The U.S. Attempts to Contain Cuba

1. Why was Cuba so important to the United States?
It had been an American ally for a long while and Americans owned most of the business on the island. The USA had a very large naval base there. The United states had a lot of influence in Cuba and they controlled most of the business, including many sugar industries.

2. Why do you think the Americans chose to equip Cuban exiles rather than invading themselves?
I believe that the Americans chose to equip Cuban exiles rather than invading themselves was because they knew that that if they invaded Cuba, than the Soviet Union would launch bombs at attack them. The United States did not want to be the cause of an invasion of Cuba because it would just create a lot of tension between them and the U.S.S.R.

3. Why did the invasion fail?
The invasion failed because the Cuban military was equipped with tanks and modern weapons, along with 20,000 troops, which overwhelmed the exiles. The United States was suppose to provide air support, which would have given the exiles a chance. But because the United States is filled with political babies, they became scared and failed to authorize the air strikes.

4. Compare Source 17 on page 345 (in the Arms Race.pdf reading) with Source 24 on page 348. Describe how the Soviet Union missiles on Cuba changed the Cold War balance of power.
American missiles were stationed in the USA and they were aimed toward Soviet Union cities and were estimated to take about 30 minutes to hit, according to source 17. With the Soviet Union having missiles set up in Cuba, the amount of accuracy at where they could aim their bombs sky rocketed, the time it would take the bombs to hit decreased drastically, and it made everything easier. It chanced the Cold War balance of power because now the Soviet Union was a major threat to the United states. They could fire deadly missiles at short range with barely any warming and it would be devastating to the U.S.