I-Search Paper (Cuban Missile Crisis)

Garrett Mills

One of my favorite activities is exploring museums, they are like a portal to the past in which you can learn a great deal of information in an engaging way. I normally visit D.C. once a year and go around to all the different Smithsonian’s, but this time we visited a museum called the International Spy Museum which held an exhibit called “Covert Action”, in this exhibit there was an exhibit about how a CIA Operation known as the Bay of Pigs had failed. I was captivated by it, and I knew I wanted to know more about the events surrounding the cold war U.S. and Soviet conflict, this is what led me to choose my current research topic, and what better event to choose than the one closest to the United States, an event known as the Cuban missile crisis. I like to think that U.S. history has and will always be my favorite subject more specifically war history, so admittedly I am a little embarrassed that I really did not know much about the Cuban missile crisis at the start of this research project. All I knew about it was that Cuba and the Soviet Union made an agreement that allowed the Soviets to bring missiles into their country, which is terrifying to the U.S. as it puts them right into strike range, but at the end of the day there was obviously no nuclear missiles launched.

The easy part throughout this whole process was the selection of the topic, however the hardest part was finding a specific question that I wanted to find an answer to. My goal for this project was to learn about the overall events that occurred within this tumultuous time in the Cold War, and ultimately how close we actually were to the world’s first nuclear war because that would change the entire landscape of warfare and the world as we know it. So, after hours of looking at sample research questions and how they were constructed, and looking at other classmate’s research questions I landed on how I wanted to word and ultimately question my interest in the conflict. I initially posted two research questions “How was the Cuban Missile Crisis the closest the U.S. has ever come to nuclear war? What key events and decisions took place during this intense period of the Cold War?” then I decided to just put them into one question for formatting purposes.

My research question on the Cuban Missile Crisis is, how close was the Cuban Missile Crisis to triggering the first nuclear war, and what were key events and decisions made throughout the crisis? My search led me through hours of rabbit holes in the sites of archives, and webpages laying out the timelines and events that occurred during the period between October 16, 1962 – October 28, 1962, and uncovered just how close they were to a full-blown nuclear war.

After selection of my research question, (how close was the Cuban Missile Crisis to triggering the first nuclear war, and what were key events and decisions made throughout the crisis?) I did what I think most people do when delving into topics they are unfamiliar with, I went to google and typed “Cuban Missile Crisis”. Within my google search, I found many different articles ranging from History.com and britannica.com, from these basic searches I was able to piece together the big picture of exactly what the Cuban Missile Crisis was and the main events that occurred. With more knowledge on the big events that occurred, I was able to dive deeper into other websites that would more effectively answer my question. I then did more google searches which led to me finding two individual stories and instances of just how close the U.S. and Soviets were to a deadly nuclear exchange. The first close encounter I found came from a secondary source https://www.historynet.com/the-end-was-near.htm, which explains the untimely intrusion of soviet air space by an American U-2 spy plane who was unaware of just how high tensions had gotten on Oct 27th and where he was at it also explains the response of both sides of the conflict.

One of the most interesting events I learned about came from another secondary source I found on google, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2016/03/you-and-almost-everyone-you-know-owe-your-life-to-this-man/#close, an article by the national geographic explains the formerly unknown story of how the world was saved by one individual, “…[a] flotilla commander responsible for three Russian subs…”, he was one of three senior officers aboard a Soviet sub that contained a nuclear arsenal his name is Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov. There was a vote to launch their nuclear torpedo which required all three senior officers vote to launch, the first two officers voted yes, and Vasili voted no.

Finding the two primary sources were hard, and not for the reason you may be thinking, I found so many resources I just kept looking and looking. First, I looked at the Padlet board in which we posted our research questions and got feedback from the professor and peers. I saw a resource the professor had given me to start off my primary source search which was https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/, initially I had problems finding relevant sources that I could use as the primary as it was pieces written later about the events, not actual pieces from the time period. So I had to change up my wording and eventually found a link that sent me to the National Archives Catalog, and also The National Security Archive from The George Washington University which is funny because prior to her post, I was actually just looking at the website for that university because I want to attend that college when I move to D.C. soon. Finally, the last route I used to get to my final primary source was google which led to Britannica, where I found a great picture, I followed the trail to it sources which was from the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum Archives, where I found a plethora of great sources that were used in briefings for President Kennedy during the missile crisis.

There were so many primary sources to choose from that was the difficult portion of this assignment, one of the primary sources that I found interesting comes in the form of a sketch pad paper that has the inscriptions from none other than President John F. Kennedy. The writings were dated to 10/25/1962, which is right around the time period when the crisis was coming to an apex. Some of the words are illegible, but if you look at the top right you can see very clearly the word Missile written three times being circled or squared around noting its importance. Right below it reads an annotation, “Scribbled notes during meeting of security council Oct 25, 1962”. With so many dynamic events occurring especially the danger surrounding the threat of nuclear war, the President has advisors from the department of state, intelligence, military generals, and the secretary of defense, it was clear that they were discussing the threat that missiles presented or the use of missiles in defense of a potential attack on American forces.

Another Primary source I found beneficial in orienting me in the right direction to answering my question came in the form of a briefing board which was used to brief the President and his council on the current situation of the Soviet weaponization of Cuba and the impacts that it holds. For those of you who are unfamiliar with geography, it shows just how close Cuba is to the U.S. picture in the graphic is Florida with Miami being a major city in view. This graphic shows not only the locations of where Soviet forces are located but what kind of nuclear weapons are placed in strategic locations to be able to reach certain destinations within the U.S. depending on their effective range, it also shows that they have ground forces, patrol boats, and airfields that contain IL-28 and MIG-21 fighter jets. This briefing board #87 Soviet Military Build-Up In Cuba, was dated 6 February 1963 which means it was presented after months after the end of the missile crisis, so you can infer that the government did not have a full entire picture of what exactly was in play on part of the Soviets, not until after they brokered an agreement did they find this information out.

Throughout the research process, I found out many valuable pieces of knowledge, not only just from the conflict itself, but also from the research process in general. One of my big takeaways is not falling into the trap of researching too much, we are all busy in our lives and we need to be efficient in getting as much PERTINENT information as possible. I spent way too much time diving into different rabbit holes that presented themselves just because it was interesting to read, and many of them did not provide information applicable to my desired research question. So, stay on topic once you find your research question and it is okay to go follow the trail but just make sure it applies to your question and topic. I actually really enjoy doing academic research when it is about a subject that I find enjoyable so I found this assignment was much easier than I thought it was going to be, so it was a nice surprise and I ended up learning more than I would in any other class.

The research I found throughout the process made it very easy to keep on track with my original research question so I was fortunate, I also could have easily changed my question, but I enjoyed following the path that my question led me down.

So, to answer the question of how close was the Cuban Missile Crisis to triggering the first nuclear war, and what were key events and decisions made throughout the crisis? The U.S. and the Soviet Union were so close to nuclear war through decisions made by single individuals on both sides, the heads of each country deciding to show restraint and humility in tense situations by agreeing to deescalate and pull back nuclear weapons in Cuba and Turkey, and by individuals on both sides of the military like U-2 Pilot Captain Charles W. Maultsby, and Soviet Naval Officer Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov, these situations rose in conflict to the point nuclear war was viewed as all but inevitable.

Primary Resources:

Doodles Annotated with the Words Missiles, Missiles, Missiles

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/595725

Briefing Board #87: Soviet Military Build Up in Cuba

https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/DODCMCBM/009/DODCMCBM-009-008

Transcript of Cuban Missile Crisis meetings, 27 October 1962

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/193723

Cuban Missile Crisis Chronogloical Timelines & Photos

https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu//nsa/cuba_mis_cri/chron.htm

https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/nsa/cuba_mis_cri/photos.htm

Secondary Resources:

https://www.spymuseum.org/exhibition-experiences/

https://www.historynet.com/the-end-was-near.htm

https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/cuban-missile-crisis

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2016/03/you-and-almost-everyone-you-know-owe-your-life-to-this-man/#close

https://www.britannica.com/event/Cuban-missile-crisis