Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) term paper

Fearing a U.S. military invasion following the Bay of Pigs fiasco, Cuba convinced the Soviet Union to install missiles on the island. In mid-October 1962, the Kennedy administration, having discovered the construction of sites capable of launching offensive missiles against the United States, debated the proper course of action. The president opted for a quarantine of Cuba. Nuclear war loomed large as Soviet vessels approached the waiting American ships, but after intensive negotiations Premier Khrushchev ordered the Soviet ships to turn back and promised to remove Soviet missiles and bombers in exchange for an American pledge not to invade Cuba and to remove U.S. missiles from Turkey.
Suggestions for Term Papers
1. Discuss how the United States discovered the existence of the missiles.
2. Discuss the Kennedy administration’s debate over what to do about the missiles.
3. Analyze Soviet-American negotiations and the resolution of the crisis.
4. Discuss public reaction to the crisis.
5. Did President Kennedy manage the crisis skillfully or dangerously?
REFERENCE SOURCES

The Kennedy Tapes: Inside the White House during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Ernest R. May and Philip D. Zelikow, eds. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1997. Collection of tape transcripts from the Kennedy files.

The Secret Cuban Missile Crisis Documents. Central Intelligence Agency. Washington, DC: Brassey’s, 1994. Collection of documents relating to the Cuban missile crisis; released by the CIA.

GENERAL SOURCES

Bostdorff, Denise M. The Presidency and the Rhetoric of Foreign Crisis.Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1994. Interesting comparison of the political oratory of six presidents—three Democrats and three Republicans—when each was faced with a different crisis from 1962 (Cuban missile crisis and Kennedy) to 1983 (Grenada and Reagan).

SPECIALIZED SOURCES

Blight, James G., and David A. Welch. On the Brink: Americans and Soviets Reexamine the Cuban Missile Crisis. New York: Hill and Wang, 1989. After more than twenty-five years, both sides again consider the crisis and its implications.

———. The Shattered Crystal Ball: Fear and Learning in the Cuban Missile Crisis. Savage, MD: Rowman&Littlefield, 1990. A retrospective of the fearful conditions in 1962.

Brugioni, Dino A. Eyeball to Eyeball: The Inside Story of the Cuban Missile Crisis. New York: Random House, 1991. Detailed, authoritative, and thorough description of the entire event.

Chayes, Abram. The Cuban Missile Crisis: International Crises and the Role of Law. (1974). Reprint. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1987. A brief examination of legal implications, published under the auspices of the American Society of International Law.

Detzer, David. The Brink: Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962. New York: Crowell, 1979. Good examination of political maneuvering during the missile crisis.

Divine, Robert A. The Cuban Missile Crisis. 2d ed. New York: M. Wiener Publishing, 1988. Description with analysis of the Cuban missile crisis and the outcomes.
Finkelstein, Norman H. Thirteen Days/Ninety Miles: The Cuban Missile Crisis. New York: J. Messner, 1994. Brief overview of the thirteen-day crisis.

Fursenko, A. A., and Timothy Naftali. One Hell of a Gamble: Khrushchev, Castro, and Kennedy, 1958–1964. New York: Norton, 1997. Detailed account of the dangerous game of brinkmanship in foreign relations played by the principals in this drama.

Garthoff, Raymond L. Reflections on the Cuban Missile Crisis. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1989. Informative reexamination of the crisis published by the Washington think tank.

Gow, Catherine H. The Cuban Missile Crisis. San Diego: Lucent Books, 1997. Examines all aspects regarding the confrontation in brief and easy-to-read fashion.

Gribkov, A. I., and William Y. Smith. Operation ANADYR: U.S. and Soviet Generals Recount the Cuban Missile Crisis. Chicago: Edition Q, 1994. A retrospective analysis of the crisis by high-ranking military officials.

Hilsman, Roger. The Cuban Missile Crisis: The Struggle over Policy. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1996. Well-written account providing insight into the nature of the confrontation over foreign policy and the crisis.

Medland, William J. The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962: Needless or Necessary? New York: Praeger, 1988. Critical review and analysis of the government position during the crisis.

Nathan, James A. The Cuban Missile Crisis Revisited. New York: St. Martin’s 1992. A recent retrospective and analysis of the crisis.

Pope, Ronald R., ed. Soviet Views on the Cuban Missile Crisis: Myth and Reality in Foreign Policy Analysis. Washington, DC: University Press of America, 1982. Interesting and revealing analysis of foreign relations between the two countries during the time; uses government source documents.

Thompson, Robert S. The Missiles of October: The Declassified Story of John F. Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis. New York: Simon&Schuster, 1992. Revealing study of Kennedy and his response during the crisis.

White, Mark J. The Cuban Missile Crisis. Hampshire, UK: Macmillan, 1996. Detailed examination of the crisis with analysis of events.

AUDIOVISUAL SOURCES

American Foreign Policy: Kennedy and Confrontation. Chicago: Britannica Films, 1981. Videocassette. 16-minute presentation that includes the crisis. From the American Foreign Policy series.

WORLD WIDE WEB
Fourteen Days in October: The Cuban Missile Crisis. August 1997. http://hyperion.advanced.org/11046 A well-designed site that is valuable in the amount of information it contains and is noteworthy for its organization. One may click on ‘‘Introduction,’’ ‘‘Crisis Center,’’ ‘‘Briefing Room,’’ ‘‘Recon Room,’’ etc. Illustrated material provided.