WHAT HAPPENED DURING THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS?

Many people have heard of in our generation, the Cuban missile crisis, but I don't think  many people even know what happened and why it happened.  I wanted to do a summary of the events that took place in this crisis involving Cuba, The Soviet Union, and The United States.

The Cuban Missile Crisis was such a significant confrontation during the Cold War that it actually ranks up there with the Berlin Blockade.  Here is a video showing what Kennedy decided to do, before the actual invasion...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W50RNAbmy3M .In the late 50s and early 60s the CIA trained Cuban exiles on how to shoot weapons, how to effectively invade, and basic combat skills.  The plan was for these 1,511 Cuban exiles to invade Cuba at the Bay of Pigs.  The United States had promised to give the exiles air support which may have actually won the invasion had President Kennedy not called off the air support at the last minute.  When asked why he called off the air support last minute, his answer was that he didn't like the idea of overt intervention with Cuba.  In the aftermath, 103 Cuban exile fighters were killed in the Bay of Pigs invasion in April of 1961, the Cuban army suffered significantly higher casualties their numbers reached around 2,000 deaths.   This failed invasion severely embarrassed President Kennedy and his administration.

Why would they try to invade Cuba?  Easy.  The United States feared that Soviet communism or socialism would spread to Cuba, and they did not want that to happen. The scare intensified sharply when a spy plane flew over Cuba and discovered that there were missile bases being built in Cuba (hence the term, The Cuban Missile Crisis).    The scare weakened after the United States agreed with the Soviet Union for the missile bases to be dismantled in exchange for a no-invasion agreement.  However, in the years following, spy planes continued to find missile bases being built in parts of Cuba.  After "careful consideration" the Joint Chiefs of Staff agreed that a full scale attack and invasion was the only solution.  Kennedy was not thrilled about the idea from the beginning and explained to the Joint Chiefs of Staff that the Soviets would not sit back and do nothing.  This could end up being something bigger than they thought, which is exactly what President Kennedy wanted to avoid.  

In the end, the invasion was a complete failure, and many lives were lost as a result of this invasion.  And it left the Cuban exiles betrayed and angry at the U.S. and at President Kennedy.  Kennedy did not want the Soviet Union or the rest of the world to think the U.S. had any participation in this invasion in order to attempt to save face.  The problem was the facts were out there, and there was no hiding the United States' involvement in the invasion at the Bay of Pigs.