John F. Kennedy's Missile Crisis: Extreme Nuclear War

A large component of the Cold War was the Cuban Missile Crisis; this started when the U.S. attempted to assist the rebel Cubans to defeat the Cuban dictator, Fidel Castro. The United States failed during the Bay of Pigs invasion by not properly taking out the Cuban Navy and solider as planned. After the attack, Fidel Castro gave a speech stating “Everybody, men and women, young and old, we are all one in this moment of danger.”(Document H). This attacked caused the people of Cuba to fear what would happen if the U.S.—an omnipotent country of the time—attacked Cuba again. Their fear of the United States united the Cuban people and generating their support for communism.

The Cuban Missile Crisis occurred in the month of October, 1962 when American-Soviet relations were tested by the installation of nuclear missiles in Cuba by the Soviet Union. Many historians point to this moment in time as the closest the United States and the Soviets ever came to nuclear war. The tensions began to rise once the Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961, supported by the American government, failed to remove Fidel Castro from power in Cuba. As a result, Castro was open for the Soviet Premier Khrushchev to place troops and nuclear missiles to threaten the United States. Khrushchev considered this justifiable because of the American missiles positioned in Turkey. The support for Cuba provided the Soviets with several political and diplomatic advantages, and became an immediate threat in the eyes of the American government.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s State of the Union Address in the year 1942 opened with a powerful start. He remained good in posture, strong verbal skills, gestures and strong eye contact with his audience which goes to show confidence and being in control of your speech (Stephen D. Boyd, 2017). He addressed the Americans, the citizens of the United States before he mentioned anything. He went to show that the President, himself found faith in their spirits and how he was merely proud of his citizens. He presented a powerful statement to his audience by acknowledging them and according to Matt Eventoff, “a statement or phrase can catch the audience’s attention by keeping them guessing as to what you’re about to say next. Implementing the silence technique

After the long, hardships of World War Two the Cold War had begun. This was a period of distrust between global superpowers Russia and the United States of America. This brought Kennedy into the limelight with his ambitious desire for America to be the first out of the two to have a man on the Moon this then commenced the highly competitive space race. The decision was announced to the general public

Freedom can be defined in many different ways, the dictionary definition, meaning the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint may be how you see freedom. One thing most of the people in the world would agree on is that freedom throughout the world. Both Roosevelt’s “Four Freedoms” speech and Kennedy’s inaugural address discuss upholding freedom in the world. However, Roosevelt’s speech talks about supporting war in the efforts to maintain peace, whereas Kennedy’s speech talks about using more peaceful means like negotiating and coming to an agreement.

In his speech Kennedy uses different rhetorical devices to unify the citizens of both the United States and the world. Kennedy was giving this speech after winning by a very small margin of votes so he was trying to unite the people of the United States and show he was the correct choice for the president. This speech was given during the Cold War so he was trying to connect the people around the whole world and establish peace. Kennedy was able to unify the people and try to establish peace while at the same time making himself seem like a very competent leader. In his speech Kennedy tries to build his credibility as a personable leader by creating ethos. Kennedy uses the words we twenty eight times, us twelve times and our twenty one times.

George Washington’s 1793 Second Inaugural Speech expresses the desire to be an upfront and honest president. He promised to show confidence and convey that he has been given a huge honor in being elected, again. He allowed for fellow Americans to scold and blame him, if he made any mistakes knowingly, or unknowingly. George did not wish for constitutional punishment to be brought, upon him, though.

In 1962, in the midst of the international space race, steel prices in the U.S. began to rise. In this speech delivered by John F. Kennedy, he claims that there is no justification for these increasing steel prices through the use of logos and pathos.

Some historians believe the Cold War was inevitable because of the hostilities from both America and the Soviet Union after World War II. America believed that the USSR was an expansionist country trying to spread an evil, communistic idea throughout the world. Although the countries never directly fought against each other, as they only fought in proxy wars, there was still extreme conflict. The United States responded to the Soviets actions in Germany, Europe, and their national actions. These responses were justifiable, or so many Americans at the time believed. Many realized that the Soviet Union was a terrible foe to face, as George Kennan, a respected American diplomat, noticed. He said in “The Sources of Soviet Conduct,” “This means

One option during the Cuban Missile Crisis was to go into an all out nuclear war. None of the countries wanted this option, but it was still possible. This is true because in Document C it says, “The most important thing for us is to get an agreement as soon as possible.” This proves that both the USSR and the US wanted to come to a quick

With the constant threat of nuclear war overshadowing everyday life, the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 not only divided Germany, but manifested as a physical division between “the free world” and “the Communist world”, as termed by President John F. Kennedy. Two years later, he delivered his famous “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech at the Brandenburg Gate. Through heavy emotional appeal and an encouraging tone, Kennedy not only offers American solidarity to West Berlin, but instills confidence in the crusade for democracy across the globe.

During the Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis took place. It was when two superpowers were close to causing a nuclear war. Its main origin was when the United States invaded Cuba, on April 10, 1961; which is also known as the Bay of Pigs invasion. After the invasion, previous Prime Minister; Fidel Castro of Cuba, was ‘paranoid’ because he felt like America was planning another attack. So in order to protect his nation, he sought military and economic help from the Soviet Union. Late president Nikita Khrushchev (from USSR), agreed to assist Castro and took immediate action. He installed missiles in Cuba, which the US thought was a threat to the security of their nation. In summary, I think that this was a defensive move by the Cubans.

On June 26, 1963, John F. Kennedy stopped in the city of West Berlin in Germany which, at the time, was under American, French, and British control after the city of Berlin was split into four sections controlled by France, Great Britain, United States of America, and the Soviet Union following World War 2. Kennedy delivered this speech in order to reassure the citizens of West Berlin that they had the support of the Western powers such as America despite attempts from the Soviet Union to destroy West Berlin by blockading all roads and railways into West Berlin and constructing the infamous Berlin Wall to prevent those who were living under Soviet control from moving from East Berlin to West Berlin and achieving freedom. Kennedy used this speech to not only show support to the people of West Berlin, but also to show the Soviet Union that the USA and other powerful nations were backing up the citizens of West Berlin who were willing to

Origin – This speech was made by John F. Kennedy (35th President of the United States from 1961-1963) during his visit to West Berlin in 1963.

The art of fear is essential in nuclear deterrence. Using the film Dr. Strangelove (Stanley Kubrick, 1964) I will argue that nuclear deterrence is hard to achieve when communication of nuclear capabilities is not well established amongst states. In this paper, I will use the film Dr. Strangelove (1964) to argue how theories such as deterrence theory, realist theory, security dilemma, preventative war, pre-emptive war as well as relative gains and zero sum game led to a failure to achieve nuclear deterrence between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. To make my argument on how more nuclear weapons may hinder deterrence, this essay will proceed as follows; I will firstly discuss the how nuclear deterrence and mutually