More Background On Our Topic

The idea of studying the Cuban Missile Crisis stemmed from our interest in geopolitical conflicts. Initially, we gravitated toward some of the over-glorified acts of war based on the idea of a failure of diplomacy such as the World Wars.  As we brainstormed, we found that nuclear weapons, even though only involved in war once, had changed the landscape of international diplomacy. Rarely are there more urgent and threatening debates than those over the apocalyptic capabilities of the nuclear weapon. From their conception, diplomacy between major nations such as the U.S. and Russia now had to resolve with mutually assured destruction in the back of their minds. We thought that no event better exemplified this than when the world came incredibly close to nuclear war – during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

To start, we mostly looked through tertiary and secondary sources on databases to have a rough grasp of some of the issues that existed during this time period. Then, we narrowed our search to the important outcomes during the Crisis. One of our most helpful resources was the JFK Library, which has a large amount of primary sources from the conflict.  From our knowledge about the Cold War, we pieced together a picture of the crisis’ causes. For the bulk of our research, we looked in databases such as Jstor and the JFK Library for analysis of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Wanting to consider more perspectives, we also searched online for interviews from the Soviet side. Later in our project, we were also able to examine both The Fog of War and Thirteen Days, two important sources created by Robert Mcnamara and Robert Kennedy, who both played key roles in the Crisis. 

To create our documentary, we worked together to piece together cause and effect events during the Cuban Missile Crisis in an almost chronological order to make an easy-to-follow documentary. In addition, considering the causes and effects described by our sources made the effects of diplomatic decisions clear to understand for the audience. Our footage included many primary source images such as political cartoons created at the time and the original telegrams between leaders. Several videos and images were also taken from media libraries to help the audience visualize some of the details of the conflict.

Ultimately, our historical argument was that diplomacy during the Cuban Missile Crisis was effective in preventing nuclear conflict at the time and improving both countries’ relationship over nuclear weapons, though they still remained in conflict. This topic is incredibly important in our modern day because our international politics are governed by the presence of nuclear weapons. The Cuban Missile Crisis essentially demonstrated to the U.S. and Russia, who still hold a large number of nuclear weapons, how dangerous negotiating with nuclear arms is. The event taught modern nations to create diplomatic resolutions and safeguards to keep global power balanced, nuclear weapons undetonated, and humanity’s future preserved.