1960s Interdisciplinary Notes

Thesis: The rise of nuclear weapons that marked the Post-War Era and their increasing
prevalence as an underlying, existential threat from the 1960s onward, allowed the worlds safety
to hang on a thread to this day, where one wrong move can end everything.

The 1960s and the Cuban Missile Crisis:

The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 was a direct and dangerous confrontation between
the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War and was the moment when the two
superpowers came closest to nuclear conflict.
The crisis started when after the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, and during the planning of the
Cuban project (a false-flag operation codenamed Mongoose), Nikita Kruschev struck a deal with
the communist government of Fidel Castros in Cuba to place Soviet ICBMs on the island as a
deterrent against invasion.
Once evidence was found of these missiles and other Soviet weaponry being placed in Cuba,
tensions ratcheted up. With infallible evidence of this existential threat right on the United States
doorstep, the Cuban Missile Crisis started. \
Different schools of foreign policy and the bureaucracy were brought into conflict with eachother
over finding the resolution to the crisis and Kennedys course of action started with what was
characterized as a naval quarantine (blockade) of Cuba and an affirmation of a new Monroe
Doctrine .
Tensions were at an all-time high and between the US and the USSR/Cuba, relations soured. The
naval quarantine was considered an act of aggression and both sides geared up for war.
The crisis soon was on the brink of all-out thermonuclear war; however, with constant
communication between Nikita Khrushchev and JFK, a deal was reached. The US would
promise to never attack Cuba and remove missiles from Turkey in exchange for the removal of
the missiles and later, all Soviet bombers, from Cuba.
The 1980s and the Cold War:
The National Security Council Report known as NSC68 had echoed Trumans
recommendation that the country use military force to contain communist
expansionism(History).
American officials encouraged the development of atomic weapons like the ones that had ended
World War II. Thus began a deadly arms race(History).
Able Archer 83, simulated the transition by NATO from a conventional war to a nuclear war,
culminating in the stimulated release of warheads against the Soviet Union(Beckhusen).
The Soviets interpreted the simulation as a ruse to conceal a first strike and readied their nukes.
At this period in history, and especially during the exercise, a single false alarm or miscalculation
could have brought Armageddon(Beckhusen).
U.S. ambassador Averell Harriman six months before the crisis that both countries may be
moving toward a red line in which a miscalculation could spark a nuclear war(Beckhusen).
The early 1980s was a crisis period, a pre-wartime period, said Gen. Varfolomei Korobushin,
the former deputy chief of staff of the Soviet nuclear Strategic Rocket Forces(Beckhusen).
President Reagan wasnt sure, and in March, 1984, asked Arthur Hartman, his ambassador to
the Soviet Union, Do you think Soviet leaders really fear us, or is all the huffing and puffing
just part of their propaganda?(Beckhusen).
According to the CIA article, RYAN (Soviet code for their nuclear tactics operation) was for
real and accelerated in the early 1980s during the scare. The goal was to find out if and when
the United States and NATO would attack. According to KGB instructions sent to agents in
London, Soviet spies were to monitor bomb shelters, blood banks, military bases and key
financial and religious leaders for signs of war preparations(Beckhusen).

The 2010s and the nuclear battle with North Korea:

The Korean War informally ended in 1953, yet, no formal surrender or agreement was signed,
meaning that the conflict continues up to this day. (PBS)
North Korea still sees South Korea as its rightful territory, creating a state of constant tension.
(PBS)
When North Koreas military power is combined with its isolation and refusal to give in to
international pressure, North Korea is a rogue actor on the world stage that could easily start a
war. (Both corroborate this)
In recent decades, the country has embarked upon an illegal nuclear weapons program that
makes the entire East Asian region a powder keg. (NTI)
Once again, tensions are ratcheting up and the worlds fate hangs on a thread, where one wrong
move could lead to WWIII or a nuclear holocaust. (NTI)