-----Intro------

After Castros communist takeover of Cuba Premier Khrushchev of Russia sent Anastas Mikoyan to meet with the new leader. Although Mikoyan came back with positive reviews for the Cuban government the Soviets were still weary of this new leader.1 The US placed an embargo on Cuban economic goods after US interest were nationalized following the rise of the communist government. This is what started the increasing relations between Cuba and the USSR. After the embargo was set Cuba had a large supply of sugar and nobody to sell it to, so they asked the Soviets for help. At the end of May 1962, the Soviets sent nuclear missiles to Cuba in response to the failed attempt of the US to take down the Cuban Communist government. The Soviets felt that they must gain an upper hand due to the US missiles in neighboring Turkey and the US nuclear superiority that was 9:1, while also lending a hand to the new ally of the USSR.2 Cuba being the new found ally to the USSR culminated an increased in surveillance by the United States government. In October 1962, an American spy plane photographed Soviet missiles in Cuba.3 On October 16, 1962 president John F. Kennedy called in a group of his closest advisors. The group discussed the information provided by the CIA that showed Soviet missile installations in Cuba. The group was presented with three options, open surveillance, an embargo of weapons entering Cuba, and a military attack against the missile installations.4 The idea of open surveillance was seen as being an ineffective strategy and it could lead to a possible escalation of US and Soviet tensions. The military attack against Cuba was seen as a worst case scenario, the focus on airstrikes would have definitely killed Soviet troops

Roberts 2 and the large possibility of not destroying all the missiles installations would have spelled certain doom for the US. The final option of an embargo was the choice with the highest probable success rate, so it was chosen by the president. The aim of the embargo was to keep the USSR from bringing in more military supplies, and provide a bargaining chip for the removal of Soviet missiles and the destruction of the missile sites. 5This bargaining chip proved to be very successful, on October 24 Soviet vessels approach the US blockade but turned back. This event got president Kennedy to respond letters from Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev and start negotiations to end the crisis.6 The final deal that Kennedy and Khruschev publically agreed to included provisions that the USSR would dismantle the Cuban missile sites in exchange for the US ending the blockade and a promise not to invade Cuba. The two leaders also privately agreed that the US would remove its missile bays from Turkey.7 The details of the Cuban embargo completely shut off all trade with Cuba; the embargo kept all non-humanitarian goods out of Cuba, banned all Cuban goods in the US, and blacklisted ships that carried cargo to and from Cuba.8 The embargo did have negative effects on the US economy the GDP growth rate in the years before 1963 averaged around five percent, while the year of the embargo the growth rate stalled around two percent during the fourth quarter of the year.9 Even with the GDP drop the embargo on Cuba did not affect US import/export amounts in a negative way, in fact US exports grew by$1.9 billion and US imports grew by $1.05 billion10 this means that the Cuban embargo did not affect the US economy besides a short term sugar price rise, but that was solved after other South American nations expanded their sugar production.

Roberts 3 Works Cited "United States GDP Growth Rate." TRADING ECONOMICS | 300.000 INDICATORS FROM 196 COUNTRIES. http://www.tradingeconomics.com/united-states/gdpgrowth (accessed April 20, 2013). Amnesty International. "Amnesty USA." THE US EMBARGO AGAINST CUBA ITS IMPACT ON ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RIGHTS. www.amnestyusa.org/pdfs/amr250072009eng.pdf (accessed March 21, 2013). BUREAU OF WESTERN HEMISPHERE AFFAIRS. "Cuba." U.S. Department of State. http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2886.htm (accessed March 21, 2013). Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. "International Conflict Resolution After the Cold War." The National Academies Press. http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=9897&page=123 (accessed March 22, 2013). George Washington University. "The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962: A Political Perspective After 40 Years." National Security Archive The George Washington University. http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/cuba_mis_cri/ (accessed March 31, 2013). J, Sierra . "Economic Embargo Against Cuba." Cuban history begins here. http://www.historyofcuba.com/history/funfacts/embargo.htm (accessed March 27, 2013). JOHN F. KENNEDY PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM. " Cuban Missile Crisis - John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum." John F. Kennedy

Presidential Library & Museum. http://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/JFK-inHistory/Cuban-Missile-Crisis.aspx (accessed March 25, 2013). Khrushchev , Sergei. "How My Father And President Kennedy Saved The World |

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American History Lives at American Heritage ." American History Lives at American Heritage . http://www.americanheritage.com/content/how-my-fatherand-president-kenedy-saved-world (accessed April 21, 2013). Lee, Brianna. "The Frozen U.S.-Cuba Relationship." Council on Foreign Relations. www.cfr.org/cuba/frozen-us-cuba-relationship/p27510 (accessed March 21, 2013). "Office of the Historian - Milestones - 1961-1968 - The Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis." Office of the Historian. http://history.state.gov/milestones/19611968/CubanMissile (accessed April 1, 2013). Schott, Jeffrey, Kimberly Elliott, Milica Cosic, and Gary Hufbauer. "Case Studies in Economic Sanctions and Terrorism Case 60-3 US v. Cuba (1960 : Castro)." Peterson Institute for International Economics. www.iie.com/publications/papers/sanctions-cuba-60-3.pdf (accessed March 22, 2013). Suddath, Claire. "A Brief History Of U.S.-Cuba Relations - TIME." Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1891359,00.html (accessed March 21, 2013). "U.S. Trade in Goods and Services - Balance of Payments (BOP) Basis." Census.gov. www.census.gov/foreign-trade/statistics/historical/gands.txt (accessed April 20, 2013). Woolley, John. "Proclamation 3447 - Embargo on All Trade with Cuba." The American Presidency Project. http:/http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=58824

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(accessed March 24, 2013).

1 2

Khrushchev, How My Father And President Kennedy Saved The World, 1 Khrushchev, 2 3 John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum, ://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/JFK-in-History/CubanMissile-Crisis 4 George Washington University, http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/cuba_mis_cri/
5 6

John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum Office of the Historian http://history.state.gov/milestones/1961-1968/CubanMissile 7 John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum
8 9

J, Sierra . Economic Embargo Against Cuba Trading Economics, http://www.tradingeconomics.com/united-states/gdp-growth 10 Census, U.S. Trade in Goods and Services