Cuban Missile Crisis - Kennedy, Krushcev and Castro

Nikita Krushcev
(1894 - 1971)

John F. Kennedy
(1917 - 1963)

Fidel Castro
(1926 until today)

The Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest the world has ever been to having a nuclear war.
The arms race and the permament tension between the USA and the USSR was at its highest. Fidel Castro in Cuba was afraid and had plans to defend the country in case the USA attacked it, but at the same time, Nikita Krushcev saw that the missiles they had could only attack european countries because of the large distance between the USSR and the USA, so he decided to put nuclear weapons on Cuba so in case the USA attacked, they could have a strong defence and could attack back.
Castro agreed to the USSR's proposal because after the failed Bay Of Pigs invasion from the USA, he was sure there would be another attack. On 1961, they secretly made bases with nuclear weapons on Cuba.

After this, John F. Kennedy approved a plan created by the C.I.A. against Castro. Castro had officially adopted a socialist regime so it was expelled from OAS (Organization of American States). Castro decided to declare war against the USA and received support from Krushcev.
On 1962, the missiles on Cuba were discovered which caused threats and there was a constant fear of nuclear war. Finally, Kennedy and Krushcev agreed to remove missiles in Cuba with the condition that the USA would respect Cuba.
Later on 1963, USA very quietly removed missiles from Turkey that had an equal threat to the Soviet Union as the missiles on Cuba had to the USA.

http://library.thinkquest.org/11046/days/index.html