Cuban Missile Crisis Study Guide HSC
Cuban Missile Crisis Study Guide HSC
Cuban Missile Crisis Study Guide HSC
Background
After the failed U.S. attempt to overthrow the Castro regime in Cuba
with the Bay of Pigs invasion, and while the Kennedy administration
planned a new invasion to invade Cuba and maintain its embargo
towards Cuba, in July 1962 Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev
reached a secret agreement with Cuban premier Fidel Castro to
place Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba to deter any future invasion
attempt. Construction of several missile sites began in the late
summer, but U.S. intelligence discovered evidence of a general
Soviet arms build-up on Cuba, including Soviet IL28 bombers,
during routine surveillance flights, and on September 4, 1962,
President Kennedy issued a public warning against the introduction
of offensive weapons into Cuba. Despite the warning, on October
14 a U.S. U2 aircraft took several pictures clearly showing sites for
medium-range and intermediate-range ballistic nuclear missiles
(MRBMs and IRBMs) under construction in Cuba. These images
were processed and presented to the White House.