, Mexico, and the United States also joined the Cuban Revolutionary Army. Chinese nationals, brought to Cuba as indentured servants, also fought for the cause.[60] By 1876, the Cuban Revolutionary movement was facing internal strife, largely driven by racial tensions. General Máximo Gómez surrendered his command after officers refused to follow his orders because he was Dominican. At the same time, the campaign against Antonio Maceo, a mulatto leader, grew stronger as white factions sought to undermine his leadership because of his race. These racial divisions contributed to a decline in morale within the Revolutionary Army.[61]

    Roy's study was described as "systematic and fair" by Jorge Domínguez.[225]

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Feinsilver 1989, pp. 4–5: "Its success has been acclaimed by Dr. Halfdan Mahler, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), and Dr. Carlysle Guerra de Macedo, Director-General of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), as well as by medical professionals from the United States and other capitalist countries who have observed the Cuban health system in action. Despite U.S. hostility toward Cuba, a U.S. government document stated in 1982 that the 'Cuban Revolution has managed social achievements, especially in education and health care, that are highly respected in the Third World ..., [including] a national health care program that is superior in the Third World and rivals that of numerous developed countries.'"

Lundy, Karen Saucier. Community Health Nursing: Caring for the Public's Health. Jones and Bartlett: 2005, p. 377.

Whiteford, Linda M.; Manderson, Lenore, eds. (2000). Global Health Policy, Local Realities: The Fallacy of the Level Playing Field. Boulder, Col.: Lynne Rienner Publishers. p. 69. ISBN 978-1-55587-874-0. Retrieved 14 September 2009.

Breier & Wildschut 2007, pp. 16, 81.

"Cuban medical team heading for Sierra Leone". World Health Organization. 14 September 2014. Archived from the original on 14 September 2014. Retrieved 27 July 2021.

Cuban medical team heading for Sierra Leone Archived 28 December 2016 at the Wayback Machine. World Health Organization. September 2014.

Alexandra Sifferlin (5 November 2014). Why Cuba Is So Good at Fighting Ebola . Time. Retrieved 28 April 2015.

"Centro de Promoción del Comercio Exterior y la Inversión Extranjera de Cuba – CEPEC". Cepec.cu. Archived from the original on 20 June 2012. Retrieved 10 June 2013.

Erin Schumaker (14 May 2015). Cuba's Had A Lung Cancer Vaccine For Years, And Now It's Coming To The U.S. Archived 3 May 2016 at the Wayback Machine The Huffington Post. Retrieved 18 May 2015.

Rob Quinn (12 May 2015). USA about to get Cuba's lung cancer vaccine Archived 23 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine. USA Today. Retrieved 14 May 2015.

Jacobs, Sally (10 January 2018). "Cuba has a lung cancer vaccine. Many U.S. patients can't get it without breaking the law". USA Today. Retrieved 16 October 2018.

"WHO validates elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis in Cuba". World Health Organization. 30 June 2015. Archived from the original on 2 July 2015. Retrieved 30 August 2015.

O'Carroll, Lisa (30 June 2015). "Cuba first to eliminate mother-to-baby HIV transmission". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 July 2015.

Burnett, Victoria (24 July 2013). "For Cuba, a Harsh Self-Assessment". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 July 2013.

Costa Rica – Journey into the Tropical Garden of Eden

"Nancy Morejón". Smith College. Retrieved 20 July 2021.

Moore, Robin (1997). Nationalizing Blackness: Afrocubanismo and Artistic Revolution in Havana, 1920–1940. University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN 978-0-8229-5645-7.

"Cuban Government Censors Reggaeton and 'Sexually Explicit' Songs". United States: ABC News. 6 December 2012. Retrieved 19 July 2013.

Daniel, Yvonne (1995). Rumba: Dance and Social Change in Contemporary Cuba. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. p. 28. ISBN 9780253209481.

Urfé, Odilio 1965. El danzón. La Habana.

Orovio, Helio 2004. Cuban music from A to Z. p50

Cristobal Diaz offers 1885: "el bolero, creado aproximadamente para 1885". Diaz Ayala, Cristobal 1999. Cuando sali de la Habana 1898-1997: cien años de música cubana por el mundo. 3rd ed, Cubanacán, San Juan P.R. p24-25

John, S. (2012). Contemporary Dance in Cuba: Tecnica Cubana as Revolutionary Movement. McFarland & Company. p. 23. ISBN 978-0-7864-9325-8.

"Cuba's New Internet Service is Also No Bed of Roses". MIT Technology Review. 16 July 2013. Retrieved 19 July 2013.

"Cuba launches Wikipedia-like online encyclopedia". Reuters. 13 December 2010. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.

"Internet in Cuba". Reporters Without Borders. Archived from the original on 27 July 2011.

"El acceso a internet en Cuba llega a 7,1 millones de usuarios en 2019". EFE. 26 February 2020. Retrieved 3 June 2021.

"Internet access in Cuba: How data plans work on the Island". Retrieved 3 June 2021.

"El acceso a internet en Cuba llega a 7,1 millones de usuarios en 2019".

"Digital 2024: Cuba". 23 February 2024. Retrieved 11 April 2025.

Alvarez 2001.

Cuban Sports whatcuba.com. Retrieved 23 February 2021.

"Cuban boxer defected unsuccessfully 38 times before realizing U.S. dream". Yahoo Sports. 18 June 2015.

Satterfield, Lem (10 June 2015). "From Cuba to world champion: Arduous defection continues to drive Erislandy Lara". PBC Boxing.

    "Cuba – Comité Olímpico Cubano – National Olympic Committee". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 10 June 2013.

Bibliography

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    Allaire, Louis (2000). "Archaeology of the Caribbean Region". In Frank Salomon (ed.). South America. The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas. Vol. III. Stuart B. Schwartz (third ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-63075-4.

    Alvarez, José (2001). "Rationed Products and Something Else: Food Availability and Distribution in 2000". Cuba in Transition, Volume 11. Silver Spring, MD: ASCE. pp. 305–322. ISBN 978-0-9649082-0-8. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 December 2021. Retrieved 25 March 2013.

    Alvarez, José (2004). Cuban Agriculture Before 1959: The Social Situation (PDF). Gainesville, FL: Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Florida. Retrieved 25 March 2013.

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    Breier, Mignonne; Wildschut, Angelique (2007). Doctors in a Divided Society: The Profession and Education of Medical Practitioners in South Africa. HSRC Press. ISBN 978-0-7969-2153-6.

    Chomsky, Aviva; Carr, Barry; Smorkaloff, Pamela Maria, eds. (2004). The Cuba Reader: History, Culture, Politics. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-3197-1.

    Clodfelter, Micheal (2017). Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492–2015 (4th ed.). McFarland. ISBN 978-0786474707.

    Corbett, Ben (2002). This Is Cuba: An Outlaw Culture Survives. Westview Press. ISBN 978-0-8133-3826-2.

    Domínguez, Jorge I. (1978). Cuba: Order and Revolution. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press. ISBN 978-0-674-17925-7.

    Domínguez, Jorge I. (1989). To Make a World Safe for Revolution: Cuba's Foreign Policy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-89325-2.

    Domínguez, Jorge I. (2003). A Constitution for Cuba's Political Transition: The Utility of Retaining (and Amending) the 1992 Constitution (PDF). Coral Gables, FL: Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, University of Miami. ISBN 978-1-932385-04-5. Retrieved 19 August 2012.

    Espino, María Dolores (2000). "Cuban Tourism During the Special Period". Cuba in Transition, Volume 10. Silver Spring, MD: ASCE. ISBN 978-0-9649082-8-4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 December 2021. Retrieved 25 March 2013.

    Falk, Pamela S. (1988). "Washing and Havana". The Wilson Quarterly. 12 (5): 64–74. JSTOR 40257732.

    Feinsilver, Julie M. (1989). "Cuba as a 'World Medical Power': The Politics of Symbolism". Latin American Research Review. 24 (2): 1–34. doi:10.1017/S0023879100022810. JSTOR 2503679. S2CID 157183823.

    Gebru Tareke (2009). The Ethiopian Revolution: War in the Horn of Africa. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-14163-4.

    Gershman, Carl; Gutierrez, Orlando (2009). "Can Cuba Change? Ferment in Civil Society". Journal of Democracy. 20 (1): 36–54. doi:10.1353/jod.0.0051. S2CID 144413653.

    Gleijeses, Piero (1996). "Cuba's First Venture in Africa: Algeria, 1961–1965". Journal of Latin American Studies. 28 (1): 159–195. doi:10.1017/s0022216x00012670. JSTOR 157991. S2CID 144610436.

    Gleijeses, Piero (1997). "The First Ambassadors: Cuba's Contribution to Guinea-Bissau's War of Independence". Journal of Latin American Studies. 29 (1): 45–88. doi:10.1017/s0022216x96004646. JSTOR 158071. S2CID 144904249.

    Gleijeses, Piero (2002). Conflicting Missions: Havana, Washington, and Africa, 1959–1976. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-0-8078-2647-8.

    Gleijeses, Piero (2010). "Cuba and the Cold War, 1959–1980". In Melvyn P. Leffler & Odd Arne Westad, eds., The Cambridge History of the Cold War, Volume II: Crises and Détente. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 327–348. ISBN 978-0-521-83720-0.

    Gott, Richard (2004). Cuba: A New History. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-10411-0.

    Horowitz, Irving Louis (1988). Cuban Communism. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books. ISBN 978-0-88738-672-5.

    McAlister, Lyle N. (1984). Spain and Portugal in the New World, 1492–1700. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 978-0-8166-1216-1.

    Pedraza, Silvia (2007). Political Disaffection in Cuba's Revolution and Exodus. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-86787-0.

    Ramazani, Rouhollah K. (1975). The Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz. Alphen aan den Rijn: Sijthoff & Noordhoff. ISBN 978-90-286-0069-0.

    Roy, Joaquín (2000). Cuba, the United States, and the Helms-Burton Doctrine: International Reactions. Gainesville, FL: University of Florida Press. ISBN 978-0-8130-1760-0.

    Scheina, Robert L. (2003). Latin America's Wars, Volume I: The Age of the Caudillo, 1791–1899. Dulles, VA: Brassey's. ISBN 978-1-57488-449-4.

    Scheina, Robert L. (2003b). Latin America's Wars Volume II: The Age of the Professional Soldier, 1900-2001.

    Scott, Rebecca J. (2000) [1985]. Slave Emancipation in Cuba: The Transition to Free Labor, 1860–1899. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN 978-0-8229-5735-5.

    Smith, Wayne S. (1996). "Cuba's Long Reform". Foreign Affairs. 75 (2): 99–112. doi:10.2307/20047491. JSTOR 20047491.

    Smith, Kirby; Llorens, Hugo (1998). "Renaissance and Decay: A Comparison of Socioeconomic Indicators in Pre-Castro and Current-Day Cuba". Cuba in Transition, Volume 8. Silver Spring, MD: ASCE. pp. 247–259. ISBN 978-0-9649082-7-7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 April 2023. Retrieved 25 March 2013.

    Sweig, Julia E. (2004) [2002]. Inside the Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro and the Urban Underground (New ed.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01612-5.

    Thomas, Hugh (1998). Cuba; or, The Pursuit of Freedom (updated ed.). Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-306-80827-2.

    Westad, Odd Arne (2012). Restless Empire: China and the World Since 1750. London: The Bodley Head. ISBN 978-1-84792-197-0.

    Whiteford, Linda M.; Branch, Laurence G. (2008). Primary Health Care in Cuba: The Other Revolution. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-7425-5994-3.

    Wright, Irene Aloha (1916). The Early History of Cuba, 1492–1586. New York, NY: The Macmillan Company.

External links

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The Cold War Timeline

History » Cold War » The Cold War Timeline

cold war timeline

This post is a comprehensive timeline of the Cold War, from the origins of the Russian-American conflict following World War Two to the final dissolution of the Soviet Union and the fall of the Berlin Wall at the end of the 20th century.

Scroll down to learn more. Alternatively, watch this nine-minute explainer video for an overview of the Cold War.

This article is part of our larger collection of resources on the Cold War. For a comprehensive outline of the origins, key events, and conclusion of the Cold War, click here. 

This article is also part of our larger selection of posts about the Vietnam War. To learn more, click here for our comprehensive guide to the Vietnam War.

Cold War Timeline

Date

Summary

Detailed Information

February 4th – 11th 1945 Yalta Conference Meeting between Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin to decide what would happen at the end of the war. Topics discussed included –

Partitioning of Germany

Fate of Poland

The United Nations

German reparations

May 8th 1945 V E Day Victory in Europe as Germany surrenders to the Russian army.

July 17th – August 2nd 1945 Potsdam Conference The Potsdam Conference formally divided Germany and Austria into four zones. It was also agreed that the German capital Berlin would be divided into four zones. The Russian Polish border was determined and Korea was to be divided into Soviet and American zones.

August 6th 1945 Hiroshima The United States dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima

August 8th 1945 Nagasaki The United States dropped the second atomic bomb on Nagasaki.

August 14th 1945 V J Day The Japanese surrendered bringing World War Two to an end.

September 2nd 1945 Vietnam Independence Ho Chi Minh proclaimed Vietnam an independent republic.

March 5th 1946 Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech Churchill delivers his ‘Sinews of Peace’ speech which contain the famous phrase “..an iron curtain has descended on Europe”

March 12th 1947 Truman Doctrine President Truman promised to help any country facing a Communist takeover

June 5th 1947 Marshall Plan This was a programme of economic aid offered by the United States to any European country. The plan was rejected outright by Stalin and any Eastern Bloc country considering accepting aid was reprimanded severely. Consequently the aid was only given to Western European Countries.

September 1947 Cominform The USSR set up Cominform (Communist Information Bureau) which was the Information Bureau of the Communist and Workers’ Parties responsible for the creation of the Eastern bloc.

June 1948 Formation of West Germany The French, USA and UK partitions of Germany were merged to form West Germany

June 24th 1948 Berlin Blockade Russia’s response to the merger of the French, USA and UK partitions of Berlin was to cut all road and rail links to that sector. This meant that those living in Western Berlin had no access to food supplies and faced starvation. Food was brought to Western Berliners by US and UK airplanes, an exercise known as the Berlin Airlift.

May 1949 End of Berlin Blockade Russia ended the blockade of Berlin.

April 4th 1949 NATO formed The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation formed with member states Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States

June 25th 1950 Korean War The Korean war began when North Korea invaded South Korea.

March 5th 1953 Death of Stalin Joseph Stalin died at the age of 74. He was succeeded by Nikita Khrushchev.

July 27th 1953 Korean War The Korean war ended. North Korea remained affiliated with Russia while South Korea was affiliated with the USA.

Summer 1954 Geneva Accords This set of documents ended the French war with the Vietminh and divided Vietnam into North and South states. The communist leader of North Vietnam was Ho Chi Minh while the US friendly south was led by Ngo Dinh Diem.

May 14th 1955 Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact was formed with member states East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Albania, Bulgaria, and the Soviet Union.

October 23rd 1956 Hungarian Revolution This began as a Hungarian protest against Communist rule in Budapest. It quickly gathered momentum and on 24th October Soviet tanks entered Budapest. The tanks withdrew on 28th October and a new government was formed which quickly moved to introduce democracy, freedom of speech, and freedom of religion. The Soviet tanks returned on 4th November encircling Budapest. The Prime Minister Imre Nagy made a World broadcast that Hungary was under attack from the Soviet Union and calling for aid. Hungary fell to Russia on 10th November 1956.

October 30th 1956 Suez Crisis Following military bombardment by Israeli forces, a joint British and French force invaded Egypt to regain control of the Suez Canal which had been nationalised by the Egyptian leader Nasser. The attack was heavily criticised by World leaders, especially America because Russia had offered support to Egypt. The British and French were forced to withdraw and a UN peace keeping force was sent to establish order.

November 1st 1957 Space Race USSR Sputnik II carried Laika the dog, the first living creature to go into space.

1960 Paris East/West talks Talks between Nikita Khrushchev and Dwight Eisenhower concerning the fate of Germany broke down when a USA U2 spy plane was shot down over Russian airspace.

April 12th 1961 Space Race Russian cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyvich Gagarin became the first human being in space.

April 17th 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion A force of Cuban exiles, trained by the CIA, aided by the US government attempted to invade Cuba and overthrow the Communist government of Fidel Castro. The attempt failed.

August 13th 1961 Berlin Wall Berlin wall built and borders sealed between East and West Germany.

October 14th 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis A US spy plane reported sighting the construction of a Soviet nuclear missile base in Cuba. President Kennedy set up a naval blockade and demanded the removal of the missiles. War was averted when the Russians agreed on 28th October to remove the weapons. The United States agreed not to invade Cuba.

November 22nd 1963 JFK Assassination JF Kennedy was assassinated while on a visit to Dallas. Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested for the murder but there has always been speculation that he was not a lone killer and that there may have been communist or CIA complicity.

October 15th 1964 USSR Nikita Krushchev removed from office. He was replaced by Leonid Brezhnev.

July 1965 Vietnam War 150,000 US troops sent to Vietnam.

August 20th 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia Warsaw Pact forces entered Czechoslovakia in a bid to stop the reforms known as ‘Prague Spring’ instigated by Alexander Dubcek. When he refused to halt his programme of reforms Dubcek was arrested.

December 21st 1968 Space Race US launched Apollo 8 – first manned orbit of the Moon.

20th July 1969 Space Race US Apollo 11 landed on the Moon and Neil Armstrong became the first man on the Moon.

April 30th 1970 Vietnam War President Richard Nixon ordered US troops to go to Cambodia.

September 3rd 1971 Four Power Agreement Berlin The Four Power Agreement made between Russia, USA, Britain and France reconfirmed the rights and responsibilities of those countries with regard to Berlin.

May 26th 1972 SALT Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty signed between the US and USSR.

August 15th 1973 Vietnam The Paris Peace Accords ended American involvement in Vietnam.

April 17th 1975 Cambodia Killing fields The Khmer Rouge attacked and took control of Cambodia. Any supporters of the former regime, anyone with links or supposed links to foreign governments as well as many intellectuals and professionals were executed in a genocide that became known as the ‘killing fields’.

April 30th 1975 Vietnam North Vietnam invaded South Vietnam. The capture of Saigon by the North Vietnamese led to the whole country becoming Communist

July 1975 Apollo-Soyuz Test Project Joint space venture between USA and USSR heralded as an end to the ‘Space Race’

January 20th 1977 Carter President Jimmy Carter became the 39th President of the United States

November 4th 1979 Iranian hostage crisis A group of Iranian students and militants stormed the American embassy and took 53 Americans hostage to show their support for the Iranian Revolution.

December 24th 1979 Afghanistan Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan

July 1980 Olympic Boycott by USA A number of countries including the USA boycotted the summer Olympics held in Moscow in protest at the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Other countries including Great Britain participated under the Olympic flag rather than their national flag

December 13th 1980 Poland Martial law was declared to crush the Solidarity movement

January 20th 1981 Iranian hostage crisis ended The Iranian hostage crisis ended 444 days after it began

June 1982 START During a summit in Geneva Reagan proposed Strategic Arms Reduction Talks

July 1984 Olympic boycott by Russia Russia and 13 allied countries boycotted the summer Olympics held in Los Angeles in retaliation for the US boycott of 1980.

March 11th 1985 Govbachov leader of USSR Mikhail Gorbachev became leader of the Soviet Union

April 26th 1986 Chernobyl Disaster An explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Ukraine  remains the worst nuclear disaster in history

June 1987 Glasnost and Perestroika Mikhail Gorbachev announced his intention to follow a policy of glasnost – openness, transparency and freedom of speech; and perestroika – restructuring of government and economy. He also advocated free elections and ending the arms race.

February 15th 1989 Afghanistan The last Soviet troops left Afghanistan

June 4th 1989 Tiananmen Square Anti Communist protests in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China were crushed by the government. The death count is unknown.

August 1989 Poland Tadeusz Mazowiecki elected leader of the Polish government – the first eastern bloc country to become a democracy

October 23rd 1989 Hungary Hungary proclaimed itself a republic

November 9th 1989 Fall of the Berlin Wall The Berlin wall was torn down

November 17th – December 29th 1989 Velvet Revolution The Velvet Revolution, also known as the Gentle Revolution, was a series of peaceful protests in Czechoslovakia that led to the overthrow of the Communist government.

December 2nd, 3rd 1989 Malta Summit This meeting between Mikhail Gorbachov and George H W Bush reversed much of the provisions of the Yalta Conference 1945. It is seen by some as the beginning of the end of the cold war.

December 16th – 25th 1989 Romanian Revolution Riots broke out which culminated in the overthrow and execution of the leader Ceauşescu and his wife.

October 3rd 1990 German reunification East and West Germany were reunited as one country.

1st July 1991 End of Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact which allied Communist countries was ended

31st July 1991 START The Strategic Arms Reduction treaty was signed between Russia and the USA

25th December 1991 Gorbachev resigned Mikhail Gorbachev resigned. The hammer and sickle flag on the Kremlin was lowered

26th December 1991 End of the Soviet Union Russia formally recognised the end of the Soviet Union

This article is part of our larger selection of posts about the Cold War. To learn more, click here for our comprehensive guide to the Cold War.

Additional Resources About Cold War

What Was the Iron Curtain and How Did It Collapse?

cold war timeline

The Origins of the Cold War Timeline

cold war detente

Cold War Detente — US/Soviet Enmity Cools

When Did China Become Communist?

When Did China Become Communist?

PODCAST: HISTORY UNPLUGGEDThe Cold War — Not WW2 — Was Arguably the Defining Event of the 20th Century