PRESIDENT JF KENNEDY [ARCHIVE]:
Good evening, my fellow citizens. This government, as promised, has maintained the closest surveillance of the Soviet military buildup on the island of Cuba. Within the past week, unmistakable evidence has established the fact that a series of offensive missile sites is now in preparation on that imprisoned island.
The purpose of these bases can be none other than to provide a nuclear strike capability against the Western Hemisphere. Upon receiving the first preliminary hard information of this nature last Tuesday morning at 9am I directed that our surveillance be stepped up.
And having now confirmed and completed our evaluation of the evidence and our decision on a course of action, this government feels obliged to report this new crisis to you in fullest detail. The characteristic of these new missile sites indicate two distinct types of installations.
Several of them include medium-range ballistic missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead for a distance of more than one thousand nautical miles. Each of these missiles in short is capable of striking Wash-ington, D.C., the Panama Canal, Cape Canaveral, Mexico City or any other city in the south-eastern part of the United States, in Central America or in the Caribbean area.Additional sites not yet completed appear to be designed for intermediate-range ballistic missiles capable of travelling more than twice as far and thus capable of striking most of the major cities in the Western Hemisphere, ranging as far north as Hudson Bay, Canada, and as far south as Lima, Peru.
In addition, jet bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons are now being un-crated and assembled in Cuba while the necessary air bases are being prepared.
Video summary
This short clip from the BBC Archive is an extract from President John Kennedy’s television broadcast to the American people on 22 October, 1962.
He informs the nation that after surveillance of Cuba, there is evidence of a series of offensive missile sites with the purpose of providing the Soviet Union with a nuclear strike capability to target America.
These include medium range ballistic missiles with a range of 1000 miles which could target the south-eastern part of the United States.
He also informs America there were sites, not yet completed, with intermediate range missiles that would threaten most major cities in the United States. The clip concludes with reference to jet bombers being assembled in Cuba.
Teacher notes
This video could be shown as part of a series of lessons around this possible overarching enquiry question:
- Why was the Cuban Missile Crisis a significant event in the history of the Cold War?
Before the video:
It is important to provide some historical context before playing the clip, recapping on America’s relationship with Cuba and how that changed with the Castro Revolution in Cuba as well as the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion. However, the clip would be more dramatic if no further context were provided so the students can witness history as it happens, and the students find out about the Soviet response as the people at the time would have done.
While watching the video:
Students could consider the following:
- Why do you think Kennedy stresses American surveillance of Cuba so much at the start of the broadcast?
- What proof do the Americans have of missile sites in Cuba?
- What would be the potential effect of the medium range ballistic missiles?
- Even though they have not been completed, Kennedy mentions the potential intermediate range missile sites. Why might that be?
- Do you feel that Kennedy’s broadcast would frighten or reassure the American people?
At the end of the video:
The students will need to study why the USSR placed nuclear missiles on Cuba and how the USA responded to this threat. This video looks at historical sources, relating to this event, in The National Archives at Kew. One of these, a map of North America, would be very helpful in helping the students to visualise the threat outlined by Kennedy in his broadcast.
Once the students have studied all this, it would be important to explore the effects of the Cuban Missile Crisis and how both the USA and USSR could claim a ‘victory’ as well as how in the medium term it changed relations between the USA and the USSR.
If there is time, there is an opportunity to explore the neglected skill of empathy. This event is often seen as the closest the two superpowers came to direct conflict and possible nuclear war. The students could consider how the people at the time may well have felt about these events, and the extent to which the information provided to them, such as this video, would frighten or reassure them.
The video could be interrogated as a historical source by answering a question like:
- How useful is this source to a historian studying the Cuban Missile Crisis?
Also, it could be compared with a contrasting source to explore different interpretations.
Before being examined on this topic, the students could be directed to this set of revision podcasts.
Suitable for teaching the GCSE History units on The Cold War in England and for National 5 examinations in Scotland.
More from this series:
1945 Roosevelt speech at Yalta. video
An audio clip from the BBC archive taken from a speech made by the American President, Franklin D. Roosevelt at the Yalta Conference.
1948 Eisenhower on the Marshall Plan. video
An archive video clip of Dwight Eisenhower being asked questions about the European Recovery Programme, better known as the Marshall Plan.
1949 Signing of the Atlantic Pact. video
A BBC Archive newsreel clip of the signing of the Atlantic Pact, the establishment of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).
