Analysis of the Cuban Missile CrisisMissing Works CitedThe Cuban Missile Crisis was one of the most important events in the history of the United States; it is also easy to tell the history of the world because of what the possible outcomes from it might have been. The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 was a major Cold War confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union. After the Bay of Pigs invasion, the USSR increased its support for the Cuban regime of Fidel Castro, and in the summer of 1962, Nikita Khrushchev secretly decided to install ballistic missiles in Cuba. President Kennedy and other leaders of our country found themselves faced with a terrible dilemma in which a decision had to be made. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara outlined three possible courses of action for the president: "The political course of action" of openly approaching Castro, Khrushchev and U.S. allies in a gamble to resolve the crisis diplomatically, a an option that McNamara and others considered unlikely to be realized. be successful; "a course of action that would involve declaring open surveillance" coupled with "a blockade against the entry of offensive weapons into Cuba"; and “direct military action against Cuba, starting with an air strike against missiles” (Chang, 2). When US reconnaissance flights revealed the clandestine construction of missile launch sites, President Kennedy publicly denounced (October 22, 1962) the Soviet actions. Fortunately the option of taking military action against Cuba and Russia never arose and President Kennedy chose to impose a naval blockade on Cuba and declared that any missile launched from Cuba would guarantee a full-scale retaliatory attack scale by the United States against the Soviet Union. On October 24, Russian ships carrying missiles to Cuba turned back, and when Khrushchev agreed (October 28) to withdraw the missiles and dismantle the missile sites, the crisis ended as suddenly as it had begun. The United States ended its blockade on November 20, and by the end of the year the missiles and bombers were removed from Cuba. The level of analysis and theory of international relations chosen to explain this event is the level of analysis and realism individual. This level of analysis focuses on individuals making decisions, the impact of human nature, the behavior of individuals acting in an organization, and how individual personality and experiences impact foreign policy... middle of paper.. .g by President Kennedy and his staff the world would come to World War III and perhaps never be the same again. This analysis explained the Cuban rebels in the Bay of Pigs invasion, the importance of the great leaders of the United States, the important decision making of the US leaders, and the crazy leaders of the Soviet Union and Cuba. The Cuban Missile Crisis is It was a very dangerous episode, which brought the world's major military powers to the brink of nuclear war. This event was important to world history and to all the major leaders involved. President Kennedy was assassinated shortly thereafter, but he is still considered one of the best presidents in US history especially for the way he dealt with that event. Fidel Castro and the country of Cuba are still not recognized by the United States today and are still banned from trading. The Soviet Union collapsed after the Cuban Missile Crisis and is now known as Russia. The Soviet Union is no longer a communist government and now gets along well with the United States. The bottom line is that this event prevented and influenced a possible tragic nuclear war on a global scale..