Sinclair Model United Nations XI 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis

Sinclair Model United Nations XI 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis

Chair Introductions Bryce Donnelly- John F. Kennedy Hello delegates, my name is Bryce Donnelly, and I will be one of two head chairs for this exciting committee. This council will be challenging, and promises to keep delegates on their toes. I am a grade 12 student at Sinclair Secondary, having been on Sinclair s MUN team for two years now, I have attended a number of conferences, including SiMUN last year. I am hoping to attend Laurier University next year for Global Studies, and then pursue law afterwards. I hope everyone has fun, and has some great ideas to discuss so that we can launch into a great debate. Grace Turek- Advisor to Mr. Kennedy Hello delegates, my name is Grace Turek and I will be the rapporteur for the American side of our debate. I am a grade ten student and am I am new to Sinclair s MUN club this year. I have attended a couple of conferences, and look forward to developing my MUN knowledge along with all of you. As I am new to the club, I am excited to help host this conference for all delegates. I hope everyone learns, improves as a delegate and keeps their debate on target in order to blow our chair away. Colin Turner- Fidel Castro Hello delegates, and welcome to SiMUN! I am a grade twelve student at Sinclair, and will be a co-chair for the duration of this debate. Next year, I intend on attending the University of Ottawa where I ll be studying political sciences in French, before pursuing a degree in law. Hopefully we have some explosive fun discussing the Cuban missile crisis, make sure to prepare well for our debate to avoid bombing out. Good luck delegates, this should be an exciting council with many twists and turns in store. Max Poirier- Advisor to Mr. Castro Hello all delegates and welcome to SiMUN! I am a Grade 12 student at Sinclair and have been in MUN since I was in Grade 10, this is my sixth conference but my first as a director. I will be attending the French Glendon campus at York for History and French next year before hopefully earning a teaching degree. I really hope you have a wonderful time here at SiMUN in the Historical Council, good luck to all you delegates, and remember to keep it civil.

Introduction to a Historical Council A historical committee is unlike any debate system that delegates have ever experienced before. In this particular council, delegates will be emulating various important characters from the year 1962 and planning strategy for their respective countries. The council will be a joint-committee, divided up into two separate rooms where different, country-specific topics can be discussed separately, and strategies can be drawn up and implemented. Your chairs will be in constant communication with each other, and will meet to share the resolutions or directives of their delegates, and will furthermore share this information with delegates. Both chairs will also be in communication with SiMUN s crisis director who will be delivering crises both large and small throughout the day. Remember delegates, nobody is to be trusted in such a committee. The American side will be chaired by the President of the time, Mr. John F. Kennedy, who will be consulting various ministers and trusted key diplomats following a proper timeline of the crisis. In an adjacent room, the Cuban side of this committee will be chaired by Fidel Castro, who will constantly receive updates from Nikita Khrushchev and will be sharing this information with his delegates. Delegates should research not only their characters and the portfolio powers that they had, but must also align themselves with the historic goals, allies, and enemies of their country. They are encouraged to use their portfolio accordingly in order to keep events exciting on each side. A committee such as this one requires delegates that are well versed on the topic at hand, and who have previous MUN experience to guide them through the loose framework of a joint-historical committee. In terms of how the debate will flow throughout the day, delegates should commencing with a discussion on outlining their goals so that all delegates in each room are on the same page. The debate will run as a habitual Model United Nations conference, with delegates proposing motions for structured caucus; however they may be occasionally interrupted with crises or changes from the other side of the conflict. Both personal, as well as joint directives will be accepted, and depending on the crisis at hand, chairs will advise delegates as to whether or not to consider drafting a resolution in full. Points will remain intact, and decorum is expected to be maintained throughout all committee sessions as delegates work through the timeline of this crisis. Your chairs are extremely well prepared to advise committee sessions, and our excellent crisis director will ensure that proper communication is kept between all members of this committee. Our secretariat and all chairs are all very excited to watch the debate take off. Best of luck and enjoy, SiMUN Secretariat, Bryce Donnely, and Colin Turner

Introduction: America and the War Tensions between America and the Soviets have been high since World War II. Americans had been weary of Joseph Stalin s tyrannical bloodthirsty rule of his own nation, and soviet communism. The Soviets resented America for its refusal to treat the USSR as a legitimate part of the international community, and its late entrance into World War II, which resulted in the deaths of millions of Russians. After the war, these feelings ripened into mutual distrust, and suspicion. The US agreed to defend against the soviets with a strategy named containment 1. This strategy was the long term, vigilant containment of soviet expansive tendencies. President Harry Truman agreed with this strategy, and stated that it must be the policy of the United States, to support free peoples who are resisting subjugation by outside pressures. 2 The Containment strategy also allowed an unprecedented arms expansion in the United States, National Security Council report NSC-68 called for a four-fold increase in defense spending. This brought forth the first tests of the hydrogen bomb, a weapon that created a 25 square mile fireball and vaporized an island. The ever-present threat of nuclear war affected American life too, Americans built bomb shelters in their backyards. Practice attack drills were conducted in schools and public places, and therefore the cold war was a constant presence in everyday American lives. Space exploration became another aspect of the cold war when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik on October 4 th 1957 3, this became the first manmade object to be launched into earth s orbit. It came as a surprise to Americans, and not a good one. The launch greatly disappointed the American people, as space was another frontier to explore, that was now being occupied by the Soviets. This also demonstrated the power of the Soviet R-7 missile that could potentially delivery a nuclear warhead into earth s orbit. In 1958 the US launched its own satellite Explorer I, thus commencing the Space Race. The same year, President Dwight Eisenhower created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) an agency dedicated to space exploration. Along with several agencies seeking to exploit the military potential of outer space 4. The Soviets were still one step ahead, and launched the first man into space in April of 1961. May of the same year, President John F. Kennedy made the promise to land a man on the moon by the end of the decade. After seizing power in the island nation of Cuba in 1959, Fidel Castro the leftist leader aligned his nation with the Soviet Union 5. Since then, Cuba has grown dependant on the Soviets for

economic, and military aid. Since 1945, America and the Soviet Union have been engaged in the cold war, a conflict that is a series of political and economic disputes. Cuban - American Relations Since its inception, Cuba has had an often strained relationship with the United States. In 1820, Tomas Jefferson told his secretary of war the United States, ought, at the first possible opportunity, to take Cuba 7. The first instance in which the two countries were involved in a conflict together was in the war of 1868 8. Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, a wealthy Cuban sugar farmer, along with his newly freed slaves, declared war on the Spanish government in 1868 in an attempted to gain independence 9. Céspedes was accompanied by Thomas Jordan, an American General as head of the rebel army 10. What came to be known as The Ten Years war resulted in the Pact of Zanjón, which agreed to free all slaves who had fought in the war, but did not give Cuba its independence 11. Following the ten year war, the United States made several offers to buy Cuba from the Spanish Empire, and pay for Cuba s debts 12. In 1898, an offer of $300 million was proposed to Spanish Empire for the United States purchase of Cuba, but this was declined 13. During this time, the idea of an American annexation of Cuba was becoming popular within the southern states 14. After the Spanish-American War which lasted for three and a half months in 1989 between Cuba and the United States fighting against the Spanish Empire, the Treaty of Paris was signed 15. This document, among other things, surrendered Cuba to the United States 16. The annexation of Cuba was still prohibited according to the Teller Amendment which, signed by the United States in 1989, stipulated that the Americans could only help militarily in the Cuban s fight for independence, but that following independence, the Americans must withdraw their troops 17. Instead of withdrawing their troops following the Spanish Empire s defeat in 1989, the United States forced Cuba to sign the Platt Amendment in return for the extraction of their military from Cuba 18. The Republic of Cuba gained independence from the United States on May 20, 1902. The Cuban-American Treaty of Relations, which was similar to the Platt Amendment was passed on May 22, 1903 in Cuba, which stipulated seven pledges 19. Two of these pledges permitted the American government to intervene in Cuban affairs, which led to the American occupation of Cuba from 1906 to 1909 under the leadership of William Howard Taft, the American secretary of War 20. The Platt Amendment also required that Cuba sell or lease its land to the United States for the purposes of naval

station development and coaling stations which are fuelling stations for commercial or naval vessels 21. Within the coming years, the Cuban economy became even more reliant on the United States than it had been before 23. 95% of crops produced in Cuba were being sold to the United States, along with 60% of the Cuban sugar industry being owned by American companies in 1926 24. After a Cuban rebel led, American influenced, overthrow of Gerardo Machado, the President of Cuba in 1933, and the United states sent 29 warships to Cuba 25. The Platt amendment was nullified by the new President of Cuba, Ramón Grau, so in response, the American Government refused to recognize the new Cuban government as legitimate 26. A new era of Cuban-American relations and an era of pour Soviet-Cuban relations began in 1940 when Fulgencio Batista became the President of Cuba 28. With the planning aid of the United States, he staged a military coup in 1952, and regained power, commencing an era of rampant corruption, and poverty 29. Fidel Castro, a man running for a seat in the Cuban House of Representatives in 1952 saw Batista s rule as a dictatorship, and challenged it in court. After losing these cases, Castro began planning a revolution to seize control over what he considered an illegitimate government 30. The first conflict between the Castro led rebels and the Cuban government was in 1953 at the military barracks in Santiago 31. Casualties were taken on both sides before Castro ordered his rebels to retreat. In the days after the attack, rebels were rounded up, some of them executed, others taken prisoner 32. Castro was among those taken prisoner, and was sentenced to 15 years in prison by the Batista government 33. In 1955, the Batista government in an attempt to gain publicity, granted amnesty to all the prisoners including Fidel Castro and his brother Raúl, who fled the country later that year 34. In 1956, Castro returned to Cuba with his rebel group, this time with much success 35. The Batista government, loosing many important sites to the rebels, became unpopular internationally 36. Having seen the failures of the Batista government to defend important Cuban positions, as well as the criticism of torture and media censorship, the United states stopped selling weapons to the Batista

government in 1958 37. Knowing that the Batista government would fall, Eulogio Cantillo, a General serving as the Chief of the Joint Staff in Cuba was instructed by the United States to declare a ceasefire with Castro 38. Batista fled Cuba, and Cantillo proclaimed that he was the new President 39. This caused Castro to end the ceasefire and oust Cantillo, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison by the revolutionary tribunals 40. Castro was appointed Prime Minister of Cuba in 1959 41. In 1961, suspecting that there were spies in the United States embassy requested that the staff of 300 be reduced 42. This caused the United States to sever all diplomatic relations with Cuba, and raise their funding to Cuban dissidents who went on to bomb Cuban factories and sugar mills 43. On April 15, 1961, piloting eight American supplied, CIA prepped Douglas B-26B Invader bombers, and exiled Cuban pilots bombed three Cuban airfields 44. This was part of a plan to invade Cuba approved by John F. Kennedy. Brigade 2506, approximately 1400 exiled Cuban ground troops arrived at the Bay of Pigs in the southern reaches of Cuba on April 17 45. Accompanied by tanks and landing craft, the militants were met by what was left of Castro s air force 46. By late April 19, two American destroyers evacuated the retreating ground forces, after they were beaten by Castro s military 47. The defeat of the CIA trained ground troops at the Bay of Pigs served as propaganda for the Castro government against the United States, and further bolstered the American government s resolve to destabilize the Cuban government 48. This lead to the enactment of the Cuban Project in which there were association attempts against Cuban officials, and military as well as political sabotage 49. The Soviet Union lead by Nikita Khrushchev and Cuban government lead by Fidel Castro strengthened their relations during the years following the Bay of Pigs disaster 50. Khrushchev, with the knowledge that the United States had positioned mid-range ballistic missiles in Turkey, was keen to take aim and the United States with Soviet nuclear missiles 51. With the intention to position nuclear missiles in Cuba, Khrushchev sent over military and missile construction specialists to Cuba to persuade Fidel Castro to allow for the construction of nuclear missile launchers in Cuba 52. Fearing that an American invasion was immanent, Khrushchev wanted to safeguard Cuba to help preserve its communist ideals 52. 43 000 Soviet troops were transported to Cuba to help with the installation of the nuclear missiles 53. With tensions mounting between the United States and the Soviet Union after the Soviets admitted to supplying Cuba with defensive missiles, the Soviet Union declared that any attack on Cuba or Soviet transport ships would be taken as an act of war. 54

Works Cited 1- Staff, History.com. "Cold War History." History.com. A+E Networks, 2009. Web. 29 Jan. 2015. 2- ibid 1 3- "Space Race." Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Smithsonian National Air and Space 4- Museum, n.d. Web. 08 Feb. 2015. 5- ibid 1 6- "EXCOMM." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2015. 7- "General Assembly Demands End to Cuba Blockade for Twenty-Second Year As Speakers Voice Concern over Impact on Third Countries". United Nations General Assembly, Department of Public Information, News and Media Division, New York. 29 October 2013. Retrieved 8 February 2015. 8- Schlesinger, Arthur. "The American Empire? Not So Fast." WORLD POLICY JOURNAL. World Policy Institute, 2005. Web. 09 Feb. 2015. 9- Chomsky, Aviva; Carr, Barry; Smorkaloff, Pamela Maria, eds. (2004). The Cuba Reader: History, Culture, Politics. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-3197-1. 10- ibid 11- Ferguson, James R. "Cuba: Revolution, Resistance and Globalisation." Cuba: Revolution, Resistance and Globalisation. Bond University, Queensland, Australia. 2002. The Department of International Relations. Web. 10 Feb. 2015. 12, 13- ibid 11 14- "Struggle for Independence - 5." Timetable History of Cuba. HistoryofCuba.com, n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2015. 15- ibid 14

16- "The United States, Cuba, and the Platt Amendment, 1901-1899 1913 - Milestones - Office of the Historian." The United States, Cuba, and the Platt Amendment, 1901-1899 1913 - Milestones - Office of the Historian. United States Department of State, n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2015. 17-21- ibid 16 22-27- Ibid 15 28- "Testimony of Arthur Gardner and Earl E. T. Smith." Testimony of Arthur Gardner and Earl E. T. Smith. COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2015. 29- Bourne, Peter G. (1986). Fidel: A Biography of Fidel Castro. New York City: Dodd, Mead & Company. ISBN 978-0396085188. 30-34- ibid 29 35- Coltman, Leycester (2003). The Real Fidel Castro. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300107609. 35-41- ibid 35 42-47- ibid 29 48- "Bay of Pigs Invasion." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2015. 49- ibid 48 50- Franklin, Jane. "The Cuban Missile Crisis: An In-Depth Chronology." The Cuban Missile Crisis: An In-Depth Chronology. Jane Franklin, 2001. Web. 10 Feb. 2015.f 50-54- ibid 50