The Cold War first began when the big three met at the Yalta Conference. In fact, it was at Yalta that both Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill recognized the dominating power of the Soviet Union. During the 1945 conference Joseph Stalin's army was the largest in Europe and they had already occupied Poland. After the conference the red army had control of Eastern Europe and the political as well as the economic ideological differences between the United States and the Soviet Union began to escalate. For example, in 1946 Joseph Stalin gave a speech stating that communism and capitalism were incompatible, while the United States viewed communism as a deadly disease or infection that would destroy democratic society. The ideological rivalry continued when Harry Truman failed to send reparations to Europe while Stalin failed to hold free elections in Eastern Europe. In fact, when Sputnik I was launched by the Soviet Union in 1957, and the USSR exploded their first A-bomb the United States began to fear the Soviets advancement in technology. It was this fear of the communists that led to the McCarthy hearings, Marshall Plan, and the events in Cuba, such as the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crises.
The United States first started to become concerned over Soviet pressures in emerging nations such as Cuba and Korea. In Stalin's 1946 speech he declared ideological war on all capitalist countries. In response the United States put the Truman Doctrine into effect, which sent anticommunist forces to Greece and Turkey and created public census so America would fight a Cold War. In other words the United States government used propaganda to manipulate American citizens into fearing the communist movement. In fact, the U.S. government used the same propaganda tactic during World War I with the formation of the Committee for Public Information. The 1948 Marshall Plan was also put into effect to counter communist expansion by giving thirteen billion dollars to rebuild west and central Europe. However, communism began to spread and gain support throughout Asia and other emerging nations. In East Germany the Soviets continued to escalate the Cold War by building the Berlin wall to protect against population loss while forming an alliance with China. In response the United States refused to recognize the newly formed communist countries and accelerated economic and military development to counter the Asian communist movement. In addition the greatest cause in the escalation of Cold War was Cuba. Cuba was viewed as the greatest communist threat because it brought the "infectious disease" only 90 miles from the United States. Fidel Castro became a hated political figure in the U.S. because he adopted the communist political agenda of nationalization.
In 1959 Fidel Castro was first described by our United States government as a spiritual leader that would have a positive influence on the citizens of Cuba. Vice President Richard Nixon stated that, "The one fact we can be sure of is that Fidel Castro has those indefinable qualities which make him a leader of men." ([ 1 ])
However, in 1960 the United States worst fears came true with Castro establishing a communist dictatorship in Cuba. The U.S. quickly changed their belief of Castro being a great leader to the belief that Castro was an incompetent man whose government was destined for collapse. Why would the U.S. immediately change their view of Castro as a leader? Was it because they feared Castro's choice in ideologies? I believe that the latter statement is true because of the tensions that began to grow between the two counties. Cuba was thought to be the stepping stone for communism to enter our western society. Therefore it was our fear of communism that increased the hostility between the Soviet Union and the United States. Castro executed and imprisoned political opponents, nationalized industry, and established a one party socialist state. He also seized United States owned oil refineries, sugar mills, and electric mills which added up to a loss of over one billion dollars. Fidel escalated the Cold War by embracing Soviet political and economic ideologies while the U.S. became concerned over communism spreading from Cuba to Latin America.
During the Kennedy administration Cuba became a major pawn between the United States and the Soviet Union. The U.S. feared that Castro would provide the communists with a base to spread political propaganda throughout Latin America. Thus the U.S. government believed that the smaller unstable governments of Latin America would be easily influenced by the "infectious" communist agenda. The U.S. always feared the communist and fascist policies of nationalization. For example, when Cardenas nationalized oil in Mexico in 1935 the U.S. feared the growth of the Nazi party. The United States responded to the communist development by placing an embargo on Cuba and began planning an invasion that would restore democracy in Cuba. The counter revolutionary force responsible for leading the Cuban invasion was trained, in Guatemala, by the CIA and mainly consisted of Cuban exiles. The United States' plan was not "to let the U.S. hand show" during the invasion. ([ 2 ])
The invasion of the Bahia de Los Cochinos or Bay of Pigs was a risky plan that was doomed for failure. Or, in John Kennedy's words, "How can I have been so stupid to let them proceed." ([ 3 ]) Kennedy had inherited the cloak-and-dagger scheme from President Eisenhower and turned a blind eye to the fact that the invasion violated our own neutrality laws. First of all the U.S. government was completely preoccupied with the concept of keeping the world safe for democracy that they failed to realize that Castro and the Soviets knew about the invasion. In fact, Castro even knew the proposed date of April 17. Secondly the Cuban military was improved because of Soviet weapons. Despite these huge obstacles the United States government, under President John F. Kennedy, ordered the invasion because they were fearful of the possibility that communism would spread outside of Cuba.
The CIA trained, led, and equipped 1400 Cuban exiles known as Brigade 2506. The exiles were armed with U.S. weapons and were supposed to receive U.S. military support. Their goal was to move inland from the Bay of Pigs, gain local support, and cross the island to Havana. However Kennedy ordered key changes to the CIA's invasion plan. First he changed the landing site from the populated city of Trinidad to a more isolated location. In fact, the isolated location was picked because our government believed it would keep causalities down. Then Kennedy ordered a night deployment instead of the CIA's daytime plan and he reduced air support in order to make it less noisy. The invasion was over in just 72 hours because the exiles were grossly outnumbered and Cuban aircraft sank the exiles ammunition ship. The fighting ended on April 19 with 90 exiles killed and the rest taken hostage. The invasion was a failure and an embarrassment to the Kennedy administration. Fidel Castro demanded money for the release of the captured exiles but Kennedy would not comply with his demand. The exiles were later ransomed by business groups and private citizens in the United States. On December 25, 1962, 1113 prisoners were released in exchange for food and medical supplies which were valued at fifty three million dollars. After the invasion the hostilities between the United States and the Soviet Union increased. Just the fact that the U.S. chose military action to overthrow Castro proves that they feared communist expansion. The government was scared that Castro would spread his influences throughout the emerging Latin America.
Furthermore the ideological differences between the United States and the Soviet Union reached its peek in 1962. Cuba was once again in the middle of a power struggle between the U.S. and the USSR. The Cuban Missile Crises was regarded by many as the world's closet approach to nuclear war. In 1960 Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev launched plans to supply Cuba with forty ballistic missiles that would put the U.S. within range of a nuclear attack. Krushchevs plan was to weaken the United States' position over Berlin. By the summer of 1962 spy plans flying over Cuba had photographed construction work and the first ballistic missile on October 14. John Kennedy responded to the threat by placing a naval blockade to prevent Cuba from obtaining more missiles. Kennedy demanded that the USSR dismantle and remove all weapons while declaring Cuba a quarantine zone. Kennedy later warned that an attack by Cuba would be like an attack by the Soviet Union. Thus, United States troops were sent to Florida while American vessels blockaded Cuba.
The overall reason why Castro was being supplied with ballistic missiles was to keep the United States' muscle under control. Thus, giving Castro and the Soviets a way to tie American hands. Also a Cuban nuclear arsenal would prevent another risky invasion like the Bay of Pigs. In theory this would allow Castro to stabilize his regime by spreading his propaganda throughout the west.
However nuclear war was avoided because of the Soviets weak military position. Kennedy had threatened to invade and destroy Cuba's nuclear threat if Krushchev did not remove all ballistic missiles. On October 28, 1962 Krushchev agreed to remove all missiles from Cuba and even offered to let United Nations inspectors view the building site. In response Kennedy lifted the quarantine zone. In the end war was avoided and the U.S. was safe from a nuclear threat.
Without a doubt the United States' fear of communist expansion in Cuba played a major role in the escalation on the Cold War. Castro had brought communism only 90 miles from the United States and the U.S. feared that he would use Cuba as a base for communist propaganda. In response to the growing threat of communism the U.S. government followed a series of controversial policies which led to the escalation of the Cold War. The creation of public census caused Americans to fear the spread of communism. While the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion demonstrated the lengths that the U.S. government would go to keep communism out of U.S. territory. Therefore it was the United States' inability to control the growth of communism that caused the escalation of the Cold War.
