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News Report on Missile Crisis

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Recently, John F Kennedy's security assistant, brought photographs taken from U-2 planes flying over Cuba to him on Tuesday 16 October 1962. The images showed Soviet soldiers setting up nuclear-armed missiles. Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, had promised repeatedly not to send offensive weapons to Cuba after John Kennedy warned the Soviet Union that if they ever introduced offensive weapons, 'the gravest issues would arise.’ These photos were proof that Khrushchev had been lying. It has been reported to us that the USA has 25,000 nuclear weapons and the Soviet union have much less. Kennedy has decided that it would be seen as an act of war if he attacked the missile site hence the decision for him not doing so. Furthermore, if nuclear weapons were used it would cause humans in the northern hemisphere to perish, as found out by Kennedy's predecessor, Dwight Eisenhower. Kennedy made a decision, with the help of Excomm (Executive Committee of the National Security Council) about what should happen and they decided on a blockade to prevent the missiles getting into the missile base, this seemed like a good idea because it wouldn't be seen as an act of war but it would stop the missiles. John Kennedy told the USSR that the USA would sink any missiles that attempted to go through the blockade The USSR know that if they did so it would cause a war, yet they didn't back down at first.
Khrushchev sent twenty soviet ships to the blockade however when they got there they turned around and went back home. Was the crisis over? It seemed like it. Kennedy was feeling positive because Khrushchev sent him a letter saying that he would remove these missiles if Kennedy stopped the blockade. However his positive mood was brought down when he was then sent another letter saying that he also had to remove his missiles in Turkey for this to happen. In addition to this, a US spy plane

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