The Cuban missile crisis: A political analysis

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the Cuban missile crisis in terms of bargaining tactics and political power generally. An analysis of conflict, I think must be conducted from the point of view of one or other or both participants. The conflict cannot really be viewed from "above looking down," unless one's purpose is merely to pass judgment on the merits of the case, or to conclude that neither side acts rationally, rather than to understand how the conflict originated, develops, and is resolved. It is, of course, the essential characteristic of a conflict that there are two different vantage points, both at "ground level." Given this necessity, the present analysis must be somewhat one-sided. First, only the behavior of the United States is relatively well-known and documented and thus analyzable in any detail. Second, the fact is that the crisis itself was rather one-sided. The United States took the initiative and held it until its objective was achieved. Thus a study of the crisis is primarily a study of the strategy and tactics by which the United States accomplished its objective.