The Op-Eds
This page is a collection of opinionated editorials based around major events that happened during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Opinion On Operation Northwoods
-William Marsh
The United States of America has long been revered as the world’s strongest nation, both militarily and as a populace. We crushed the Nazi war machine as well as conquered the Japanese theater in World War 2 thanks to the invention of the atomic bomb. Once this military trump card was invented, everyone that could get their hands on one wanted one as a symbol of dominance. Seeing as how much of Europe’s industrial world had been destroyed in bombing raids, that left the United States and Russia as the two remaining super powers due to the fact that their industrial infrastructures remained intact. Production of nuclear weapons became the military operation of utmost importance to both of them.
Unfortunately this stockpiling of weapons and sudden influx of economic, political and military power lead to the start of The Cold War. The Cold War was a brief, extremely intense period in history during which the United States and Cuba (backed by Russia) got into a conflict that almost resulted in what analysts believed would be the end of the world, or at the very least it would have crippled the United states and likely resulted in World War 3.
But United State Military officials decided if they were going to go down it would be a blaze of glory as opposed to a puff of smoke (or as the case would have been, nuclear fallout). Military officials as well as the president at the time, John F. Kennedy and his secretary of Defense Robert McNamara had several meetings regarding a theorized operation to stop a war from happening. They were speaking of course of Operation Northwoods. Operation Northwoods was a ‘deniable operation’ (meaning that, as the name implies, the operation could and would be denied that it was planned and or executed by the United States.) involving framing Cuba for terrorist acts as a form of creating national support to go to war with Cuba and obliterate any opposing forces.
While it may have been the lesser of two evils, it was nonetheless an extremely risky, if not downright stupid plan on the U.S’ part. Even if Operation Northwoods had gone off without a hitch and Cuba surrendered, returned all warheads to Russia and disassembled it’s standing army certainly the truth would come out at a later date, and consequences for the U.S would be dire. It’s almost incomprehensible how the government could have justified carrying out terrorist acts against the country it is set in place to defend and control.
The first of these consequences is militarily. Military consequences in a war refer primarily to casualties and collateral damage which would be plentiful, especially if any nuclear warheads were launched. But even after tallying up all of the direct military consequences, the whole world would have something to say (and do) about this and surely the first would be Russia, Cuba’s ally at the time when Operation Northwoods would have been carried out.
I can only imagine the reaction from the American populace when they learned that their own government had lied to them and carried out terrorist acts upon themselves as an excuse to go to war. I imagine many Americans would be ashamed and angry, that they had been fooled and were now the bad guys. Chances are this news wouldn’t be leaked for decades so the children who had been taught to hide under their desks and run home to shelter during the bombings were now learning that America had started the war that may have put those drills to use.
It’s a good thing that Operation Northwoods never went through or the America we know today would hardly be recognizable. To frame a nation, betray a generation and have thousands of people die for a hypothetical situation is absolute lunacy. While all hindsight is 20/20 and they couldn’t have known that Cuba wasn’t going to launch any offensive measures, when the idea of Operation Northwoods was dissected, it’s more than justification to intervene; it’s murder. It’s the cold blooded murder of thousands of Cubans and Americans. Of all the blemishes and stains on America’s history, this one is by far the harshest. Slavery, civil war and blatant bigotry don’t hold a candle to what Operation Northwoods had planned.
Unfortunately this stockpiling of weapons and sudden influx of economic, political and military power lead to the start of The Cold War. The Cold War was a brief, extremely intense period in history during which the United States and Cuba (backed by Russia) got into a conflict that almost resulted in what analysts believed would be the end of the world, or at the very least it would have crippled the United states and likely resulted in World War 3.
But United State Military officials decided if they were going to go down it would be a blaze of glory as opposed to a puff of smoke (or as the case would have been, nuclear fallout). Military officials as well as the president at the time, John F. Kennedy and his secretary of Defense Robert McNamara had several meetings regarding a theorized operation to stop a war from happening. They were speaking of course of Operation Northwoods. Operation Northwoods was a ‘deniable operation’ (meaning that, as the name implies, the operation could and would be denied that it was planned and or executed by the United States.) involving framing Cuba for terrorist acts as a form of creating national support to go to war with Cuba and obliterate any opposing forces.
While it may have been the lesser of two evils, it was nonetheless an extremely risky, if not downright stupid plan on the U.S’ part. Even if Operation Northwoods had gone off without a hitch and Cuba surrendered, returned all warheads to Russia and disassembled it’s standing army certainly the truth would come out at a later date, and consequences for the U.S would be dire. It’s almost incomprehensible how the government could have justified carrying out terrorist acts against the country it is set in place to defend and control.
The first of these consequences is militarily. Military consequences in a war refer primarily to casualties and collateral damage which would be plentiful, especially if any nuclear warheads were launched. But even after tallying up all of the direct military consequences, the whole world would have something to say (and do) about this and surely the first would be Russia, Cuba’s ally at the time when Operation Northwoods would have been carried out.
I can only imagine the reaction from the American populace when they learned that their own government had lied to them and carried out terrorist acts upon themselves as an excuse to go to war. I imagine many Americans would be ashamed and angry, that they had been fooled and were now the bad guys. Chances are this news wouldn’t be leaked for decades so the children who had been taught to hide under their desks and run home to shelter during the bombings were now learning that America had started the war that may have put those drills to use.
It’s a good thing that Operation Northwoods never went through or the America we know today would hardly be recognizable. To frame a nation, betray a generation and have thousands of people die for a hypothetical situation is absolute lunacy. While all hindsight is 20/20 and they couldn’t have known that Cuba wasn’t going to launch any offensive measures, when the idea of Operation Northwoods was dissected, it’s more than justification to intervene; it’s murder. It’s the cold blooded murder of thousands of Cubans and Americans. Of all the blemishes and stains on America’s history, this one is by far the harshest. Slavery, civil war and blatant bigotry don’t hold a candle to what Operation Northwoods had planned.
Opinion on Bay Of Pigs
-Daniel Quach
The Price They Paid for the Decisions We Made
The failed Bay of Pigs invasion probably the most embarrassing political decision made by the United States, displaying shame and sheepishness not only in front of ashamed Americans, but the cackling world as well.
One of the most important political decisions made by our government, the Bay of Pigs invasion was poorly contemplated, reckless, and far from perfect, its credit given to the highest members of American society: two Presidents, a U.S. Attorney General, and the United States’ intelligence agency, the C.I.A.
President Kennedy was quoted saying that he wanted to "splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it into the winds." His shame and anger also lead to the dismissal of three C.I.A. directors.
We denied the invasion. We blamed the Cuban rebels our government had trained for the failed incident. We were too concerned about our well being to experience a fear that only we had worried about.
When Soviet Russia sent ICBM’s (Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles) to Cuba (after Castro had joined the Soviet Bloc) in response to the Bay of Pigs invasion and issued an ultimatum that basically said, “Don’t mess with Cuba,” Americans generally panicked. Geographically, this was dangerous to the United States, as Cuba is 90.5 miles from the tip of Florida.
“For the Soviet Union it was one of the crisis [crises], because we lived through the two Berlin crises, three Middle East crisis, Far East Crisis. So it was no panic in the Soviets. It can be war, but it was no panic. Nobody left the Moscow or the big cities. It was life as usual.”
Quoted from Khrushchev, he was talking about the opposite mentality that the Soviets had during the dusk of the Cuban Missile Crisis, where they had experienced enough to believe that enough was enough. Americans did, in fact, panic, hoarding supplies in case there was nuclear fallout.
As the United States lost, Cuba succeeded. Killing hundreds of combatants, 4 having been American B-26 bomber pilots, they smugly acquired 1,189 prisoners. At first, Castro demanded 500 bulldozers, but then changed his offer to $53 million in food and medicine, sealing the deal. A letter from Congressman Gerald R. Ford Jr. to President Kennedy stated that if they were to pay the ransom, the money would come from taxpayer dollars.
“The honorable basis for action would be the release of the prisoners forthwith for humanitarian reasons, without any cost to the American taxpayers, and without the United States lowering its own prestige and enhancing Castro’s,” wrote Congressman Ford. Further in the letter states that Castro had demanded $62 million.
There were many propositions presented from the C.I.A. in attempt to discredit Cuba and its dictator. One of them was Operation Northwoods, a plan to execute a number of civilian attacks to be blamed on Cuba, ultimately giving the United States a reason for attack. The U.S. government had also spent thousands of dollars (and this definitely did happen) creating propaganda against Cuba, creating posters and articles as catalysts for anti-Communist mindsets. Also, millions of fliers were flown over Cuban territory and dropped for its citizens, but they ignored them because of their already adequate and acceptable lifestyle.
The plan of “bringing back some hairs from Castro’s beard” did not go as planned, if there even was any plan to begin with. "The United States has no right to meddle in our domestic affairs. We do not speak English and we do not chew gum. We have a different tradition, a different culture, our own way of thinking. We have no borders with anybody. Our frontier is the sea, very clearly defined.”
I believe that Castro wanted to safeguard his territory’s well-being by accepting nuclear warheads from Soviet Russia to add some intimidation to such a small but potentially powerful base for the Communists. They used the intelligence of the Bay of Pigs invasion to their advantage to threaten their enemies (one failed invasion did not blemish the United States’ reputation of being the greatest super power in the world), probably the only useful thing that ever landed into their hands, and ironically it was one of their enemies.
I felt that Congressman Gerald R. Ford had good intentions on securing the strong reputation of America. Had we not coughed up the $53 million, we probably would have never been seen as “involved” in the Bay of Pigs Invasion, since the excuse Kennedy gave (rebel Cubans fighting Cubans) was technically true. At the time, Communism was seen as bad, so even if we hadn’t bailed out the rebel Cubans, the American population would have praised the efforts of the “unaided” Cubans for the attempting to assassinate Castro. I’m not sure why Kennedy felt that since his government had spilled the beans on the whole situation, he needed to “help” the rebels by bailing them out of their home country. The rebels were the ones who signed up to fight their home’s leader in the first place; they definitely understood the circumstances they were in, and I’m hopeful that they weren’t “hoping” for rescue to compensate for their noble actions.
Opinion on Quarantine of Cuba
-Shawn Moss
Cuban Quarantine - 1962
The Cuban Quarantine was an event that occurred during the Cuban Missile Crisis. It was when Russian ships were cut off from Cuban waters by the US. After Missile manufacturing bases were spotted in Russia and storage bases in Cuban, Russia’s new found ally, the US became suspicious of their actions. They made an announcement to the public that there might be a possible strike from Cuba with nuclear war missiles that could potentially wipe out the entire South Eastern half of The United States. Cuba, which is right off he coast of Florida, had the range to fire missiles on the entirety of America. Though encouraging people to not panic, this caused widespread fear in the hearts of millions of Americans. The fact that the government decided to warn it’s people that there was an imminent threat was the best decision possible but it definitely was a pointless scare. The Russians used the event to give America the fear that bombing was possible plus using it as a bargaining chip to get rid of the threat to themselves nearby in Turkey. I think that they only used Cuba as a shied as they provided the sword. Cuba took most of the damage due to the rebellion and the American invasion. In the end the relation with the US and Cuba was drawn tight on the verge of snapping and the relationship between Russia and Cuba is probably pretty bad as well seeing how Russia got what they wanted through Cuba and they were just let out to burn.
Militarily the US was prepared to go to war with Cuba and Russia. They had missile bases set up in Turkey, which is as close if not closer to Russia that Cuba to the US. After setting up the Quarantine Russia pulled back all but on of their ships. With that act of defiance America was placed on DEFCON 2 which is right below a complete state of Readiness, or preparation for war. Even the fact that naval ships had to be sent out and patrol the waters of Cuba to keep trade from going in and out. Even after a compromise was made the naval ships stayed out there for another month. Those 13 days stressed out the nation as a whole and the armed forces under the command of the President.
The Cuban Quarantine was an event that occurred during the Cuban Missile Crisis. It was when Russian ships were cut off from Cuban waters by the US. After Missile manufacturing bases were spotted in Russia and storage bases in Cuban, Russia’s new found ally, the US became suspicious of their actions. They made an announcement to the public that there might be a possible strike from Cuba with nuclear war missiles that could potentially wipe out the entire South Eastern half of The United States. Cuba, which is right off he coast of Florida, had the range to fire missiles on the entirety of America. Though encouraging people to not panic, this caused widespread fear in the hearts of millions of Americans. The fact that the government decided to warn it’s people that there was an imminent threat was the best decision possible but it definitely was a pointless scare. The Russians used the event to give America the fear that bombing was possible plus using it as a bargaining chip to get rid of the threat to themselves nearby in Turkey. I think that they only used Cuba as a shied as they provided the sword. Cuba took most of the damage due to the rebellion and the American invasion. In the end the relation with the US and Cuba was drawn tight on the verge of snapping and the relationship between Russia and Cuba is probably pretty bad as well seeing how Russia got what they wanted through Cuba and they were just let out to burn.
Militarily the US was prepared to go to war with Cuba and Russia. They had missile bases set up in Turkey, which is as close if not closer to Russia that Cuba to the US. After setting up the Quarantine Russia pulled back all but on of their ships. With that act of defiance America was placed on DEFCON 2 which is right below a complete state of Readiness, or preparation for war. Even the fact that naval ships had to be sent out and patrol the waters of Cuba to keep trade from going in and out. Even after a compromise was made the naval ships stayed out there for another month. Those 13 days stressed out the nation as a whole and the armed forces under the command of the President.
Opinion on The First Week of "The Cuban Missile Crisis"
-Rafiq Robinson
The Cuban Missile Crisis, as a whole, was just one big media scare. In all actuality, nothing happened to any of the three countries except a public "scared" of the opposing country. This time should be called "The Close Call" because it was just loud barks by dogs who could bite but thought that a bark would suffice.
The war of Grenada was more of a war than this and it was settled within 24 hours.
"Nuclear catastrophe was hanging by a thread ... and we weren't counting days or hours, but minutes."
-Soviet General and Army Chief of Operations, Anatoly Gribkov
The thread never snapped, but everyone had scissors and if time was the issue here it might as well have ended in minutes. 14 days is 20,160 minutes and certain people thought thats it was over even before the 14 days, so it's a pretty good thing that Anatoly was counting minutes.
Although it ended in a little more than 20,000 minutes it did have a social and military impact. The social impact could best be described as, if manipulated, a scare tactic or a way to justify actions.
To put it simply, the impact that this "crisis" had on the public for these 14 days was that everybody became a potential threat. To some it seemed that this announcement was a way for us to take out our enemies, What happened was that Kennedy ordered a non-lethal blockade of "suspicious" goods into Cuba, which only furthers my point in saying that it induced public fear of the foreign countries.
What seems like suspicious goods to Americans can just be regular old things to Cubans who get goods like these regularly. This creates an unnecessary hassle for Cubans which gives the Cuban public reason to be wary of the U.S. If a Cuban staked out our activities in the U.S., there would be a major problem, especially during a time like this. The Americans can't step in the Cubans’ shoes because we would’ve reacted differently. We would’ve acted like “peaceful” people but much different.
The military impact goes back to another weird situation that we put Cubans in. We basically demoted their soldiers to nothing and made them feel useless. There was no revolt at all, but then again it would be a lost war.
This is basically a way to show them what we can do with no repercussions. If Cubans landed on American soil, it would be a war we would fight because we would fight with a purpose, to stop them from something. This leads to Cuban military insecurity because its only chance to even do us harm was when they received outside help from the soviets.
“The Close Call” that went on here is a perfect example of blowing things out of proportion. Nobody wanted a war. Casualties were not intended to occur. There is no point in throwing around threats if no one has intent to use their weapons. But then again it might as well have been called a media scare. Fighting would make a media scare a real scare and that’s just scary.
The war of Grenada was more of a war than this and it was settled within 24 hours.
"Nuclear catastrophe was hanging by a thread ... and we weren't counting days or hours, but minutes."
-Soviet General and Army Chief of Operations, Anatoly Gribkov
The thread never snapped, but everyone had scissors and if time was the issue here it might as well have ended in minutes. 14 days is 20,160 minutes and certain people thought thats it was over even before the 14 days, so it's a pretty good thing that Anatoly was counting minutes.
Although it ended in a little more than 20,000 minutes it did have a social and military impact. The social impact could best be described as, if manipulated, a scare tactic or a way to justify actions.
To put it simply, the impact that this "crisis" had on the public for these 14 days was that everybody became a potential threat. To some it seemed that this announcement was a way for us to take out our enemies, What happened was that Kennedy ordered a non-lethal blockade of "suspicious" goods into Cuba, which only furthers my point in saying that it induced public fear of the foreign countries.
What seems like suspicious goods to Americans can just be regular old things to Cubans who get goods like these regularly. This creates an unnecessary hassle for Cubans which gives the Cuban public reason to be wary of the U.S. If a Cuban staked out our activities in the U.S., there would be a major problem, especially during a time like this. The Americans can't step in the Cubans’ shoes because we would’ve reacted differently. We would’ve acted like “peaceful” people but much different.
The military impact goes back to another weird situation that we put Cubans in. We basically demoted their soldiers to nothing and made them feel useless. There was no revolt at all, but then again it would be a lost war.
This is basically a way to show them what we can do with no repercussions. If Cubans landed on American soil, it would be a war we would fight because we would fight with a purpose, to stop them from something. This leads to Cuban military insecurity because its only chance to even do us harm was when they received outside help from the soviets.
“The Close Call” that went on here is a perfect example of blowing things out of proportion. Nobody wanted a war. Casualties were not intended to occur. There is no point in throwing around threats if no one has intent to use their weapons. But then again it might as well have been called a media scare. Fighting would make a media scare a real scare and that’s just scary.
Op-Ed on Cuban Missile Crisis and its After-Effects
-Joshua Martin-Corrales
The Cuban Missile Crisis was more than likely the most terrifying event to occur in US History. If the Soviet Union and the United States had not come to their agreement, it could have resulted in a third world war, or even a nuclear apocalypse. Luckily, the disaster was averted diplomatically, and ended well for both parties involved. Though the Cuban Missile Crisis did end relatively happily, it changed the US in a few fundamental ways.
Strangely enough after the Cuban Missile Crisis, which can be said the closest to nuclear war as the world has ever come, people thought the threat of another world war or a nuclear catastrophe of any sort was far from occurring. They saw that things could be sorted out through diplomacy and that war did not have to occur. This seems strange, because you'd think after an event that could possibly have destroyed the world as we know it, people would be more worried about war than ever before. Rather, they seemed to think rationally about the resolution of the crisis instead of focusing on possible outcomes.
This is surprising, as I find the American public of today to be irrational and fearful, becoming terrified in the slightest indication of a threat. This was a situation where there were literally missiles aimed for major cities along the east coast, and when it was over people grew from it, learning diplomacy was a powerful tool in international problem solving. This means that socially, the Cuban Missile Crisis signaled a change in the identity of the American people.
It also changed politics with the same exact kind of force and reason. People saw that diplomacy, and problem solving through practical means could be just as important and effective as military strength, and began to become more involved and understanding of politics. The Cuban Missile Crisis was perhaps the first step in becoming a politically aware country. Not to mention, people became more aware of worldwide events, being careful to keep up with them in order to know what was going on, so that next time there was a crisis of some sort, they would be aware of it somewhat ahead of time, or at least understand why it happened.
Unfortunately, the Cuban Missile Crisis had a negative effect militarily. After the crisis, people were worried more about the arms race, and were afraid that the Soviets would continue to advance more and more, and get an advantage. This might have been what has put us in our current mindset. While building weapons to keep up with our enemies then out of fear might have been seen as rational, this gross spending on military technology now doesn't make near as much sense, seeing as the Cold War is over, and we no longer have practical need to be afraid that another superpower is building weapons to combat us.
The missile crisis effected the country's ways of thinking and acting, and while most of these effects were beneficial, we can see how those same changes today, are not still in effect. The political awareness of other countries has weakened, and our understanding that diplomacy can be just as effective as war has been thrown out the window, we have lost what we previously gained. My review of the crisis marks it as a relatively successful event for the United States, we used our fear, and while along the way we made a few mistakes, we ended up with a mutually beneficial agreement. However, this same review makes me see clearly, how much 9/11 has changed America. We have receded into a pre-Missile Crisis state of mind, terrified and out of control, relying on little to no diplomacy. The Cuban Missile Crisis overall, did help America grow though, and I will mark it in my mind, as a wholly beneficial event.
Strangely enough after the Cuban Missile Crisis, which can be said the closest to nuclear war as the world has ever come, people thought the threat of another world war or a nuclear catastrophe of any sort was far from occurring. They saw that things could be sorted out through diplomacy and that war did not have to occur. This seems strange, because you'd think after an event that could possibly have destroyed the world as we know it, people would be more worried about war than ever before. Rather, they seemed to think rationally about the resolution of the crisis instead of focusing on possible outcomes.
This is surprising, as I find the American public of today to be irrational and fearful, becoming terrified in the slightest indication of a threat. This was a situation where there were literally missiles aimed for major cities along the east coast, and when it was over people grew from it, learning diplomacy was a powerful tool in international problem solving. This means that socially, the Cuban Missile Crisis signaled a change in the identity of the American people.
It also changed politics with the same exact kind of force and reason. People saw that diplomacy, and problem solving through practical means could be just as important and effective as military strength, and began to become more involved and understanding of politics. The Cuban Missile Crisis was perhaps the first step in becoming a politically aware country. Not to mention, people became more aware of worldwide events, being careful to keep up with them in order to know what was going on, so that next time there was a crisis of some sort, they would be aware of it somewhat ahead of time, or at least understand why it happened.
Unfortunately, the Cuban Missile Crisis had a negative effect militarily. After the crisis, people were worried more about the arms race, and were afraid that the Soviets would continue to advance more and more, and get an advantage. This might have been what has put us in our current mindset. While building weapons to keep up with our enemies then out of fear might have been seen as rational, this gross spending on military technology now doesn't make near as much sense, seeing as the Cold War is over, and we no longer have practical need to be afraid that another superpower is building weapons to combat us.
The missile crisis effected the country's ways of thinking and acting, and while most of these effects were beneficial, we can see how those same changes today, are not still in effect. The political awareness of other countries has weakened, and our understanding that diplomacy can be just as effective as war has been thrown out the window, we have lost what we previously gained. My review of the crisis marks it as a relatively successful event for the United States, we used our fear, and while along the way we made a few mistakes, we ended up with a mutually beneficial agreement. However, this same review makes me see clearly, how much 9/11 has changed America. We have receded into a pre-Missile Crisis state of mind, terrified and out of control, relying on little to no diplomacy. The Cuban Missile Crisis overall, did help America grow though, and I will mark it in my mind, as a wholly beneficial event.
