The Cuban Missile Crisis

Cuban missile crisis occurred in October 1962 when the United States learned that the Soviet Union had secretly installed missiles in Cuba. The missiles could have been used to launch nuclear attacks on American cities. The crisis was one of the most serious incidents of the Cold War, a period of intense U.S.-Soviet rivalry that had begun after World War II. The Soviet Union had placed the missiles in Cuba earlier in 1962, after Cuban leaders became convinced that the United States was planning to attack Cuba. During the Cold War, Cuba was an ally of the Soviet Union. President John F. Kennedy of the United States learned of the missiles' presence on October 16 and demanded that the Soviet Union remove them.

On October 22, he ordered a naval blockade of Cuba to stop further shipment of arms.The Soviet Union offered to remove the missiles if the United States would promise not to invade Cuba.The agreement between Kennedy and Khrushchev was kept secret because many Americans opposed such a deal. Almost all Americans thus thought that Kennedy had forced the Soviet Union to remove the missiles simply by threatening war.

These things that happened at that time was considered "the hottest moment in the cold war" because this was the only time that the Cold War was very close to begin into a Nuclear War.
At the beginning of September 1962, U-2 spy planes discovered that the Soviet Union was building surface-to-air missile launch sites. There was also an increase in the number of Soviet ships arriving in Cuba which the United States government feared were carrying new supplies of weapons. President John F. Kennedy complained to the Soviet Union about these developments and warned them that the United States would not accept offensive weapons were considered to be defensive) in Cuba.

Film lesson : the right stuff

The US and the USSR were competing both sides of the space race (US and USSR) used experienced Germany engineers and rocket scientists. In a particularly humorous moment in the film , Senator Lyndon Johnson attends a meeting where the politicians are reacting to the news of Sputnik launch.Later, Johnson, as vice president, advances President Kennedy's initiative to stay on top in the space race, and a celebration he hosts at the Astrodome in Houston, Texas, the new headquarters of NASA (that Johnson personally lobbied for his home state), highlights the surreal aspects of the competition.


As the film continues into the final launches and orbit missions of Glenn and Cooper, the overall atmosphere of competition against a backdrop of Cold War tension seeps into the family lives of the astronauts.Glenn's mission to become the first American to completely orbit the Earth nearly turns tragic, as concerns mount that the heat shield on his capsule may have loosened, which would expose him to the searing heat of re-entry. Glenn lands safely and is accorded perhaps the largest hero's welcome since that of Charles Lindbergh.

Nato and The Warsaw Pact

NATO (North Altantic Treaty Organization) is an organization that includes North America and Europe. The major formation of NATO was that the countries involved wanted a mutal defense alliance so that if one of them were attacked all of the other countries in NATO would come to their aide. NATO alliances were France and United Kingdom through the Brussels Treaty was found to be miniuscule when compared to communist soviet union. Very little time passed before this weakness was realized and Western Europe turned to a more inclusive North Altantic Treaty, an agreement that involved a total of 12 nations including the United Kingdom and the United States. NATO was officially established on April 4,1949.

The Warsaw Pact was formed as communist military alliance to maintain power over Eastern Europe. It was established 6 years after the NATO. The pact considered mostly over the Soviet Union satelite. it was supposed to be another mutal defense alliance like the North Altantice Treaty , and was created in response to it. The Soviet Union dominated the alliance. The Soviet Union gained both control over European nations and indicated to other nations and it was major military and political force. Although the ground forces of possessed by the Warsaw Pact were far superior to those of NATO , their technology fall behind.