Mandatory Writing Assignment (Worth 25% of Course Grade)
Watch the film Thirteen Days. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7aKD6CvU8w The motion picture is on YouTube Movie & Shows at no cost to students. There are ads.
You’ll be watching this film to give you a window on the events in 1963 when the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialists Republics nearly collided in a nuclear war that would have ended most of the life on this planet.
The purpose of studying the Cuban Missile Crisis is to understand presidential leadership in a crisis. It is important for students to recognize that presidents have the power of launching nuclear missiles that could end our lives. How and why these situations arise is the most important aspect of a president’s war-making abilities. The president has sole use and authorization of nuclear weapons. Next to appointing Supreme Court Justices the president’s nuclear power is the most important of presidential powers.
Please consider and answer all of the following questions in an essay with a minimum of 1,200 words. You are required to do a word count of your essay and type the word count at the end of your paper. (Do not include footnotes in the word count).
1. How did the Cuban Missile Crisis develop? What was the immediate crisis and the role of the Castro Revolution, the U-2 Crisis, the Bay of Pigs Crisis, the Berlin Crisis, and the Vienna Summit.
2. How did the Kennedy administration resolve the Cuban Crisis?
3. What impact did the crisis management style teach us?
4. What is the danger of having a president who believes he is the only person who can answer problems?
5. How would Trump have handled a Cuban Missile Crisis type situation?
6. Where are we now? Is there a danger of a nuclear war today? What is the NPR and do we need more new nuclear weapons?
There are 21 articles researched for your use. Do not use sources other than these. You should use at least 15 articles in your paper. You need to use these articles to answer the questions above.
https://carnegieendowment.org/2018/01/04/other-terrifying-lesson-of-cuban-missile-crisis-pub-75161
https://cubanstudiesinstitute.us/principal/what-we-learned-from-the-cuban-missile-crisis-2/
https://foreignpolicy.com/2012/10/19/the-9-most-important-lessons-from-the-cuban-missile-crisis/
https://hbr.org/2013/11/how-john-f-kennedy-changed-decision-making
https://time.com/5899754/jfk-decisionmaking-cuban-missile-crisis/
https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2012/fall/cuban-missiles.html
https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2002-11/features/cuban-missile-crisis
https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2020/10/donald-trump-no-jack-kennedy-or-khrushchev/169688/
https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/cuban-missile-crisis
https://www.newyorker.com/books/double-take/sunday-reading-on-the-precipice
https://www.newyorker.com/books/double-take/waiting-for-world-war-iii
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/10/12/the-day-nuclear-war-almost-broke-out
https://hbr.org/2001/09/what-you-dont-know-about-making-decisions
https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5746.html
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/569732-biden-brings-the-world-closer-to-nuclear-war
https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2021-10/focus/bidens-npr-must-reduce-role-nuclear-weapons
You may use whatever documentation style you are familiar with from your English classes….MLA, APA, or Turabian. You are required to use footnotes to reference the sources used in your paper at the end of the paper. You are to include a “Works Cited” section listed the articles you used in the paper. The footnotes and the Works Cited section are not to be included in your word count.
