Anyone who studies the history of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union would be familiar with the names of John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev, especially in their contribution to the resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Both leaders have immensely created a stir of decisions pertaining to the crisis, and found a compromise to end the clash between the two nations. Despite their pivotal role in the Cuban Missile Crisis, it is unclear to many as to how close the two leaders were before and after the crisis. Although their nations have constantly argued and battled in fierce diplomatic talks over nuclear dominance and foreign affairs, both leaders have respected each other in terms of each other’s capacity and in some extent, trusted each other’s words when diffusing the tensions between them.
Kennedy immediately had to deal with Khrushchev’s speech in November 10, 1958 as Khrushchev demanded the Western powers to move out of West Berlin in the span of six months by the time he got into office. The Western powers did not immediately submit to this as the crisis escalated for three year as the US under Dwight Eisenhower did not give in to the demands of Khrushchev, opting to renegotiate with USSR through the Geneva Conference in 1959. Khrushchev wanted the Western garrisons dismantled, but Eisenhower wanted them to stay. Although they have met in a compromise, Khrushchev waited for the next US presidential elections to see if he could create a new and more flexible partnership with the new president. Khrushchev had high expectations over the next president of the country who would replace Eisenhower. When Kennedy was elected by the Democrats as their front-runner, Khrushchev immediately saw merits over Kennedy as his potential partner. Nixon had offended Khrushchev by the time Nixon went to Moscow on July 1959 for an American exhibition boasting that America’s technology and culture is far superior to the Soviet Union. When Kennedy won the elections on November, Khrushchev had rejoiced. When Khrushchev and Kennedy met for the first time in Vienna, he boasted that he helped Kennedy win the election over Nixon as his speeches were inclined to support the Democrat . However, the first meeting of the two in Vienna on the summer of 1961 to discuss Berlin ended in vain despite agreeing to meet again in Laos. Khrushchev restated another six months for the Western powers to leave Berlin. Kennedy responded by utilizing 150,000 reservists to act in any situation should the city be placed on siege. A standoff between the USSR and the US escalated since the erection of the Berlin Wall. Kennedy was adamant in continuing the standoff by using back channels to contact Khrushchev, asking him to remove his tanks in exchange for US’ retreat from the city. The standoff ended without strife and the Berlin Wall was removed on November 9, 1989 .
The issue in Cuba is one of the highlighted events in the Cold War as it led to the Bay of Pigs Invasion and the
Cuban Missile Crisis, beginning in 1959 when Fidel Castro overthrew then Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista and establishing a Soviet-funded totalitarian regime over Cuba. The United States began to have rifts with the new Cuban government in Havana, ultimately removing all diplomatic relations with the country in Eisenhower’s administration. Eisenhower even mediated the creation of various plots to overthrow Castro, in turn, Castro became closer to Moscow. Shortly after winning the presidential elections in 1961, Kennedy immediately approved of an invasion plan of Cuba, enacted by the anti-Castro citizens and exiles. The forces attempted to land in the Bay of Pigs located in the south of Cuba. However, this invasion was immediately thwarted, leading Cuba to provide invitation to the Soviet Union to create a nuclear missile base in Cuba. The location noted by Cuba is crucial as it would allow the Soviet Union to launch within firing range in America’s main territories. For the US, their bases in Turkey are also capable of attacking Soviet Union directly. Khrushchev saw Kennedy’s failure to reassess the situation in Cuba as a means to take into control the situation seeing Kennedy “young and inexperienced”, bullying him to let go of Berlin. Eventually the crisis was resolved peacefully in Berlin as the two nations removed their forces after agreeing that the Soviet Union leaves first.
However, their standoff had moved back to Cuba when the US reconnaissance plane U-2 reported ballistic missile launch sites in Cuba on October 14, 1962, Kennedy dispatched several US warships near the area to create a blockade, stopping the Soviet ships from delivering their cargo to Cuba. This discovery then led to the beginning of the Cuban Missile Crisis .The naval blockade had several risks as the act could be seen as an act of war, or a nuclear threat considering the capacity of these ships to launch weapons. However, the act of blockade has some benefits as it delays confrontation between the two countries, and time to rethink of a suitable strategy to end the crisis without strife. A standoff had happened between the two countries, with the US debating on their evasive action against the missiles in Cuba – a naval blockade, an air assault and land assault, and a negotiation with Soviet Union to create a compromise over the missiles in Cuba. The two nations were almost at nuclear confrontation as the Kremlin continued sending false messages to the US government. Soviet missiles in Cuba were almost operational and ready to launch, causing the United States to rethink of a military intervention plan to stop the missiles from being launched. Robert Kennedy and Ambassador Dobrynin had met in behalf of their leaders, hoping to create a compromise agreement. Both Khrushchev and Kennedy met in a compromise with Khrushchev sending a conciliatory letter, pledging that they would remove the missiles in Cuba in exchange of the US to dismantle the missiles in Turkey. In a secret deal between the two heads of state, Kennedy accepted Khrushchev’s terms in full trust and ordered for the dismantling of the US missiles in Turkey. Although it would look as if Kennedy had managed to overpower Khrushchev, this did not go that way in reality as both leaders agreed on a peaceful settlement in secret. This shows great trust in both of them as they even created a communication hotline connecting Moscow to Washington and back in 1963 to ensure fast response in terms of annihilation from any possible world power .
Khrushchev’s letter to Kennedy was personal and was purely concerned with the relationship both Kennedy and Khrushchev developed since their meeting in Vienna two years prior to the Cuban Missile Crisis. The letter he wrote was given to Ambassador Dobrynin, who in turn gave it to Robert Kennedy. Robert Kennedy read the letter first to identify its authenticity. Khrushchev’s letter stressed trust and noted that both he and Kennedy have a special relationship unlike other Soviet and US leaders. Dobrynin, Bolshakov, Fomin and other sources noted that the Kennedys did take into consideration the contents of the letter. Khrushchev had then used the chance to build on his success over the letter by reinforcing the trust he had created with Kennedy. The letter concentrated mostly on the removal of missiles in Turkey. For Dobrynin, Khrushchev was overdoing it in pushing Kennedy to think of their relationship and ignore all the other factors that would fall on Kennedy’s decision. Dobrynin did not say anything and met with Robert Kennedy again the next day after delivering the letter. Robert noted that the president began to act already over his promise to Khrushchev in secret. Robert noted that it should not be discussed officially as it would only complicate the issues as Cuba is expecting a lot from Soviet Union. Khrushchev accepted Kennedy’s reply without complaint, knowing that Kennedy did not want to leave any traces of this secret deal or the fact he would be accused of agreeing with the communists. The reply was also a means for both Kennedy and Khrushchev to understand that they both believe in each other’s intentions and can trust one another to attain these goals. The White House ordered the closure of the Turkish bases by April 1, 1963 on October 29, 1962 through Robert McNamara, US Secretary of Defence.
As the Cold War slowly takes into new grounds after the Cuban missile crisis and the Berlin Crisis, Kennedy became more matured in handling issues pertaining to nuclear war. The limited test ban treaty between the USSR and the US became a success and enabled Kennedy to launch firm objectives that was outlined in his speech in June 1963 at American University. The speech discussed world peace and the importance removing nuclear weaponry as it risks man as nuclear poison can be transmitted through air, water, and soil which would ultimately affect entire mankind in ending the cause of the nuclear poisoning. Kennedy spoke to Ambassador Dobrynin to extend to Khrushchev in creating an agreement that would prevent any other countries from doing surprise attacks on other countries with nuclear power, and ban all weapon testing and weapon launches from outer space. By November 15, 1963, Robert Kennedy met with Ambassador Dobrynin to discuss a possible summit for both Kennedy and Khrushchev to readdress US-Soviet relations. Both leaders were optimistic over such conference as it would end the Cold War, and resolve the problem on nuclear power. However, this hope had flickered away when Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963 while on a motorcade in Dallas, Texas.
When Khrushchev heard the news about Kennedy’s death, he was at his home in Moscow. For Khrushchev, Kennedy’s death was a devastating blow to the otherwise growing relationship between the two leaders. Despite their conflicting ideals over nuclear warfare and influence, Khrushchev already trusted Kennedy and saw him as a means to establish strong ties between their countries. Khrushchev and Kennedy together would be able to build a fruitful peace in the world should they have been able to meet in the summit. Although the KGB briefed Khrushchev regarding Lyndon Johnson, Kennedy’s successor; Khrushchev noted that Johnson was “conservative” and “Reactionary”. He believed that Johnson would not be as prepared as Kennedy in undertaking risks to ensure peace. Although Johnson tried to utilize the Kennedy-Khrushchev partnership in the reduction of nuclear arms to his advantage, Soviets saw that Johnson’s administration is only concerned in cementing itself as a superior military actor as compared to Soviet Union .
It would have been possible that the Cold War would have ended swiftly if not for the untimely death of JFK as Khrushchev’s growing trust with Kennedy could have allowed him to strike a deal that would stop all nuclear warfare and disarm smoothly without escalating to more tensions between the two nations. Since Kennedy’s ascension to the presidency, Khrushchev already saw a potential for both USSR and the US to settle their differences and work together. Although they have clashed in Berlin and in Cuba, both Kennedy and Khrushchev have respected each other’s goals and knew that they could work together despite the risks of settling on a partnership to ensure world peace without nuclear warfare. Their letters, communiqués and negotiations were mostly done in secret, but there is a proof of trust in their messages, signalling that they can work with each other to resolve each crisis without strife and casualties even if the world would think otherwise of their decisions.
Works Cited
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US Department of State Office of the Historian. "Milestones 1953-1960: The Berlin Crisis." US Department of State Office of the Historian, n.d. Web. 10 May 2012 <http://history.state.gov/milestones/1953-1960/BerlinCrises>.
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Zubok, Vladislav Martinovich and Konstantin Pleshakov. Inside the Kremlin's Cold War: From Stalin to Khrushchev. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1996. Print.
