Cuba
and the United States
Look at the page on Cuba.
(1) Study sources A1 to
A6. What do these sources tell you about the following in Cuba: (a)
poverty; (b) corruption; (c) relationship with the United States.
Fidel
Castro
Look at the page on Fidel
Castro.
(2) Study sources A1 to
A7. Select passages from the sources above that reveal the qualities
needed to he a leader.
(3) Castro has been accused
of being a dictator. Is there any evidence in the sources above that
he might develop into a dictator?
(4) When on trial in 1953
Castro said this to judges trying him: "Condemn
me. It does not matter. History will absolve me!" What did he
mean by this?
Bay
of Pigs
Look at the page on the
Bay
of Pigs.
(5) What evidence is there
in these sources that the Bay of Pigs invasion was not the first method
considered for removing Fidel Castro?
(6) Fidel Castro told his
ministers not to use the word "socialist" to describe Cuba
as in the past the United States had always attempted to overthrow
socialist governments. The speech on April 14 (source A6) was the
first time Castro had used the term "socialist" to describe
the Cuban revolution. Why do you think he did this?
(7) Study sources A6, A7
and A8. What do these sources tell us about how Castro used the Bay
of Pigs to consolidate his power in Cuba? How do these sources help
to explain the comments made in source A9?
Nikita
Khrushchev and John F. Kennedy
Look at the page on Nikita
Khrushchev.
(8) What
do sources A7 to A11 tell us about Nikita Khrushchev? Why would historians
want to look at other sources before making a judgement about him?
(9) What reasons does Khrushchev
provide for preferring Kennedy to Nixon? How might Nixon have reacted
to source A8?
(10) Compare Reston and
Sorensen's assessment of the Vienna meeting. Which version does Elie
Abel tend to accept? For what reasons would an historian accept some
sources as being correct but reject others? Give as many reasons as
you can.
Cuban
Missile Crisis
Look at the page on the
Cuban
Missile Crisis.
(11) Look at source A1.
Does this prove that the Soviet Union had missiles in Cuba?
(12) In his book '13
Days' Robert Kennedy describes his reaction to being shown the
photograph: "What I saw appeared to be no more than a clearing
of a field for a farm or the basement of a house." Why then did
he believe the CIA when they told him they were Soviet missile sites?
(15) Make a list of the
different reasons put forward for the missiles being placed in Cuba.
After each reason write the number of the source from which the information
came.
(16) Study the list of
reasons and divide it into those being in the interests of the Castro's
government and those in the interests of the Khrushchev's government.
(17) Which two sources
contradict each other? Which one do you believe? Give reasons for
your decision.
Cuban
Missile Crisis Simulation
President Kennedy's first
reaction to the information about the missiles in Cuba was to call
a meeting to discuss what should be done. Fourteen men attended the
meeting and included military leaders, experts on Latin America, representatives
of the CIA, cabinet
ministers and personal friends whose advice Kennedy valued. This group
became known as the Executive Committee of the National Security Council.
Over the next few days they were to meet several times. During their
discussions they considered several different strategies for dealing
with the crisis. They included the following:
(1) Do nothing. The United
States should ignore the missiles in Cuba. The United States had military
bases in 127 different countries including Cuba. The United States
also had nuclear missiles in several countries close to the Soviet
Union. It was therefore only right that the Soviet Union should be
allowed to place missiles in Cuba.
(2) Negotiate. The United
States should offer the Soviet Union a deal. In return for the Soviet
Union dismantling her missiles in Cuba, the United States would withdraw
her nuclear missiles from Turkey and Italy.
(3) Invasion. Send United
States troops to Cuba to overthrow Castro's government. The missiles
could then be put out of action and the Soviet Union could no longer
use Cuba as a military base.
(4) Blockade of Cuba.
Use the United States Navy to stop military equipment reaching Cuba
from the Soviet Union.
(5) Bomb Missile Bases.
Carry out conventional air-strikes against missiles and other military
targets in Cuba.
(6) Nuclear Weapons. Use
nuclear weapons against Cuba and/or the Soviet Union.
When discussing these strategies.
President Kennedy and his advisers had to take into consideration
how the Soviet Union and Cuba would react to decisions made by the
United States. Several members of this committee later wrote about
what happened in these meetings. Here is a selection of comments made
by the committee when they were discussing the possible consequences
of the actions being proposed.
They'll knock out our missile bases in Turkey,
Italy or Britain... under our NATO Treaty, we'd be obligated to knock
out a base inside the Soviet Union.
Castro
might announce that he would execute two Bay of Pigs prisoners for
each day it continued.
It would
be the start of a nuclear war.
Cuban and
Soviet troops would attack the United States base at Guantanamo Bay.
The Latin
Americans would produce more figures like Fidel Castro.
It could
mean the end of the world.
It will
take too much time and the Soviets would be able to finish building
the sites.
The next
House of Representatives is likely to have a Republican majority.
The Soviet
Union would blockade Berlin.
We would
kill a lot of Russians. Khrushchev would have to take action.
The Russians
would move into West Berlin.
The Cuban
communists would take to the hills and fight a guerrilla campaign.
Thousands
and thousands of civilians would be killed. Some of the nuclear weapons
may be used before we could destroy them.
No country
would ever trust us again.
(18) Copy
the chart below into your books. Fill in the rest of the chart. In
'Other possible consequences' you will need to consider issues such
as the number of people who may be killed, how successful your action
is likely to be, future relationships with other countries and how
the decision will influence the elections that are about to take place
in the United States.
| Strategy |
Reaction
of the Soviet Union/Cuba |
Other
possible consequences. |
| |
|
|
(19) Study
your chart and then decide what you would have done if you had been
President Kennedy. You may pick one strategy or a combination of strategies.
Pair up with another person. Tell them which strategy you have decided
upon. Find out from their chart how they would have reacted to your
decision. Would your strategy have been successful?
(20) Get
into small groups. Make a group decision on which strategy you should
adopt.
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