The Cuban Missile Crisis or October Crisis - Essay Example

The committee met on several occasions and deliberated on certain measures that were to be taken to end the confrontation over the Cuban missile. ExComm came up with several options on how to deal with the crisis that was at hand. The first option that they deliberated on was invading Cuba. Secondly, they considered ordering an air strike on Cuba which was aimed at destroying the missile sites that were staged in Cuba by the Soviet Union. The third option they considered was imposing a blockade around Cuba to counter the undelivered missiles.

This was to tighten the blockade and or result in air strikes or invasion. The fourth option was to present a sort of ultimatum to the president of the Soviet Union Nikita Khrushchev. This was on condition that if the missiles were not removed military action was to be taken. The fifth and last option that ExComm considered was to make a trade offer in that the US were to withdraw their missiles from the republic of Turkey and in exchange, the Soviet Union were to withdraw and remove their missiles from Cuba.

Option one and two which were on invasion and air strike attacks were aborted on the fear of retaliation by the Soviet Union. Theodore Sorensen, a member of the ExComm and who was also the presidential speech writer thought that the Soviets would retaliate by knocking on their missiles in Turkey. They were also short of retaliatory options as it is stated in the NATO treaty. About the invasion, the security team member noted that the Soviet troops that were in Cuba had very advanced tactical nuclear weapons.

The option of the blockade was considered reckless. This was in consideration that the Soviet Union would not run into the blockade but they would result into retaliating elsewhere. As with Robert Kennedy, the Soviet Union president replied with a blockade in Berlin. There were tough decisions to make but Kennedy wanted to resolve the issue peacefully. The Excom agreed to a trade in which they negotiate on the withdrawal of the US missiles from the republic of Turkey whereas the Soviets were to do the same in Cuba.

President Kennedy was very smart. He carried out parallel discussions. One was with his security advisers and the other was in Moscow. He too kept the missile proceedings a secret to only a few of his confidants. Kennedy ensured that the agreement remained a secret between the two states. He even at one time threatened to communicate the issue to the United Nation if the Soviets would not fully participate. The agreement was later agreed upon and the two countries withdrew their missiles from Turkey and Cuba.

This was a good gesture to Kennedy’s administration. Other than employing force and military action the missile crisis was resolved peacefully. The nuclear war that was in the offing was cut short. This settlement postulated that even the superpowers can bend down to resolve an issue other than using their supremacy and threats.