The end of the Cold War came with the tearing down of the Berlin Wall and the breakup of the Soviet Union. This was an occasion for some rejoicing in the West as well as some reflection about what it might mean. It was also a time for recollection and reassessment of the different problems encountered over the forty year period of the Cold War, and one of the events that occupied much of this reassessment was the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, which many see as the closest the world came to open conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union, and perhaps the closest the world came to nuclear war. The period was one of considerable tension, and the United States was at the time still awash in fear of possible nuclear attack, seen in the number of people building fall-out shelters in their basements or backyards. There was also a scientific race under way between the Soviets and the U.S. and had been at least since the launching of Sputnik; it was that event which showed the West that it had to hurry in order to prevent the Soviets from taking over space and raining missiles down on their enemies. The Cuban Missile Crisis was a case in which the President of the United States took a direct stand against an action by the Soviets, the action of sending missiles to Cuba. President Kennedy invoked the Monroe Doctrine and told the Soviets to keep their hands off the nations of this hemisphere, and ultimately the Soviets did back down. Ever since that time, there have been arguments as to precisely what happened, how these events occurred, and how close the world came to nuclear war. The CIA was involved in this issue from the first, and part of the debate has been over the role of the CIA, the value of data provided by that agency, and the degree to which the CIA can be held responsible for these events reaching crisis proportions.
THE COLD WAR AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CIA
The end of World War II led to the beginning ...