Video: “The Missiles of October”
The compelling dramatization of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis that
had the United States and Soviet Union on the brink of World War
III. This made-for-TV movie from 1973 stars William Devane as
President John F. Kennedy, Martin Sheen is Bobby Kennedy, and
Howard DaSilva is Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.
This video will be treated the same as a lecture. I expect you gain a coherent understanding of the
events surrounding the Cuban Missile crisis from having watched this video such that you could answer an essay
question on the subject. To guide you in what to look for, consider the following questions:
¾ What was the state of US-Cuba relations like prior to the
Cuban Missile Crisis?
¾ Why did the Soviets try to put missiles in Cuba in the first
place?
¾ Why was the US so vehement on getting the Soviets to remove
the missiles from Cuba?
¾ Did different advisors suggest different policies to deal with the
crisis, or was the government relatively unified in its response?
¾ What options was the President given by his advisors in dealing
with this crisis? Why was the rationale behind the strategy that
Kennedy selected to respond to the crisis?
¾ Why didn’t Kennedy simply invade Cuba or bomb the missile
sites?
¾ Did the naval blockade work?
¾ How was the crisis handled in the United Nations?
¾ Did the White House maintain full control over the actions
of US military forces during the crisis? Did Kennedy ever
worry about the crisis “spiraling out of control”?
¾ How was the crisis resolved? What was the nature of the
final bargain struck between the US and Soviet Union?
¾ Was the result of the crisis a diplomatic success or failure
for the United States?
¾ In retrospect, was the crisis a legitimate conflict or an
example of unnecessary brinksmanship?
ASSIGNMENTS: Please do the following assignments -THURSDAY: Read the Wikipedia entry on the Cuban Missile Crisis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Missile_Crisis
FRIDAY: See the site for CNN’s documentary series, “The Cold War – Episode 10: Cuba 1958-62”
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/10/
1. Do the “Brinksmanship: You Make the Call” exercise (right column)
2. Read the transcript of the speech by President Kennedy on October 22, 1962 (under “Historical
Documents” in the right column).