Cuban Missile Crisis
After the Second World War, the nations of the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republicans (USSR), who were allies during that conflict, became staunch enemies. For approximately fifty years the two counties faced off, each trying to achieve dominance over the other. Both nations were in possession of nuclear weapons and for a time, the end of the world was literally at the hands of a select group of political leaders. For years, people lived with the imposing specter of nuclear annihilations. Families built bomb shelters beneath their houses and children were taught how to hopefully survive a nuclear attack whether they were at home or at school. Decades of living in a hyper paranoid state where every day was potentially the last were ultimately rewarded by the end of the Cold War without a single shot ever having been fired. Perhaps the closest that the world came to nuclear war during this period was the Cuban Missile Crisis in the early 1960s; a time when then-President John Kennedy had to act quickly and carefully to prevent war.
In the 1950s, things escalated on both sides of the issue. Spies funded and trained by the KGB, the Soviet's espionage and information office, were found to have infiltrated the American government and to have provided top secret data to Soviet officials. Among the information that was given to the U.S.S.R. By these agents were the secrets of the atomic bomb which the United States had used against Japan to end the Second World War.[footnoteRef:1] The Soviet government was able to utilize this data to create its own nuclear program, including development of nuclear weaponry. What had before been a political debate over governmental ideologies now became a very tense situation wherein it was literally possible for the two nations to obliterate one another and all of their citizens. [1: Sheldon Stern. Averting...
Efficacy and Quality of Cuba's Educational Program Tensions continue to wax and wane between the two countries, but Cuba's economy has largely stabilized and the situation between Castro's country and the United States is also essentially at an impasse (Suddath 2009). The increased stabilization of the Cuban economy and society has led to many internal changes in the country, however, and these have largely been to the benefit of Cuba and
Cuba's Future After Fidel Castro There are many schools of thought when considering the future of Cuba without its leader Fidel Castro. Many think that Cuba is on the cusp of greatness while others warn of coming doom. It can be difficult envisioning the true Cuba from an Americanized point-of-view. Many Americans cannot understand a socialist framework where everyone is treated equal because America is the land of unique opportunity and
Leftist leaders preach a sermon of economic equality, of providing the "little man" with the ability to live the same life as the doctor or engineer - because though he may have less education, his contribution to society in terms of labor (particularly manual labor) is more significant, challenging, and sacrificial than the practice of medicine or law. The sugar-cane farmers and rum producers, the tobacco growers and the
Those officials who did look at the question of Japanese intentions decided that Japan would never attack, because to do so would be irrational. Yet what might seem irrational to one country may seem perfectly logical to another country that has different goals, values, and traditions. (Kessler 98) The failures apparent in the onset of World War II and during the course of the war led indirectly to the creation
("Economics," 2004) What is the role of women in your country deciding reproductive strategies? The total estimated 2004 fertility rate of Cuba was1.66 children born per woman. The de-emphasizing of the Catholic influence in the region is largely thought to have reduced the yearly population growth. Women have free access to birth control, as much as the health care system can be accessed by the individual woman -- however, access as
Comparing a blockade to the first option (air-strike) was a no-brainer. First of all, a guarantee of the airstrike being effective was highly unlikely. At the time, the pinpoint weaponry employed by the present day United States was not available, and in fact such weaponry had not even been invented yet. The Soviet Union, of course, knew that such a course of direction would not be effective and therefore the
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