Cuban Missile Crisis as a World Changing Event

In the decade of the 1960’s, there was an expanse of many different world changing events. From civil rights movements to landing a man on the moon so many things happened. One event that took place in October of 1962 that was very important and even life threatening was the Cuban missile crisis. Before the almost two week standoff between the US and Russia was the arms race. Both countries were trying who could make the biggest and best nuclear warheads. At the climax of the arms race was the Cuban missile crisis. When the US and the USSR were not getting along the USSR threatened the US with nuclear warheads fired from Cuba just 90 miles off the coast of Florida. During this 13 day standoff between two of the world’s biggest superpowers neither side was quite sure what was going to happen. While the event will never be forgotten, its impact on the world in the 1960’s and even today are almost more memorable to some who weren’t alive to witness firsthand how close the world was to utter annihilation.

Some of the impacts that changed life in the 1960’s were, the decision made by Kennedy to start a naval blockade to prevent further construction of USSR missiles on the island of Cuba, schools implementing duck and cover drills, lastly citizens and organizations building their own fallout shelters, and Overall the 60’s decade is one of the most important in US history and that all could have been wiped out if the crisis had gone any further. During Kennedy’s presidency he was faced with some tough decisions right from the start. He was dealing with growing communism and was expected to stop the “domino effect” which was the thought that if one country fell to the power of communism all of them will.

He also had successes and failures as would any president. One event that can be seen as a success and failure is the Cuban missile crisis. In the year 1962 a spy plane from the US noticed the construction of nuclear warheads on Cuban soil. With that information Kennedy ordered a naval blockade to prevent the Soviets from getting more supplies to the Cubans and to prevent further construction of the missiles. Because of the decision Kennedy had made for the betterment of the future he started the Cuban missile crisis. It is hard to believe that the president of the United States started one of the most suspenseful and potentially dangerous events in all of the world’s history. Without the decision made by Kennedy it’s hard to tell if the crisis could have been avoided or not. It is also hard to tell that if Kennedy hadn’t made his decision would there be a world today. On October 26 the government was deciding whether or not to actually attack Cuba. When they were trying to make the decision they were contacted by the USSR and were told that the Soviets would remove the missiles from Cuba if the US promised to leave Cuba alone and take their military bases out of Turkey. Two days later the crisis ended peacefully. The missiles were removed from Cuba, the US cleared the blockade and removed the bases from Turkey.

One of the timeless impacts from the Cuban missile crisis is the development of duck and cover drills. These particular drills date back to the 1950’s the start of the cold war, but they were brought back to schools for the Cuban missile crisis. The drill entailed the students to drop whatever they were doing, get under a desk and hope they don’t die in the case of a nuclear attack between countries. The government even created a cartoon that depicted a turtle named Bert dropping what he was doing and quickly hid in his shell when the flash of a nuclear explosion was detonated. The cartoon was catered to the children to create a sense of safety even if there isn’t one. Most people in this case adults knew that this drill wouldn’t work they went along with it to help build up the idea that there was a chance to survive a bombing of that magnitude. Another thing the schools did was make each student wear a set of dog tags or identification bracelets. This fact proves further that the school system knew that the drills were ineffective at keeping children safe. The dog tags were only needed to tell who a child was by their remains. At one point in time New York City had spent $159,000 on the bracelets and dog tags for these children that would not be able to survive a nuclear fallout. Giving the children the tags or bracelets almost destroys the illusion of safety that was made possible by Bert and his cartoons.

This particular event also leaves physical history for the US today. The bracelets and tags can be seen in some families because they still have them, and Bert the turtles’ cartoon is just an internet search away. That is physical proof of how much effect one small event in the 60’s has impacted life today. Something that will always stand in time is the fact that the government thought it was necessary for children to be prepared for nuclear fallout. The government also advised people to go and build a fallout shelter in their backyard to survive a fallout. Some of the lasting impressions of the Cuban missile crisis that not only were present in the 60’s and are also present today and will continue stand through time itself are the fallout shelters that the government had insisted upon during the crisis. Kennedy had been advising people to get the shelters in 1961 because of the threats of nuclear war when the USSR tested their first nuclear warhead. The very next year in 1962 Kennedy will face what he feared most that was the Cuban missile crisis. So he advised the shelters even more so that people of the US could survive. Since the threat of the world ending was always there as was the sense the government thought the citizens needed to do whatever they could to survive. So they started offering at home fallout shelters that a family could put in their backyard and public spaces like schools or churches. It is just phenomenal that American citizens can see the history of the Cuban missile crisis in their own neighborhood and some even in their own backyard.

Another aspect of these shelters was morals and ethics. While people may have gotten along with their neighbors and friends there was always the thought of “Should I let them into my shelter with my family?” many families thought and pondered this question. While the moral answer is almost always yes, in this time period people didn’t know who to trust and who would be a good addition to their shelter. Also sense not much was known about radiation and how long it would last families didn’t know if they would have enough supplies to support more than who was in their family. Something else people thought was why doesn’t that person have their own shelter. That is a timeless example of how much one event in the 1960’s impacts not only the past but also the future in the sense that we can see, touch, and even step right into history by walking through a door.

Through the 10 short years in the decade that was 1960 many events took place and history was made in various areas of life. One thing could have prevented all of that history and the future to come by ending the world. That event was the Cuban missile crisis. With the world on the brink of annihilation impacts were made in the era of that time and some have even come into present time. With the fact that a decision made by the president could have ended the world, the education system thinking it was necessary to bring back Bert and his duck and cover drills, and people building a fallout shelter in their own backyard. This crisis was one of the most terrifying, suspenseful, and stressful time in history. Many see the Cuban missile crisis as something between the US and the USSR and while it was it also affected every other country in the world. No matter if a country was an ally or enemy to one of the countries, everyone in the world knew if one missile fired the world as we know it would be over.

Works Cited:

1. Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Cuban Missile Crisis.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 23 May 2019, www.britannica.com/event/Cuban-missile-crisis.
2. “Cuban Missile Crisis.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 4 June 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Missile_Crisis.
3. Editors, History.com. “Cuban Missile Crisis.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 4 Jan. 2010, www.history.com/topics/cold-war/cuban-missile-crisis.
4. “Nuclear Close Calls: The Cuban Missile Crisis.” Atomic Heritage Foundation, 15 June 2018, www.atomicheritage.org/history/nuclear-close-calls-cuban-missile-crisis.