In October of 1962, President Kennedy announced to the American public that the Soviets had installed medium-range missiles on Cuba, 90 miles off the coast of Florida. He imposed a naval blockade around Cuba and threatened to invade the island. For thirteen tense days, Americans believed that their country was on the brink of nuclear war, until the Soviet leader, Khrushchev, agreed to remove the missiles in return for the American agreement not to invade Cuba....
In October of 1962, President Kennedy announced to the American public that the Soviets had installed medium-range missiles on Cuba, 90 miles off the coast of Florida. He imposed a naval blockade around Cuba and threatened to invade the island. For thirteen tense days, Americans believed that their country was on the brink of nuclear war, until the Soviet leader, Khrushchev, agreed to remove the missiles in return for the American agreement not to invade Cuba. Kennedy also secretly agreed to remove American missiles from Turkey.
Therefore, the immediate consequence of the crisis were the removal of American missiles from Turkey and the supervised removal of Soviet missiles from Cuba. The Americans also agreed not to invade Cuba unless the U.S. was directly provoked into doing so. In addition, Americans (and people around the world) endured the experience of believing that the world was on the brink of a nuclear war, causing great stress. In the long run, the Americans and Soviets decided to open up some avenues of communication as a result of the standoff. For example, the Soviets and Americans established the Moscow-Washington Hotline, a direct communications link so that future misunderstandings could be discussed between them. In addition, the Americans and Soviets signed two treaties to regulate nuclear weapons. Some historians argue that as a result of the crisis, Americans developed a more aggressive foreign policy that led to the Vietnam War.
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