US Position Paper

Alexa Gaul

So if anyone wanted to see my paper here it is. If you do not have this much detail in your paper you should make sure that you research to this extent on your own time. It will help you a lot in the simulation.

US Block

John F Kennedy

Position Paper

1) My role is John F Kennedy and he was president of the United States from 1961-1963. Being President, Kennedy has a wide range of tasks. These include negotiating with foreign nations, signing treaties, passing or vetoing bills by congress, surveying over the decisions of the other members of the executive branch, and generally dealing with foreign and domestic issues. Some of Kennedy’s accomplishments include dealing with the Cuban Missile Crisis, negotiating and signing the Nuclear Testing Ban treaty, creating the Peace Corps, encouraging the US to advance in the space race, and proposing the Civil Rights bill.

2) During the Kennedy administration relations between the Soviet Union and the United States were not good. There was a power struggle between the two nations as both tried to demonstrate their superiority over the other. There were many events reflecting this struggle and the tension between the two nations including the Bay of Pigs invasion in which the US tried end communism in Cuba, the building of the Berlin wall in 1961 separating Germany into a western capitalist Germany and an eastern communist Germany, the Space race in which the Soviet Union launched a man into space and then the US did the same less than a month later, the Cuban Missile Crisis in which the Soviet Union built missile bases in Cuba that could fire missiles at the US, the reactivation of nuclear testing by both nations (however, this was stopped in 1963 when both nations signed the Nuclear Testing Ban treaty), the military buildup in both nations, and the sending of US troops to South Vietnam to destroy the spread of communism in Vietnam.

3) The Bay of Pigs invasion was the United State’s attempt in 1961 to rid of communism in Cuba The CIA had planned to train Cuban exiles to overthrow Castro during Eishenhower’s presidency; however, they did not follow through until Kennedy’s presidency. During the invasion a bunch of things went wrong and it was completely unsuccessful. Not only did Castro and communism remain, but the US now suffered an embarrassing defeat. Krushchev viewed this failure as a sign of Kennedy’s weakness and inexperience. This changed view is probably what lead to Krushchev’s greater aggression and assertiveness, an example being the Cuban Missile Crisis. During the simulation the same type of reaction would probably result. After the Bay of Pigs failure Krushchev would probably become braver, take more risks, and act more aggressively towards to United States. These actions could consists of putting missiles in places that can directly hit the United States, taking over places that the USSR would not have dared put troops before, test more weaponry, compromise less with the United States and threaten more, and other more aggressive actions.

4) The Cuban Missile Crisis was a thirteen day event that took place in 1962 when the United States discovered Soviet Missiles stationed in Cuba. The USSR had secretly been building up offensive military bases in Cuba, but lied and said they were completely for defensive purposes. However, a spy plane from the United States discovered missiles, and so once the US learned this fact it took action and publicly informed its citizens. Kennedy blockaded Cuba and told Krushchev to remove the missiles. After thiretten days of negotiations Krushchev agreed, and Kennedy gained respect from his people and from the USSR who now saw him as a somewhat formidable opponent.

5) There were many other world events besides just those relating to the USSR. Africa and Asia was at the end of decolonization, so many new government were building up in these areas in the early 1960s as well as conflicts. One example is South Africa: a nation who declared themselves a republic in 1961 and implemented apartheid (segregation). China was having its own communist revolution during and before the sixties as Mao attempted to implement his Great Leap Forward plan to strengthen China’s economy and power. Also, at this time US and China relations were not so great because of the Korean war in the 1950s. In the Middle East, Iraq was having some internal issues such as the Iraqi Kurd rebellion where the Kurds rebelled against Oasim’s government in Iraq. Also, there was tension between Iraq and Kuwait during this period.

6) The public really liked Kennedy. He was a popular man even before he became president. He was a very well spoken man, and so he gave off a very friendly vibe to the citizens of his country. The citizens respected him and looked up to him. However, his views on racism were more progressive than some, so some did oppose his anti- racist views. Overall though, the people really like Kennedy, and this was especially evident after his death as so many people grieved and idolized their deceased president.

7) The Civil Rights movement had been going for at least a decade before kennedy’s presidency. However, in the early 1960s the Civil Rights movement was still in full swing and stronger than ever. Even though segregation was banned in the 1950s, some schools in the South had not obeyed the news laws. Also, there was still segregation on buses, in movie theaters, at water fountains, at restaurants, and at other public places. There were riots, violence, and public protests. Martin Luther King was a major non-violent protest leader in Civil Rights Movement during the 1960s writing his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, leading the March on Washington, and giving his “ I Have a Dream Speech.” There were also other civil rights leaders during this time with more violent approaches such as Malcom X. The Kennedy administration addressed Civil Rights by generally supporting it, but not supporting the public protest because Kennedy thought it would anger people too much. Also, Kennedy proposed the Civil Rights bill; however, it was not passed until after his death.

8) The early 1960s was a period of change, and not regarding racism. The sexual revolution was beginning the early 1960s. In 1960, the FDA approved the birth control pill, allowing women to have sex without worrying about pregnancy. The using of the pill caused controversy on whether women should be using it, and it also helped begin the sexual revolution by allowing sex without consequences. At the same time new psychedelic drugs were being introduced and drug use was spreading among the US population, especially with college age students. Also, there were gay rights protests and speeches, and new types of feminism with some women advocating sex all the time and others not at all.

Works Consulted

http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/JohnFKennedy/

http://www.whitehouse.gov/our_government/executive_branch/

http://www.coldwar.org/articles/60s/index.asp

http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/JFK+in+History/The+Cold+War+Page+2.htm

http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/JFK+in+History/JFK+and+the+Bay+of+Pigs.htm

http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/JFK+in+History/Cuban+Missile+Crisis.htm

http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/JFK+in+History/Nuclear+Test+Ban+Treaty.htm

http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/Biographies+and+Profiles/Biographies/John+F.+Kennedy+The+35th+President+of+the+United+States+Page+5.htm

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/cwr/98782.htm

http://www.info.gov.za/aboutsa/history.htm#Apartheid

https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/fall_winter_2001/article03.html

http://www.usconstitution.net/dream.html

http://www-scf.usc.edu/~nicoleg/history.htm

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/pill/timeline/timeline2.html

http://discoverer.sirs.com

Paper/Resolutions from JEREMY HART - USSR Representative in Security Council

Here are Jeremy Hart's position paper and draft resolutions:
He is the USSR representative in the Security Council.
The Soviet Union had a lot of internal and international conflicts to discern prior to and throughout the 1950’s. Their social, political, and economic structure was perceived to be threatened and many choices made by the Communist part of the Soviet Union were influenced by this view. The Soviets were afraid that a third world war would destroy their country. They saw the devastation that World War I caused on the Romanov family and caused the eventually change in government. World War II showed the communist party in the Soviet Union the distrust in Western Countries. Stalin was double crossed by Adolf Hitler despite the Molotov-Ribbentrop Agreement, which had stated 10 years of peace but had lasted mere months, and the philosophical differences between their own allies, particularly the United States. The Soviets desired to create buffer states to make sure that their country would not be exposed to any wars that may ensue. They decided that using the countries that they defeated in World War II as these buffer states seemed like a logical idea. This idea though put the Soviet Union in direct conflict with the United States, who feared the spread communism and its political system. The difference between ideals in the Soviet Union and the rest of the world truly resonated in the United States’ minds and began the Cold War. There were many factors beyond the buffer states that caused tensions between the Soviet Union and the world throughout the 1950’s.
The first and possibly most significant changed that the Soviet went through, one that altered the Soviet Union more than any prior treaty or conflict did and in the future would, was the death of Joseph Stalin on March 5, 1953. Quietly many of the Communist party were happy for two reasons. The first was that many in the party feared Stalin because of his irrational anger and the second was the party was now able to go in a different direction. This change began when Nikita Khrushchev[1] became Premier. Surprisingly Khrushchev was outspoken against Stalin and criticized many of the former Premiers’ decisions. He led the De-Stalinization process in the Communist Party. The De-Stalinization process tried to get rid of Stalin’s cult of personality and the strict over-the-top Stalinist communism in the Soviet Union. In doing so Khrushchev began a change in the Soviet Union.
Once Khrushchev became the leading political figure after Stalin’s death, he changed many aspects of social structure within the Soviet Union. Almost immediately after Khrushchev became Premier, he implemented his De-Stalinization process. Internationally Khrushchev got rid of much censorship, opened up the Soviet Union public to foreign influences, and even in some views freedom to the Soviet people. The internal changes that were implemented caused more critics to question his ideas. He liberated many peasants and even ordered them to receive passports and identification; such steps would have been unthinkable in the Stalinist Soviet Union. [2] Although the Soviet Union’s social structure was relatively complex, it still held many principles of class systems. Communism believes in all people being equal and the state owning everything. This system of life did not leave much room for different class systems, but in the Soviet Union there were different social levels. There was still a higher up group, which received more of the benefits of education, whereas the farmers’ children were never exposed to the same benefits. Under Khrushchev the youth development programs were increased and monitored closer in hopes of increasing the Soviet Union’s standing in world events. Although the changed that Khrushchev implemented for this ‘class system’ were minute on a large scale, in everyday life for the Soviet Union’s people the changes were just enough to help them. All throughout the 1950’s Khrushchev received support within his country for the changes he made.
On the world stage the Soviet Union made a commotion for their international decisions. On the topic of nuclear testing and nuclear proliferation, the Soviets played a very large part. On August 29, 1949, the Soviets entered a club that previously the United States was alone in, the nuclear bomb club. The Soviets now possessed the nuclear bomb and this changed the world. Although the Soviets said that they were against nuclear war, they still bolstered their arsenal for fear of threats. The main objective of the Soviets was to protect their country from another was and they saw nuclear technology as a grantee of that. For this reason the Soviet Union was opposed to nuclear proliferation, unless it was for their personal gain. The Soviets did not want other countries to possess weapons for fear that too many countries opposed to the Soviets would group together, but the Soviets were comfortable with the idea of having their allies hold nuclear weapons as long as they were controllable. With this logic in hand, Khrushchev believed that nuclear weapons should stay in the hands of very few. Khrushchev, along with the rest of the world, realized that if a true nuclear war broke out the world would be devastated.
Aside from the nuclear issues that the Soviet Union had to cope with during this time, they also needed to find a counter to the alliances by the Western countries. On April 4, 1949, the United States, France, Great Britain, Canada and eight other western European countries joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which helped give security to the countries involved by agreeing that if one country was attacked it was an attack on all of them. This treaty scared the Soviets because they now had a large opposition united together. In a direct counteract to NATO, the Russians created the Warsaw Pact in 1955, which allied eight Eastern communist countries together. The countries included were Albania, Bulgaria, the Czechoslovak Republic, Eastern Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union[3]. This pact allowed Russia to control the combined armed forces of these countries if an armed aggression broke out between any of these countries. The Soviet Union also allied itself, much to the dismay of the United States, with the Fidel Castro led Cubans[4]. This alliance, above the others, would lead the two world super powers into direct conflict in the very near future.
Throughout the 1950’s Communism still dominated the Soviet Union’s economy. The system of communism creates a society in which theoretically all people are equal and thus the economy is all for the state. People get what they need to survive, but no more. Internally people worked for the Soviet Union and what that created, grew, or built was for the Soviet Union. In Khrushchev’s De-Stalinization process he abolished labor camps and allowed millions to go free. The Soviet Union’s economy was generally not affected by world-wide influences. Due to Russia’s extremely large landmass, natural resources were very easy to come by. In the 1950’s, the Soviet Union’s landmass covered about one-eighth of the world’s land surface. Along with the amount of people living in Soviet Union making goods for trade was also easy. Because of the large labor force, both forced (when Stalin was alive) and free (after Stalin’s death), creating tradable goods was easy for the Soviet Union. They controlled much of the Slavic countries in Eastern Europe and had trading partners with many southern bordering Asian countries. Economically throughout the post World War II era, the Soviet Union was economically stable.
Prior to the Cuban Missile Crisis and throughout the 1950’s, the Soviet Union was very enigmatic because of the constant modification in both their own and world decisions. The Soviet Union had to deal with defending themselves against a perceived threat by the Western world, deal with the change of leadership from Stalin to Khrushchev, and the new governmental changes within the communist party by Khrushchev. After the 1950’s and past the Soviet Union will face many challenges from the world and their decision making will help the world progress.
[1] Pubantz, Jerry, and John Allphin Moore Jr. "Khrushchev, Nikita." Encyclopedia of the United Nations, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. Modern World History. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE53&iPin=EUNN0249&SingleRecord=True (accessed December 14, 2009).
[2] O'Brien, Patrick K., gen. ed. "Soviet Union (USSR)." Encyclopedia of World History. Copyright George Philip Limited. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2000. Modern World History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE53&iPin=ewh05425&SingleRecord=True (accessed December 14, 2009).
[3] Phillips, Charles, and Alan Axelrod. "cold war." Encyclopedia of Wars, vol. 1. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2005. Modern World History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE53&iPin=EWAR0423&SingleRecord=True (accessed December 14, 2009).
[4] Becker, D. J. "Cuban missile crisis." In Pubantz, Jerry, and John Allphin Moore Jr. Encyclopedia of the United Nations, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. Modern World History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE53&iPin=EUNN0100&SingleRecord=True (accessed December 14, 2009).

Draft Resolutions:
The Loophole in Berlin
- Issues:
o The exodus of East German people into West Germany.
§ 3.5 Million people left
o “Brain drain”- Higher educated people left for political reasons
o The lack of boarder protection between East and West Germany
o From the Soviet Union perspective: Finding a way to stop the exodus and find a beneficial compensation for the Soviet Union
- Resolution:
o Record every person who leaves East Germany should be recorded and marked
o Because of the “brain drain” have each East Germany who leaves send back a part of their income to the Soviet Union
§ Also offer extra incentives for well-qualified teachers to come to West Germany and teach
o Create a check post between East and West Germany to mark who goes through
o Yearly quota for how many East Germans are allowed to leave


Due to the direct conflict that the issue of the Loophole in Berlin has on the Soviet Union government, the Soviet Union bloc offers a resolution. Firstly, the issue of the mass exodus of East German citizens leaving to West Germany is causing a ripple effect among East Germany. The Soviet Union has observed that there is a great loss of high educated citizens in East Germany and is causing an immense drop in highly-trained professionals and in education. The Soviet Union offers the idea to record the people leaving East Germany, creating a ‘checkpoint’ in Berlin, and have a yearly quota of how many East Germans are allowed to leave. This checkpoint would consist of a crossing tax and papers that would fill out objects for leaving East Germany. The Soviet Union hopes to implement a policy that if a person desires to live in another country, they must send their next residence and a part of their yearly income to the East German government. This will allow people to be kept track of and allow the East German government funding to allow citizens who are still living in East Germany the opportunity to continue their educational tracks and improve East Germany. The Soviet Union recognizes that his resolution has no impact on other countries and hopes that other countries will help to enforce this resolution.






Cuban Refugee Problem
- Issues:
o The amounts of refugee Cubans being used to overthrow their own government by being sponsored by then United States
o United States trying to get involved in yet another countries government
o 1959- Cuban-Soviet Union diplomatic relations begin
- Resolution:
o Two options:
§ Allow the Cuban refugees to live peacefully in America’s boarders without their strained relationship with Cuba playing a part in their lives
§ Deport the Cuban refugees back to Cuba and let them lead a revolution without support of a much larger country
o Recognize that President Truman’s policy to aid anti-Castro and anti-Communism is deteriorating friendship between the Soviet Union and the United State
o Recognize the growing trend of the United States getting involved in other countries governmental problems

The Soviet Union has seen an increasing trend in the United States interfering with foreign countries internal political affairs. Recently, the Soviet Union has acquired intelligence that the United States’ CIA program is funding, directing, training, and equipping Cuban refugees living in the United States. The United States’ aim is to have these trained Cubans lead an uprising against the Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Due to the Soviet Union and Cuba’s relationship, the Soviet Union believes that this is unfair on behalf of the Cubans. The Soviet Union offers two resolutions that will be just.
The first is to allow the Cuban refugees living in the United State the freedom from their relationship with Cuba. The Soviet Union understands that these people are refugees for a reason and wished to leave their Cuban lives. The Soviet Union believes that the United States should respect that decision. The Soviet Union also infers from the United States actions that they are trying to create an overthrow of the Cuban government. The Soviet Union believes if the United States wishes to do this, they should allow the citizens of Cuba to do so on their own. The Soviet Union suggests that if this course of action is to be pursued by the United States send the refugees back to Cuba without training and allow them to work things out for themselves. The Soviet Union wants to point out this course of action, fighting for themselves without help from another more powerful country, helped the United States, herself, become such a strong country.
Furthermore in a side note, the President of the United States, Harry S. Truman, has issued a well-known policy of aiding any country in anti-Castro and anti-Communist forces. The Soviet Union hopes that the United States realizes that impact of this blatant statement and recognizes the negative impact between the relationship between the Soviet Union and the United States due to this statement.

Security Council Info/Samples - Please Read!

Hello Security Council members! Below are my sample position paper and draft resolutions. Please read both over so you better understand what yours should look like. Thanks so much!
Rachel

Position Paper:
Rachel Rickles
Turkey – Security Council President
Westfield High School
Historical Simulation Committee

1. Modern-day Turkey was formed in 1922 after the Turks defeated the Greeks and overthrew the Ottoman sultanate; Turkey was ruled by a dictator until 1938. This dictator, Kemal (who eventually took the surname Ataturk), severely encouraged the Westernizing of society, which led to some changes that lasted through the 1960s (for example: he introduced the Western calendar, granted universal adult suffrage, used the Roman alphabet, and established schooling that raised literacy). Ataturk deeply desired a democratic society, although his dictatorship contradicted these intentions. Turkey remained neutral in WWII until 1945, when an Allied victory was essentially guaranteed; Turkey acted in this manner because it wanted to guarantee that the Allied forces would protect it from falling victim to the Soviet sphere of influence. Furthermore, Turkey felt that an alliance with the West would establish internal peace and assure its independence.
To further Turkey’s political interest, it joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1952, which was a political alliance formed three years prior with the intention of organizing American and European allies against the Soviets. (In 1960, the following countries were allied in NATO: the US, the UK, Canada, France, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Italy, Portugal, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Greece, and West Germany). By 1960, Turkey had become a reliable NATO ally; Turkey’s strong armed forces allowed it to be a strong NATO threat to the Soviet forces (because it was in close proximity compared to most other NATO allies).
Turkey was also a member of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC), which further led Turkey to modernize and Westernize. The OEEC emerged from the US’s Marshall Plan in 1948 (which was intended to help Europe recover from WWII and counter the Soviet communist threat). The OEEC was also developed to promote trade and regulate European the economic structure. Member countries of the OEEC were: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, and West Germany. Furthermore, Turkey was a part of the joint UN operation during the War in Korea (1950-1953).
Nationally, elections in May 1950 proved to be a turning point for Turkey – the Democratic Party was voted into power, which set in motion a new process of leadership selection and a broader citizen involvement in government. However, the Democratic Party moved the state back towards religious nationalism: for example, the state radio broadcast religious themes and children were given instruction in Islam, the major religion of Turkey. The success of Turkey’s parliamentary democracy stood in contrast to the harsh governments in many surrounding countries. Also throughout this period, Turkey struggled between a secular nationalism and a religious (Islamic) nationalism.
The Democratic Party reached its peak in 1954, when it won most of the seats in the election. However, economic problems ensued in Turkey and the Democratic Party became increasingly repressive. During this time, the Democratic Party seized Republican Party lands and critics of the Democrats were censured or even executed in the late 1950s. After the debatable vote of 1957, opposition to the Democratic Party became harsher and the Party was accused of reversing the secularism that had been occurring in Turkey.
Menderes, Turkey’s prime minister during the early 1950s, enjoyed a strengthened reputation due to the economic boom. This prosperity was due to positive harvests, rapid expansion and a sharp increase in exports; the latter two as a result of Turkish involvement (and therefore, materials needed) in the Korean War. However, minimal harvests in 1953 and 1954 forced Turkey to import wheat again, which hurt its own economy; inflation also became a serious problem despite government legislation to prevent its advance.
Turkey was a largely agrarian society with approximately eighty percent of its population living in rural areas in 1950. Yet, Turkey did focus on building up its industries and modernizing, which it did slowly but surely. A worsening economy between 1958 and 1960 was somewhat due to a housing crisis because the large towns were growing at an annual rate of ten percent and there was a high demand and a low supply, and therefore not many individuals could afford housing. By 1960, one-third of Turks lived in urban areas.
Before the 1950s, primary qualifications to be in the upper classes in Turkey meant having higher education and serving the country either in the military or the government. However, during the 1950s, socioeconomic changes resulting from new government policies allowed varied opportunities for personal economic development. Furthermore, a wealthy business class emerged. Due to its background in mostly entrepreneurial activities (as opposed to bureaucratic), its views clashed with the ruling elite’s. This nongovernmental elite also emerged in the form of architects, professors, lawyers, engineers and many other professional positions; as a whole, they generally resented the patronizing attitudes of the ruling elite. Clearly, in the economical, political and social aspects, Turkey was in a state of transition during the 1950s with positive and negative points in each area.

2. Turkey clearly supported the Western allies, as evidenced by its NATO alliance and economic involvement with European nations. Turkey’s official alliance with the US began in 1947, when the US designated Turkey as a recipient of US assistance to resist the Soviet threat (Truman Doctrine). Moreover, in 1955, Turkey became involved in the Baghdad Pact, which was sponsored by the US and Britain. The Pact was intended to keep the Soviet borders from expanding further. Member states were Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, and Britain (the Pact was centered in Iraq). The Iraqi leader (the most Western-allied Middle Eastern leader) was politically countered by Egypt’s leader, who convinced several other Middle-Eastern nations not to join the Pact. However, after the Iraqi revolution in 1958, Iraq withdrew its support and the Pact became known as the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO).
Turkey joined the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at its formation in 1957, along with twenty-two other states. The objective of the IAEA was to encourage the use of atomic energy to create peace and prosperity throughout the world, and to ensure that atomic energy was not used for military purposes. However, the IAEA did not have much leverage in the world community.
In October 1959, the Turkish government agreed to host some of the United States’ nuclear weapons, with the US Air Force operating the weapons. The US had stationed weapons in Italy prior to stationing in Turkey (Italy’s government controlled its American nuclear weapons). By agreeing to this, Turkey contributed to the US’s policy of deterrence - a threat to use force in response to a specific behavior. In this case, the US, with Turkey’s assistance, implied that if the Soviet Union attempted to use its missiles (which it had been testing since 1949) toward the US, the US would easily be able to retaliate with its missiles positioned in relatively close proximity to Soviet Union.

3. Turkey has a varied stance on the major human rights issues of the day. First, Turkey’s alliance with NATO meant that it theoretically supported human rights throughout the world. Domestically, beginning with the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, the military had played a significant role in the country’s progress. Especially leading up and during to the revolution in 1960, the military held back change and stifled the development of civil society (yet, the military was the most trusted institution in Turkey rather than the government). The Kurds, the largest minority in Turkey, were harmed by the Turkish government if they asserted their identity publicly (and they were punished according to Kurdish laws). Although Turkey was a secular society according to her Constitution, certain provisions protected the secular state so much so that they impeded the freedom of religion (for example, Turkey forbid women to wear headscarves at public institutions and captured pro-Islamic journalists).
In December 1959, Cyprus elected Archbishop Makarios to be the first president of the future Cyprus Republic, which came just after Turkey, Britain, and Greece signed a treaty formally ending the EOKA’s terrorist campaign. This came after four years of bitter fighting involving Turks and hundreds of Turks and Greeks were killed during the time. Under the deal, a Greek Cypriot would be president of Cyprus and a Turkish Cypriot would be vice president. Makarios called on Turks and Greeks to set aside differences and cooperate. Turkish leader Dr. Fazil Kutchuk congratulated Makarios on the victory, despite once being an enemy (but soon to be vice president, and an ally). Clearly, Turkey had relatively good intentions on human rights but often took these intentions too far and ended up suppressing rights of its people.

Works Cited
“Britain, NATO and Turkey (1959-1965).” Turkish Weekly. USAK, 2009. Web. 19 Nov. 2009. .
“Deterrence.” International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Ed. William A. Darity. 2008. 333-334. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 18 Nov. 2009.
“Jupiter.” GlobalSecurity.org. N.p., 16 Sept. 2008. Web. 19 Nov. 2009. .
Karabell, Zachary. “Baghdad Pact (1955).” Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. Ed. Philip Mattar. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. New York: Macmillian Reference, USA, 2004. 363. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 21 Nov. 2009.
Katie, Belliel. “Turkey, 1950-present.” Encyclopedia of World History: The Contemporary World, 1950 to the Present. Ed. Martha Ackermann, et al. Facts on File, Inc., n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2009. .
“1959: Makarios elected president of Cyprus.” BBC News. N.p., 2008. Web. 25 Nov. 2009. .
“Organisation for European Economic Co-operation.” oecd.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2009. .
“Statute of the IAEA.” IAEA.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2009. .
Thompson, Damian, et al., eds. The World’s History. 2nd ed. N.p.: Prentice Hall, 2001. Print.
“Turkey.” ABC - CLIO: World History. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2009. .
“Turkey.” countrystudies.us. U.S. Library of Congress, n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2009. .
“Turkey: The Changing National Elite.” Countrydata.com. N.p., Jan. 1995. Web. 18 Nov. 2009. .
“Turkey Under the Democrats, 1950-60.” Encyclopedia Britannica. N.p., 2009. Web. 19 Nov. 2009. .
“What’s Being Done On...Human Rights and Democracy in Turkey?” World Movement for Democracy. National Endowment for Democracy, 25 July 2008. Web. 25 Nov. 2009. .

Draft Resolutions (please send all parts as one document!):
Sample Draft Resolution
HSC Security Council

Country: Turkey Committee: HSC
Delegate: Rachel Rickles Delegation: Westfield High School

Topic: Apartheid in South Africa

Issues to be addressed in resolution on the topic:

· Promotion of world awareness of the apartheid in South Africa
· Call to action for the government of South Africa to end the institution of apartheid
· Emphasis on the necessity of other nations, especially those in NATO, to pressure or threaten the South African government with economic or political sanctions if it does not end apartheid
· Expression of anger about the current apartheid policies and expression of sympathy to the families of the victims

Justification for issues raised:

Turkey feels that this resolution is necessary because the South African government should be urged to illegalize the institution of apartheid and promote liberty for citizens of all races. We are calling on the world community to pressure the South African leaders to condemn the acts of all South Africans against blacks. As a strong member of NATO, Turkey sees the intolerable inequality of this institution and the horrible way blacks are treated in this nation. However, Turkey recognizes that the world political community, especially members of NATO, must be aware of the acts of violence in order to promote a worldwide movement to end apartheid. Furthermore, these nations need to spread information about this institution and inform their citizens about this fatal movement in order to force the South African government to change its policies on its own. However, if pressure is not enough and the South African government still does not conform, Turkey is willing to enforce economic or political sanctions with the help of other allies to save innocent lives. Finally, Turkey expresses deep sympathy to the families of the victims of all acts of apartheid and promises to work to ensure that these lives are honored by ending this institution for future generations. Turkey also expresses disappointment in the South African government for allowing this policy to flourish.
Sample Draft Resolution
HSC Security Council

Country: Turkey Committee: HSC
Delegate: Rachel Rickles Delegation: Westfield High School

Topic: The Loophole in Berlin

Issues to be addressed in resolution on the topic:

Acknowledgement of the thousands of East German citizens immigrating to West Germany by passing through Berlin
Emphasis on the need to use that the influx of individuals into West Germany constructively
Suggestion about how to ensure that the East German citizens are not spies before allowing them into West Germany
Creation of a system of identification and questioning to preserve the everyone’s safety

Justification for issues raised:

Turkey, as a responsible member of the world community, recognizes that a growing number of East German citizens are crossing the border (established after WWII) into the democratized, NATO-recognized West German area. Duly understood that these individuals desire a free and just government, Turkey welcomes them into the NATO-allied community. However, Turkey feels it is necessary to ensure that these immigrants truly desire this lifestyle and are not spies or supporters of the Soviet Union or other communist governments. To do this, Turkey proposes the creation of a West German-run program that will identify and profile all East German immigrants so they can be formally recognized in West Germany. If any individual is under suspicion, Turkey feels that the West German government has the responsibility and permission to imprison the individual until the individual admits to the accused activity or is released. Furthermore, Turkey calls upon other NATO-allied nations to send representatives to assist West Germany in the scanning of the thousands of individuals. Turkey feels that this resolution is necessary to show the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact allies that the West is welcoming of these immigrants but also serious about ensuring they are not allied with the Soviets.

Directions

Hey Everyone,
Some people are having problems with what they are suppose to do with the blog. All we're really asking is that you follow along, learn a little, and post some comments. And the posting comments part is important because its our main way of knowing that you're participating.

So this is how you post comments:
1. Go to the main page (if you're reading this on the blog you're there, if you're reading this on the email go to this link now: hsc2009-10.blogspot.com)

2. Look through the the posts. (Either by scrolling through or by using the labels found on the right hand side of the screen)

3. Find one that interests or is relevant to you.

4. Click "comments" which is found at the bottom of each blog entry.

5. Type a comment into the text field, and then click "Post Comment."

6. Done!

Now do that for the questions (and resolutions) about your character for your appropriate bloc (look on the right hand side in the labels section for things pertaining to each bloc). And then keep coming back to the website and post comments about other stuff on the site, there are already extra questions posted and there will be more soon.

Be prepared

Hello to all HSC delegates for 2010 conference. I hope to see many more blog postings in the upcoming weeks. I just wanted to give you a little advice for the upcoming HSC committee...........

BE PREPARED!!!

Make sure you do not only your own person's research, but be sure to have a good understanding of as many major world events as possible. Just because it doesn't happen your bloc doesn't mean that it can't affect you too.

If you don't do your research you won't be prepared to participate fully....and it will show. Plus, the more prepared you are, the more you will enjoy the simulation. If you have any questions about research, email me at dfoster@crsd.org. I am a history teacher so I have a lot of resources and answers.

Mr. Foster (Don)

Websites

Becuase research is hard, lets help eachother out post any good sites you find below

Soviet Union Extra Assignment #4

(Remember at least 100 words and this is not mandatory, only an option for something that is mandatory)

#4
Create a detailed plan for the invasion of Western Europe. Remember to take into account conventional and non-conventional weapon capabilities of the US and Western European powers. Finally provide a cost benefit analysis.
(Best plan gets a prize at the conference)

Soviet Union Extra Assignment #3

(Remember at least 100 words and this is not mandatory, only an option for something that is mandatory)

The 1960s saw the beginning of the end of the Colonial Period that had begun in the 15th Century. How is Europe losing its grip on Africa and what are the implications? What is the Soviet Union's opinion/goals on the matter? What about your character?
(Hint: A good place to start is the Belgian Congo or South Africa)

Sunday Mock Session

There will be a second mock session on Sunday November 29th at 7:00 pm. This one will be the same as previous as far as how to log in and such. If anyone has any questions please e-mail me at aagaul7@gmail.com. If you did not attend the first mock session you must attend this one. If you have any problems with being able to attend the mock session please e-mail me.

Soviet Union Extra Assignment #1, and #2

Since you need to get in two posts of a 100 words or more I'm going to be putting in extra assignments from time to time to help you out. (These are not mandatory only options for something that is mandatory) Here is the first one:

#1
Summarize someone else's position paper from either our bloc, the US bloc or the Security Council Bloc (or whatever combination that gets you to 100 words). Make sure to include the name of the persons character. (Hint: try doing your US equivalent)

#2
Read two of the Security Council Resolutions and come up with how the Soviet Union should vote on the issue and why.

Security Council Resolutions

Security Council, please put Resolutions here by commenting on this post.



Please pick two of the four issues below and write a draft resolution on those two issues:

The Cuban Refugee Problem in the U.S.
In March 1960, U.S. President Eisenhower ordered the CIA to direct, equip and lead Cuban exiles, who had recently escaped from Cuba after Fidel Castro took over their government in 1959, to overthrow Castro’s administration. Eisenhower said it was the policy of the U.S. to aid any and all anti-Castro and anti-Communist forces. This occurred just as there was an influx of Cubans into the Miami area due to many upper-class Cubans fleeing Castro’s communist regime. The CIA recruited these anti-Castro Cubans, and trained them in Florida; specialist guerilla training also took place in Panama and Guatemala. The refugees were trained in the use of aircraft and defensive armament during the summer of 1960.
The Loophole in Berlin
Post WWII, Germany was divided into four sectors, each controlled by one of the Allied powers
(US, UK, France, USSR). Yet, soon after, the USSR broke ties with the other allies, and in 1948,
Stalin instituted the Berlin Blockade, where he refused to allow food and other materials into West Berlin, but in May 1949, Stalin lifted the Blockade. The German Democratic Republic (East
Germany) was declared with a Soviet regime later in 1949. Yet, West Germany’s economy and standard of living grew due to a capitalistic economy and a democratic parliamentary government. Many East Germans wanted to move to West Germany. Between 1950 and 1954, more than 500,000 East Germans fled to West Germany. The Soviet Union clearly did not favor this, and it closed the inner Germany border between the two states and erected a barbed-wire fence. However, there was no physical barrier between East and West Berlin, although contact was somewhat limited. In 1955, the USSR gave control of the Berlin borders to the East German regime (not recognized by the West). Berlin became the main point to pass through for East Germans leaving for West Germany; Berlin was essentially a “loophole” for East Germans to escape – by 1961, the 3.5 million East Germans who had left were nearly 20% of the East’s population. The emigrants to West Germany were mostly well-educated individuals who left for political reasons. There was a huge East German loss of working professionals, and there was a “brain drain” for both the educational system and the workforce in Eastern Germany. (The USSR obviously wants this emigration to stop.)
The Soviet Relationship with other Eastern European countries
Throughout WWII, the USSR took control of Eastern Europe; after WWII ended and the Soviet state emerged as a victor, and therefore, a world superpower (along with the U.S.), Stalin quickly centralized his control and began turning Eastern European nations into Soviet satellite states. This means that all of the eastern and central European capitals were controlled by the Soviets after the War; communist governments were established and controlled the police and media outlets in those countries. Many of these states were required to supply the USSR with materials for rebuilding after the war. Overall, oppressive governments enforced strict laws for the individuals in almost all eastern European countries. In some cases, the state’s citizens rebelled against the USSR (some had success and others emerged with even heavier Soviet rule). After Stalin’s death in 1953, Khrushchev came to power with a promise (key word) to ease Stalin’s repressive control on society. In 1955, however, the Warsaw Pact was formed between the USSR, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. This treaty bound signatories to come to one another’s aid should one be attacked (it was a military treaty). Most importantly, the Pact quickly became a political tool for the USSR to hold political and military sway over her satellite states.
Apartheid and Human/Civil Rights in South Africa
Apartheid was a system of racial, legal segregation that was supported by South Africa’s National Party government beginning in 1948. In 1958, blacks were denied citizenship, and education and medical care, among many other public activities, were segregated. In the late 1950s, the African National Congress (the anti-apartheid group) concluded that the National Party would only respond to calls to end apartheid through violence, so they set up a militant wing under the name Umkhonto we Size to fight apartheid. This conflict brought the issue of apartheid and human rights to the forefront of the world’s conscience.

Security Council Position Papers

Security Council please post your position papers here (the one where you answer the questions about your character and your bloc) by commenting on this post. (Please put resolutions in the resolution post)


Questions for the Historic Security Council Bloc
Please answer the following questions about your country’s views in the 1950’s through 1960.
1. Explain your country’s political, economic and social structure at this point in at least two
paragraphs (must discuss all three). Be sure to include any major events your country is
involved in (either domestically or internationally). Also note any international treaties or
allies your country has with other nations (especially nations in the HSC Security Council).
Please do not discuss your country’s feelings about the Cuban Missile Crisis because we will
come to our own conclusions at conference.
2. Discuss your country’s feelings about the Cold War; does your country support nuclear
proliferation and/or testing of nuclear weapons? Does your country support the Eastern or
Western allies more?
3. Explain your country’s views on civil and human rights. How do your country’s political and
social systems reflect these views?

US Position Papers

US Bloc please post your Position Paper (the questions about your bloc and your character) by commenting on this post


Questions for the United States Bloc
1. What is your role? What is your character’s task in the US government? What achievements
did he have during the Kennedy administration?
2. What were Soviet/US relations like during the Kennedy administration? What was going on between the two nations? What events happened that helped reflect the tension between the two nations?
3. What happened at the Bay of Pigs invasion and how did this affect Khrushchev’s view of Kennedy? How could this changed view affect Khrushchev’s later decisions regarding the United States (think Cuban Missile Crisis)?
4. What was the Cuban missile crisis? How did the Kennedy administration handle this crisis? How did this event change relations between the Soviet Union and the United States?
5. Besides the Soviet Union what were some other foreign issues the United States had to deal with in the early 1960s? Explain.
6. How did the United States view Kennedy during his role as president? Did any views change from 1961 to 1962? Explain.
7. What was going on in the Civil Rights movement in the early 1960s? How did the Kennedy administration handle this domestic issue?
8. Besides the Civil Rights movement what were some other domestic issues in the United States during the early 1960s (consider the sexual revolution, the birth control pill, etc)? Explain.

Soviet Bloc Position Papers

Soviet Bloc please post your Position Paper (the questions about your bloc and your character) by commenting on this post


Questions for Soviet Union Bloc
1. Who are you? What is your personal history? Where are you from? What is your ideology? What are your goals? Why do you make certain decisions (what makes you tick?)?
2. What is your official position during the simulation? What power does that position hold? What issues will your character/position face historically during the late 50s-early 60s
3. What is your relationship with Khrushchev? With the other members of the bloc?
4. Using the notes given on the blog describe the state of :
a. U.S.-Soviet Relations
b. The Soviet Economy
c. Domestic Affairs
d. The Soviet Military
e. Communist Bloc/Warsaw Pact
f. Foreign Relations (with specific attention to Cuba, China, and the UN)
5. Using the notes on the blog (http://hsc2009-10.blogspot.com/) and your own research
describe the build up to the Cuban missile crisis, your involvement, and your characters
opinions on what should be done now (at the start of 1961)?

There is a mock session tomorrow, Tuesday the 24 at 7:00 pm. I am going to do this on aim so if you don't have an account please create one. To log into the chat do the following: there is the word aim on the top left corner on the buddy list screen. Click on it and find where it says chat, then click on buddy chat. If you have any people under invite delete them and where it says chat room at the bottom type in the name HSCModelUN2010. It will then automatically take you into the chat where you will be accepted in.

If you have a different version of aim from the one I described just find where it has buddy chat and join using the same name: HSCModelUN2010. If you have problems figuring out how to join a buddy chat look it up in help and if you still have any problems tomorrow e-mail me at aagaul7@gmail.com. Also, I e-mailed this message to everyone so check your e-mail for other ways to contact me if you would like to contact me in a way other than e-mail.

Hey everyone. First, I want to apologize for the Sunday chat problem. Second, there will still be a chat on Tuesday at 7. More information will be provided tommorow.

General Background Information: Read this!!!!!

HSC 2010: The Cuban Missile Crisis
Rachel Rickles

General Overview of the Cold War and the Events Leading up to the Cuban Missile Crisis

The Cuban Missile Crisis occurred in the midst of a conflict known as the Cold War. The Cold War did not consist of military battles and physical fighting – rather, it was the overarching rivalry and lack of communication between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) that lasted from approximately 1945 thru 1991. The conflict was largely due to the different political systems – the democratic US and the communist USSR – of the two superpowers left standing following WWII. Both superpowers wanted to dominate the post-war world, and the struggle divided nations into two groups: democratic governments in support of the US, and communist countries in support of the USSR (Churchill called this the “Iron Curtain” in Europe). In part, the Cold War was possible due to innovations in mass media which allowed governments to shape public ideology.
In November 1917, in the midst of WWI, a Communist revolution occurred in Russia, and Vladimir Lenin and the Communist Party assumed power. However, the US and the USSR had little contact until WWII, when they created an alliance and fought against Hitler’s Third Reich and defeated Germany in 1945. Following WWII, they were faced with the challenges of postwar diplomacy and rebuilding; the US’s and USSR’s ideological differences began to manifest themselves at the Yalta Conference in February 1945. At the Conference, US President Roosevelt wanted to create a warmer feeling between his country and Stalin’s USSR. However, Roosevelt and British PM Churchill were physically and politically in poor conditions, and thus Stalin, the USSR’s Communist leader, had an advantage. A main point of contention between the two was Germany - the USSR did not want Germany to regain its former power due to the USSR’s massive citizenry losses and proximity to the country. However, the US lost far fewer soldiers and was much farther away from Germany, and thus favored rebuilding Germany. (Note: Mao Zedong, a Communist, took control of China in 1949.)
The other main aspect of the Cold War (and which underpinned the Cuban Missile Crisis) was the nuclear arms race. (The end of WWII was the beginning of the nuclear age, when nuclear bombs dropped by the U.S. landed at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.) In 1947, U.S. Secretary of State Marshall announced the Marshall Plan to aid Europe for two reasons: first, the U.S. wanted Europe to be capable of conducting valuable trade and, second, the threat of a Communist takeover was more prevalent in economically depressed countries. In 1949, the western allies (in favor of democracy) created the Federal Republic of Germany (in western Germany) while East Germany remained under Stalin’s control. In August 1949, the USSR tested its first nuclear bomb. In the 1950s, West Germany, Britain and France all experimented with nuclear weaponry.
Several alliances were formed following WWII. The Baghdad Pact was created as an alliance against the USSR; members of the Baghdad Pact included Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Pakistan. Partly in response to atomic bomb testing by the USSR, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was created by the Western allies to deter the Soviet Union and strengthen nations to resist Soviet infiltration. NATO’s main goal was to protect the freedom and security of member nations by political and military means. Member states of NATO were led by the U.S. and included Britain, Canada and Italy. In 1955, NATO was countered by the Warsaw Pact between several Central and Eastern European Communist states, including Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria. The USSR controlled those member states, and was able to impose its military and political agenda on countries in the Pact using whatever means necessary.
Beginning in 1956, Khrushchev gained power in the USSR by attacking Stalin’s legacy (following Stalin’s death). Under Khrushchev, the USSR announced a policy of peaceful coexistence with the West which led to Chinese challenge of the Soviets’ ideology and break with the Soviets. In 1957, the USSR launched Sputnik, the first manmade satellite, into space. This was significant because it indicated that the USSR was a world leader in science and it fueled the “space race” between the US and the USSR. Fidel Castro seized control in Cuba in 1959, and soon after turned it into a socialist state allied with the USSR. Communist governments also existed in Indonesia, Vietnam, China, and Congo. More importantly, in 1959, the U.S. stationed missiles in Turkey, which posed a threat to the USSR due to close proximity to Turkey.
In 1960, the USSR revealed that a US spy plane had been shot down in Soviet territory. This “U-2” incident intensified Cold War tensions. In May 1960, France, the USSR, the US, and Britain met at the Paris Summit. They discussed a possible reduction of nuclear arms, but the Summit was overshadowed by the U-2 incident, for which President Eisenhower took responsibility but refused to apologize to Khrushchev. In November of that year, President John F. Kennedy was elected President.
In April 1961, Castro announced his conversion to Marxism-Leninism; soon after, the US broke all diplomatic ties with Havana, Cuba. Following the break, the US launched the Bay of Pigs invasion, which was when the US helped several hundred Cuban exiles launch bombs on Cuban soil. The intention was to gain locals’ support for a revolution against Castro’s Communist government. However, most locals supported Castro, and the invasion failed, despite sponsorship from the CIA. In August 1961, Berlin Wall construction began in Germany, which further encouraged the divide between USSR-influenced East Germany and US-influenced West Germany.
Following the alliance between Cuba and the USSR, the USSR placed nuclear weapons in Cuba in the fall of 1962, to counter the threat of US missiles stationed in Turkey. The Cuban Missile Crisis followed in October 1962. The Cuban Missile Crisis was a series of negotiations between US President Kennedy and the USSR’s Khrushchev, with the intervention of the United Nations, to resist a full-scale nuclear war. Nuclear weapons were in Cuba’s territory under Soviet control, and Kennedy ordered a blockade to be established, but eventually Khrushchev backed down. Many believed that a full scale nuclear war would have broken out had Khrushchev not backed down.
But the Cuban Missile Crisis did not end the Cold War. The Vietnam War followed in the late 1960s as a result of the tensions. In 1987, Gorbachev gained control of the USSR and oversaw the collapse of the Soviet Union. Between 1989 and 1991, the world’s other communist regimes disintegrated and Germany reunited. In this respect, it is said that the United States (and its Western allies) won the Cold War.

Sources:
“Bay of Pigs Invasion.” NWtravel Magazine Online. U-S-history.com. 10 Apr. 2009 .
Berg, Timothy. “Cold War.” Bowling, Beatniks, and Bell-Bottoms: Pop Culture of 20th-Century America. Ed. Sara Pendergast and Tom Pendergast. Vols. 3:1940s-1950s. Detroit, 2002. 621-624.
“Berlin Wall.” International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Ed. William A. Darity, Jr. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. Detriot: Macmillian Reference USA, 2008. 289.
Campbell, Charles S. “Yalta Conference.” Dictionary of American History. Ed. Stanley I. Kutler. 3rd ed. Vol. 8. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2003. 573-574.
“Cold War.” Europe Since 1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of War and Reconstruction. Ed. Jay Winter and John Merriman. Vol. 2. Detriot: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2006. 620-628.
“The Cold War, 1945-1991.” World History: Modern Era. 2009. ABC-CLIO. 10 Apr. 2009 .
“Cuba, 1959-1989.” World History at KMLA. 28 Sept. 2007. 10 Apr. 2009 .
Josephson, Paul R. “Sputnik.” Encyclopedia of Russian History. Ed. James R. Millar. Vol. 4. New York: Macmillian Reference USA, 2004. 1452.
“Marshall Plan.” West’s Encyclopedia of American Law. Ed. Shirelle Phelps and Jeffrey Lehman. 2nd ed. Vol. 6. Detroit: Gale, 2005. 442.
“North Atlantic Treaty Organization.” International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Ed. William A. Darity, Jr. 2nd ed. Vol. 5. Detriot: Macmillian Reference USA, 2008. 544-546.
“Timeline of the Cold War.” Thinkquest. Oracle Education Foundation. 10 Apr. 2009 .
“Warsaw Pact.” International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Ed. William A. Darity, Jr. 2nd ed. Vol. 9. Detroit: Macmillian Reference USA, 2008. 34-36.
“What is NATO?” North Atlantic Treaty Organization. 9 Apr. 2009. NATO. 14 Apr. 2009 .


John Pope
Build up to the Crisis
1959 Castro comes to power in Cuba
Castro and his 26th of July movement overthrows the dictators Batista who was supported by US business interests
Castro takes over and nationalizes Cuba’s oil refineries which are controlled by US businessmen. US businessmen then stopped buying Cuban sugar, a crippling blow to the economy. So Castro nationalizes all US businesses in the country.
Upon assuming power Castro’s Communist government moved to closely ally itself with the Soviet Union and to help continue the global spread of Communism.
1960 Kennedy runs for President on “The Missile Gap”
In 1957 the Gaither Committee made a ruckus about the US losing the edge in the arms race. The US Air Force continued to support theses claims disputing the CIA over how many intercontinental ballistic missiles the Soviets actually had, with the CIA estimating at around a dozen tops and the Air Force saying their could be hundreds. This spilled over to the campaign where coupled with Sputnik and the feared “Intelligence Gap” the news increased peoples fears that the US was losing the Cold War. Kennedy incorporated the Missile Gap into his campaign saying that Eisenhower was not spending enough on the military and the arms race. Ultimately once Kennedy got into office he realized that the Missile Gap was perceived and the opposite was true, the US actually had far greater amounts of missiles than the Soviet Union.
April 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion
Planned by the CIA in the Eisenhower Administration, the invasion was part of the larger “Operation Mongoose.” The goal of the operation was to overthrow Castro’s Communist regime and place a US friendly government in power. To maintain legitimacy it was not suppose to look like the US was involved so the CIA recruited Cuban refugees for the counter-revolution
Actual invasion was a horrible failure. 1300 Cuban exiles landed at the “Bay of Pigs” in southeastern Cuba. There plan was to rally the natives throughout the countryside and let the revolution quickly spread to Havana. The local support was not there and Castro’s Army more than out matched them. At one point the exiles asked for US air support but Kennedy refused, wanting to avoid making US involvement obvious.
The failure of the invasion greatly embarrassed the Kennedy administration which was attacked from both sides either for not providing the air support or for launching the invasion in the first place.
August 12- 13th 1961 Berlin Wall goes up
After World War II the Allied powers divided up Germany into separate sections. The United States, France, Great Britain and the Soviet Union each occupied a zone of the country and a zone of Berlin. When US-Soviet relations became strained Germany divided into two countries with the US, French and British zones becoming West Germany and the Soviet area becoming East Germany. Berlin was smack dab in the middle of East Germany but the Allied powers maintained control of their section of the city which was outside of East Germany. The division between Eastern and Western Germany became part of the large division between Eastern and Western Europe which would become the “Iron Curtain.”
In 1948 the Soviets blockaded West Berlin in hopes of forcing the Allies into giving it up to East Germany. Instead they started the Berlin Airlift.
West Berlin accepted some 2.5 million East German refugees trying to escape Communism between 1949 and 1961.
To stop the stream of refugees Soviet and East German forces installed a 15 foot tall concrete and barbed wire wall around West Berlin to keep the East Germans out. The wall would continue to grow in strength and complexity until its destruction in 1989.
February 7th 1962 US initiates embargo against Cuba
A “commercial, economic, and financial embargo”
First issued as an Executive Order. It would grown by Acts of Congress and further Executive Orders to eventual cover travel and be even stricter on commercial activities.
April 1962 Khrushchev proposes placing intermediate range missiles in Cuba
This move would effectively double the Soviet nuclear deterrent.
Castro readily accepted hoping it would offer him a defense against US invasion.
Mid-July 1962 Soviet Union and Cuba begin build up
For fear of being discovered civilian ships were used. Soldiers and specialists going to Cuba would pretend to be tourists. Around 60 missiles were sent in total
August 10th 1962 CIA director sends President a memo on his fear that the Soviets are placing nuclear missiles in Cuba
Specifically says that they may be sending medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBMs)
August 29th 1962 US spy plane spots a SA-2 SAMs(Surface to Air Missile)
The SAMs are purely defensive but indicated an increased level of Soviet involvement in Cuba.
September 4th 1962 Kennedy announces that the Soviets have defensive missiles in Cuba
This move is to reassure public and Congress who had been receiving bits and pieces of information regarding the buildup, some true some false. Kennedy’s main point was to reassure that no offensive missiles were in place. Kennedy was sure of this due to back channel and formal assurances he had been getting from Moscow that there were no offensive missiles. That very same day the Soviet Ambassador again reassured Robert Kennedy that there were no offensive missiles.
September 15th 1962 First shipment of MRBMs (medium range ballistic missiles) arrive in Cuba
MRBMs are offensive missiles.
September 26th 1962 Congress passes joint resolution allowing use of force in Cuba
Basically hands over the right to the President in the case of emergency action.
October 8th 1962 Cuban President Osvaldo Dorticós issues address to the United Nations saying Cuba is able to defend itself and alludes to nuclear capabilities
October 9th 1962 Kennedy orders spy planes over Cuba
Forced to by increasing pressure from Congress and members of the Defense organization. Unfortunately the flight is delayed due to inclement weather.
October 15th 1962 US spy planes confirm the existence of Cuban missile sites
SS-4 missiles which carry a nuclear payload could be seen in the spy plane footage. The missiles had not yet been equipped with a nuclear payload. The missiles had a range of 1100 miles which means they could hit Houston, Washington D.C., Philadelphia and New York.
October 16th 1962 Kennedy forms ExComm and the Crisis is fully under way
ExComm would advise the President throughout the Crisis.
Statutory members included:
Vice President Lyndon Johnson
Secretary of State Dean Rusk
Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara;
Chairman of the JCS General Maxwell Taylor
Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs McGeorge Bundy
Secretary of the Treasury Douglas Dillon
CIA Director John McCone
Attorney General Robert Kennedy
Undersecretary of State George Ball
Special Counsel Theodore Sorensen
Deputy Secretary of Defense Roswell Gilpatric
Soviet Specialist Llewellyn Thompson
In addition, the EX-COMM unofficially included:
Deputy Under Secretary of State U. Alexis Johnson
Assistant Secretary of Defense Paul Nitze
former Secretary of State Dean Acheson
private advisers John McCloy and Robert Lovett
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Adlai Stevenson
Deputy Director of the USIA Donald Wilson
Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs Edwin Martin
Former U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union Charles Bohlen

Soviet Motives
In 1962 despite Kennedy’s election sloganeering about the “Missile Gap” the Soviet Union was losing the arms race badly. The Soviets lacked any ability to attack US soil with nuclear missiles, with their nuclear missiles only able to reach into Europe. The US on the other hand could launch missiles anywhere into the Soviet Union, specifically from a nuclear missile base in Turkey. Intermediate range missiles in Cuba would have set up a foothold for nuclear attack and would have brought about a more effective deterrence from the Soviet point of view. Castro, who feared another more effective US invasion ever since the Bay of Pigs, welcomed the missiles as a way for Cuba to defend itself.

Sources:
http://library.thinkquest.org/11046/days/index.htmlhttp://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/cuba_mis_cri/

Alexa Gaul
US Motives

Throughout the Cold War there was tension between the United States and the Soviet Union due to their very different economic and political structures. The United State’s capitalism was almost opposite to the Soviet’s communism, and neither country liked the other nation’s way of running things. Therefore, throughout the cold war the United States tried to prevent the spread of communism outside of where it already existed (primarily China and the USSR). So any time there was a chance of a new country becoming communist, the United States soon were involved behind the scenes and/or sometimes blatantly like during the Korean War. Another example of US intervention was Cuba.
Even before Cuba became a communist nation the US monitored carefully, and tried to prevent the country from become communist. However, they were unsuccessful and Cuba became a communist nation under Castro. But the US didn’t give up. Instead they continued trying to rid of the communist regime in Cuba, including ridding of Castro, especially because Castro had relations with Khrushchev. The result: The Bay of Pigs invasion. The CIA had already planned to train Cuban exiles to overthrow Castro during Eisenhower’s presidency, but it was not followed out until Kennedy’s presidency. However, when the invasion was followed out, it failed, leaving an embarrassing mark on Kennedy’s presidency.
After The Bay of Pigs failure Kennedy did not want to seem weak in the eyes of the international community. In order to redeem themselves Kennedy and the administration decided to establish Operation Mongoose: a plan to destabilize the Cuban economy and government, including possibly assassinating Castro. However, this desire for redemption also rolled over into the Cuban Missile Crisis.
As much as Kennedy wanted to stop the Soviet Union when they began shipping “mysterious” packages to Cuba and building up military bases there, he could not because of the international community. The international community saw no reason for action because the Soviets claimed the actions were only for defensive purposes, and there was no evidence otherwise. So until the US had proof that the Soviet buildup was offensive, they could do nothing.
Then, the United discovered missiles. Missiles are offensive weapons, so six days after their discovery Kennedy informed the citizens of the United States of his response to the missiles in Cuba. Again, he wanted to redeem himself for his past mistakes both to regain the confidence of his citizens, to reestablish respect towards the United States in the international community, and demonstrate that the United States remains a dominant super power. To achieve all these goals he publicly informed his citizens that he would not tolerate the Soviet Union’s deception and that the US would respond by blockading Cuba, retaliating in the case of an attack, survey military buildup, and asking the UN to become involved. After this speech Kennedy chose to blockade Cuba and demanded that Khrushchev remove the missiles. After a long thirteen days Kennedy succeeded, reestablishing foreign respect towards the United States, and showing the Soviet Union and the world that the United States was not a country to mess with.

Sources:
http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/JFK+in+History/JFK+and+the+Bay+of+Pigs.htm
http://www.hpol.org/jfk/cuban/
Hilsman, Roger. “The Cuban Missile Crisis: The Struggle Over Policy.” Wesport, Connecticut:
Roger Hilsman, 1996.
Medina, Loreta (ed.). “At Issue in History: The Cuban Missile Crisis.” New York: Greenhaven
Press, 2002.
Finkelstein, Norman. “Thirteen Days/ Ninety Miles: The Cuban Missile Crisis.” New York:
Norman H. Finkelstein, 1994.

Stephen Keil

Overview of current US economy, domestic events and concerns,
foreign concerns, and military potential

The U.S. economy throughout the 1950’s leading up to the Cuban Missile Crisis was marked by the emergence of modern Republicanism, the rise of consumer demand, and booming production. The Economy was coming out of production for the Korean War in 1953 which was follow by a period of inflation in 1953-54 and another period of inflation in 1957-58. Eisenhower (1953-61) wanted to remove New Deal programs and begin to lessen government regulation of the economy which was heightened by the Federal Reserve to combat inflation. Between the periods of inflation there was growth in the business sector where the housing supply increased by 27% and the Gross National Product (GNP) was growing at a rate of 7.6%. In the second period of inflation in 1958 industrial production fell, corporate profits plummeted, and unemployment spiked. Eisenhower did little for the economy to uphold his plans to lessen government regulation and his fear of inflation over unemployment. During the period of the 1950’s leading up to the Cuban Missile Crisis in the midst of the two periods of inflation, the U.S. economy was still a global powerhouse. The GNP increased by 51% in the 1950’s and consumed 1/3 of the goods services with only 6% of the global population. The government spent immense amounts of the budget on infrastructure and defense wh1ich took up over half of the government budget. The U.S. economy was in a “race” with the Soviet Union to produce arms stockpile nuclear weaponry in the middle of the Cold War which aided greatly to $12 B deficit the government experienced in 1959. During the presidential election in 1960, the recession of 1960-61 began. Kennedy planned to “get America moving again” by tax cuts, federal funding for home building, and expanded benefits for the unemployed.
The Domestic concerns up to the Cuban Missile Crisis were dominated by Civil Rights movement. Brown versus the Board of Education in 1954 created social integration and removed the “separate but equal” ruling by Plessy versus Ferguson which layed the foundation for the Montgomery bus boycotts and Martin Luther King in 1955. There was a build-up of Civil Rights issues in the late 1950’s, including the Little Rock Crisis in 1957, the development of those violent or non-violent, and the creation of organizations such as the Black Panthers and the NAACP. However, the Civil Rights issues did not climax until after the Cuban Missile Crisis with the March on Washington in 1963and the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968. With the economic expansion, about one in five Americans lived in poverty with the turn into the 1960’s and the south (mainly east of Texas) had half of the country’s poor families. Poverty in the northern cities began to increase, mainly due to the migration of African Americans from the south to the north for economic and social reasons. The Social category of the American teenager came into existence and began to hold new social and economic leverage. They were a main reason for the consumer boom and spent $22 B alone in 1960 on consumer items; the same as the GNP of the entire country of Austria.
The main foreign concerns for the U.S. were mainly due to the Cold War and the containment of Communism which was instituted by the Truman Doctrine. This can be seen in the proxy war in Korea which ended in 1953 and the Lebanon Crisis in 1958 where the U.S. sent marines to aid the Pro-Western Lebanese Government. A Communist China had become a threat wit their close relations with the Soviet Union. The Berlin wall was constructed in 1961 by the Soviet Union to prevent the fleeing to East German citizens from emigrating westward which the Kennedy Administration failed to prevent. The U.S. was also continuing to reconstruct aid Western Europe by the means of the Marshall Plan and display Capitalism against Communism. The containment of Communism came again in 1961 with the CIA Bay of Pigs invasion to overthrow Fidel Castro’s government in Cuba which failed miserably. Main “battlegrounds” against communism became Indo-China, Latin America, and the Middle East. The U.S. has excellent military potential with a government that was spending heavily to build up its arms against the Soviet Union and had a deficit mainly due to defense spending despite the recession of 1960-61.

Sources:
http://elcoushistory.tripod.com/economics1950.html and links on side
http://school.discoveryeducation.com/lessonplans/programs/contentiousyears/
http://us.history.wisc.edu/hist102/lectures/lecture24.html
http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/eisenhower/essays/biography/4
http://www.unc.edu/depts/diplomat/item/2005/0709/stat/staten_reality.html#note4

Julianne Toia

Role of the Security Council

The United Nations Security Council played a crucial role in the Cuban Missile Crisis. As with all international affairs, the approval of the UN was imperative for both Russia and America in order to assure continued support and national security. Mediation of the situation provided by the Security Council also gave other nations peace of mind concerning the looming possibility of nuclear war between Soviet Russia and the United States.
The Security Council had two major issues to deal with when they were first notified of the crisis occurring in the Caribbean. First, it would be necessary to determine who is the true agitator in the situation. Before Adlai Stevenson provided adequate proof of the nuclear missiles present in Cuba, the Security Council was torn between the Russians and Americans. It was a “he said, she said” situation, in which the Russian representative, Valerian Zorin, would immediately refute incriminating claims made by Stevenson, and would even go as far as to accusing the United States of military action against a nonexistent threat. The Security Council’s second challenge was to mediate the resolution of the situation. Pressure brought about by the influential opinion of the council had kept both the USSR and America in line since the beginning of the cold war, and this situation was no different.
The Security Council’s reaction to the crisis was guided by fear of nuclear war. The goal was to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. In the end its main role was to pressure the feuding nations into a safer action and overseeing that both nations upheld their agreements by checking the removal of missiles and preparing to chastise either party if they broke their agreement.

Sources:
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1962-cuba-un1.html
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/msc_cuba113.asp
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/msc_cuba259.asp
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/msc_cuba258.asp
http://www.answers.com/topic/cuban-missile-crisis

HSC 2009-2010

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