Cuban Missile Crisis Analysis
...on the individuals that make decisions, the impact of human nature, the behavior of individuals acting in an organization, and how personality and individual experiences impact foreign policy decisions. This level will show how all of these factors played a great role in the outcome of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The criteria that will be used to analyze this event are the Cuban citizens’ participation to rebel against their own in the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the toughness of the great leader John F. Kennedy and his Executive Committee of the National Security Council, the decision making in crisis by the U.S. leaders, and the crazy leaders that the United States was up against. Realism can be defined as an image of international relations that can be traced back two thousand years. Realists tend to hold pessimistic views on the likelihood of the transformation of the current world into a more peaceful one, emphasizing the struggle for power among political units each acting in a rational, unitary manner to advance its interests. Realists also tend to believe in stability, value order, and be conflictual. This criterion will hold strong in defining the United States international relations at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The first aspect of the individual-level analysis to be discussed is the Cuban rebels participation to train with the C.I.A. in a plan to attack and liberate Cuba from its communist government, known as the “Bay of Pigs Invasion”. Even though the attack failed, it still showed the realist point of view by the United States. The attack was in relation to the national interest and security the United States was trying to secure, and also showed the conflictual side of our government. The United States was against all communist parties in the world, and especially against Cuba since it’s right off the coast of Florida and is more of a threat then the communist countries in Europe and Asia. Therefore we used the Cuban rebels so it would seem as if they were just rebelling against their own country. The rebels agreeing to attack their own country showed that they also had a sense of national interest and valued a balance of power in Cuba. After this event Khrushchev, the Soviet leader said this: “As far as the Soviet Union is concerned, there should be no mistake about our position: We will render the Cuban people and their government all necessary help to repel an armed attack on Cuba.”(Sierra, 6) The next aspect of the individual-level analysis to be discussed is the great leader John F. Kennedy and his Executive Committee of the National Security Council (ExComm). They showed the great aspects of realism with their decision-making, toughness, and resilience throughout the whole Cuban Missile Crisis. President Kennedy showed his National interest by choosing to take action against the Soviet Union and Cuba for having nuclear weapons in Cuba. There was no prior action taken against the U.S. by either country, but it was a threat to the country that President Kennedy was not going to let take place. The third aspect of the individual-level of analysis is decision making in crisis. This event involved the toughest decision-making by any President in the United States’ history. President Kennedy and his ExComm discussed several courses of action, everything from doing nothing to invading Cuba. After much debate, a naval blockade of the island emerged as the leading choice. The U.S. leaders showed many realist qualities throughout this crisis. The decision showed a great poise and a sense of National interest by the U.S. leaders. It also had the zero sum game approach since no matter what option the United States chose to do to handle it, the bottom line would be that President Kennedy would not let up until the nuclear weapons were removed from Cuba. A different approach to this event could have led to a disastrous ending for the United States and a possible breakout of World War III with a nuclear battle. The final aspect of the individual-level of analysis to be discussed in the Cuban Missile Crisis is the irrational leader involved. The two crazy leaders involved were Cuban leader Fidel Castro and Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev. Castro had a strong dislike towards the United States because of the Bay of Pigs Invasion and the embargo tha...