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__**John F. Kennedy and his advisors role**__
 * Research Question:**
 * What was John F. Kennedy and his advisors (EX-COMM, Robert Kennedy, and others) decisions/role during the Cuban missile crisis? **



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John F. Kennedy(JFK) was United State's 35th president, he was in office since January 20, 1961 to November 22, 1963 due to the assassination. He took a huge amount of role as a president of U.S. during the Cuban missile crisis. With the help of his advisors, Kennedy made every important decisions during the crisis.=====

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President Kennedy created a group of advisors known as Executive Committee (EX-COMM) on October 16, 1961. These nineteen brightest and highly motivated men to solve this crisis helped and gave advises to the president through out the crisis. They have gave intelligence briefing, edited Kennedy's letters to Khrushchev, and arguing over the best course of action, EX-COMM proved to be an irrefutable way to manage the crisis.=====

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Before Kennedy got elected as the 35th in Cuba, Fidel Castro the revolutionary had a communist revolution in Cuba and became the first secretary of the communist party of Cuba since 1961. The 34th president of U.S. Dwight Eisenhower had a clandestine plan to invade Cuba and overthrow communist party and its dictator Fidel Castro. When JFK had elected as the president he inherited Dwight Eisenhower's clandestine plan. Before the actual invasion, under JFK's decision two assassination attempts were made towards Castro in 1961. These assassination attempts were not successful. So on April 17, 1961 under Kennedy's decision U.S. landed 1450 troops at the Bay of Pigs on the southern coast of Cuba. U.S., hoping to find support from the population in Cuba, intended to cross the island to Havana. However, Cubans rather supported Castro than U.S. have supported Castro. As the situation turned bad, Arleigh Burke the navy chief of staff, requested Kennedy to send in air cover on the Bay of Pigs but Kennedy refuses to send the air support. The invasion resulted in a huge failure of U.S. and by the time the fighting ended on April 19, 1961, 90 exiles were killed and rest of them were taken away as prisoners. Kennedy blamed the CIA and EX-COMM for the fiasco, but he could have abandoned the invasion plan at any time. This Bay of Pigs invasion is still recorded as the biggest failure of JFK and brought the Cuban missile crisis.======

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After the invasion Kennedy boosted the defense spending and launched operation Mongoose, the secret program to disturb Cuba by bombing their factories, wrecking the sugar harvests, and killing Castro. This operation costed about $50 million and U.S. still could not kill Castro. Castro knew U.S. is attempting to assassinate him, so he warned through American reporter that attempts to kill him will lead to threats against leaders in U.S. and by this time the Cuban missile crisis started.======

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The reason still unclear, but possibly because Cuba and USSR feared another invasion from U.S.(or they might have known the operation Mongoose), USSR began arming Cuba with missiles in Summer of 1962. The crisis began on October 15, 1962 when U.S.'s reconnaissance photographs revealed Soviet missiles under construction in Cuba. Early the next day, JFK immediately organized EX-COMM to handle this crisis. This crisis was the closest the world ever came to nuclear war. With the advices by EX-COMM, Kennedy decided to impose a naval quarantine around Cuba wishing to prevent the arrival of more Soviet offensive weapons on the island. Kennedy proclaimed that any nuclear missiles launched from Cuba would be regarded as an attack towards the United States by USSR and demanded that USSR to remove all of their offensive weapons in Cuba. On October 22, USSR still have not removed the weapons from the island. Kennedy announced the discovery of missiles in Cuba towards the public throughout radio and television. During his speech he used the word 'quarantine' instead of 'blockade', this important suggestion was by George Ball, Under Secretary of State.======

media type="youtube" key="bOnY6b-qy_8" height="315" width="420" align="center" **(Kennedy's speech about Cuban missile crisis, 15:00 - his view on crisis)** Kennedy ordered low level reconnaissance missions once every two hours. On Octo ber 27, important letter came to Kennedy from Premier Nikita Khrushchev of USSR. The letter warned, this action of United States launching U-2, the reconnaissance aircraft is being a threat for both Cuba and USSR. Khrushchev also reminded Kennedy that they don't have any attempts to attack U.S. and the reason they are arming Cuba is to protect Cuba but not to attack other countries. Kennedy's response was 'No'. He replied to Khrushchev and in the letter he proclaimed any further action of USSR arming Cuba will recognized as declaration of war between two countries and ordered USSR to unarm Cuba with missiles immediately. Then Kennedy sent his brother Robert Kennedy Attorney general of United States to USSR to conclude this crisis. Robert Kennedy went to the Soviet Embassy. Because in Khrushchev's letter, USSR declaimed that the nuclear missiles in Turkey built by U.S. is the reason for their threat and them arming up Cuba, Kennedy offered introduce of Turkish missiles into a potential settlement. This meeting was successful and on October 28, 1961 USSR unarmed every nuclear missiles from Cuba back to their country. __**Answer to the research question:**__ Thus the whole crisis happened because of Kennedy's decision to invade Cuba, Kennedy and his advisors concluded the crisis which might have turned into a nuclear warfare. Both sides unarmed the nuclear bombs in Cuba and Turkey and the result of this crisis. Without the help of his advisors, EX-COMM and Robert Kennedy, JFK wouldn't have conclude this crisis. __Work Cited__ Walles, John. "Cuban Missile Crisis: Summary." //ThinkQuest //. Oracle Foundation, 3 May 2010. Web. 03 May 2012. . __Video/image__ http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&safe=active&sa=N&biw=1208&bih=784&tbm=isch&tbnid=Fnt5h6qtH83bnM:&imgrefurl=https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol46no1/article06.html&docid=Anq1UJOT4l3H5M&imgurl=https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol46no1/CubaMap1b_w.jpg&w=593&h=512&ei=bomiT82NA_DjmAWBhpmKCA&zoom=1 __Book Source__ Kennedy, Robert F. //Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis //. New York: W.W. Norton, 1969. Print. 