The Cuban Missile Crisis in 1963. The Role of Diplomacy in Preventing the 3rd Word War - Essay Example

The Cuban missile crisis is largely held as the greatest military conflict that occurred during the Cold War. American destroyers were positioned along a picket line with the aim of intercepting Soviet ships moving missiles and atomic warheads to Cuba. Moreover, American air, naval pegged with ground forces got ready for air raids against Soviet missile sites under structure in Cuba. The Strategic Air Command stood put on an extraordinary state of vigilance– “DEFCON II,” merely one step away from the fact “war is imminent.

” In October 1987, contrary to the setting of Mikhail Gorbachev’s glasnost, it is worth noting that a conference on the Cuban Missile Crisis was conducted. This was the first time, together with living veterans of the Kennedy Government, three reliable Soviet witnesses: the sons of Khrushchev coupled with his closest associate, Anastas Mikoyan, and a past Khrushchev speechwriter were in attendance. After years of persistent secrecy, the display of reliable Kremlin insiders considerately, cordially, even optimistically linking anec­dotes and examining the crisis was an exciting novelty, promis­ing further exposes (Waltz, 2012).

Evaluation His heart was thumping rapidly. His hands were quaking, and the tautness was taking his pant away. The tick tack of the watch was retelling him there was not ample time left. Similar to a chess game, John F. Kennedy was at the verge of making a quick and clever decision. Checkmate, and he would triumph in the game. But what if he made an erroneous move? A lot of people’s lives depended on his decision, hence were in his hands. What is branded as the “Fourteen days of October” (Van De Mark, 1996) stood as the closest that the universe had ever witnessed to a nuclear war.

In the course of 1962, the Soviet Union started to construct secret missile headquarters in Cuba for the drive of creating equilibrium over the U.S. arms collection. The U.S., sensing a threat from the Soviet Union, took instant actions to avert this progress. The condition eventually intensified, and neither side was philanthropic upon their stresses (Hershberg, 2004). Yet, as in each chess game, one can either gain, loose, or the game is haggard. In politics, however, the game is only haggard when there is cooperation amongst the players.

In this case, the destiny of millions plainly hinged upon the capability of two people President John F. Kennedy and Premier Nikita Khrushchev, to influence a compromise. Interests and Goals Certain people might claim that beginning a battle would be the greatest answer for US. Of course, as a global influence, it would not have been tough for them to overthrow USSR. The conflict would not essentially have to be nuclear. One of the choices that Kennedy had was to block Cuba so as to strike the missiles located by USSR in Cuba’s terrain.

It is worth noting that some people still consider that it would have been a harmless option into backing the end of the conflict. However, this would not function as a way to terminate the conflict but somewhat to initiate it. What are thought to be the significances of little wars are often the grounds for bigger ones (Jane and Ramesh, 1989). The United States deliberated on placing an attack on Cuba via air and sea. However, they agreed on a military "solitary confinement" of Cuba. The U.S.

proclaimed that it would not license aggressive