1962: Kennedy ‘Quarantines’ Cuba

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• Background Info
• Vocabulary

• On October 22, 1962, U.S. President John F. Kennedy announced a “quarantine” of Cuba, in retaliation for the discovery of Soviet nuclear weapon facilities on the island a week earlier. This brought the conflict known as the Cuban Missile Crisis to a diplomatic height.

   

  Kennedy and his advisers (including Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and Attorney General Robert Kennedy, who chronicled the Cuban Missile Crisis in his book Thirteen Days) made sure to announce a “quarantine” and not a “blockade” of Cuba. 

   

  A blockade prevents all trade and travel from taking place around a specific area. A blockade is officially an act of war, and the Kennedy administration did not want to directly confront the Soviet Union. A quarantine only prevented “all offensive military equipment under shipment to Cuba.” U.S. Navy ships were deployed around Cuba to prevent Soviet freighters from delivering nuclear missiles or the material to maintain and launch them.

   

  The Cuban Missile Crisis ended less than a week later. The Soviet Union agreed to withdraw all missiles from Cuba, while the United States agreed to withdraw all missiles from Turkey (which bordered the Soviet republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan).

• Term	Part of Speech	Definition	Encyclopedic Entry
  administration	Noun	responsibilities and policies of the executive branch of the United States government, led by a president, his or her cabinet, and his or her advisers.
  adviser	Noun	person who offers informed advice about an issue.
  announce	Verb	to proclaim or make known publicly.
  blockade	Noun	military isolation of a specific area.
  border	Verb	to exist on the edge of a boundary.
  chronicle	Verb	to report.
  conflict	Noun	a disagreement or fight, usually over ideas or procedures.
  confront	Verb	to address a problem or person directly.
  deploy	Verb	to move military troops, support personnel, and equipment.
  diplomatic	Adjective	skillful and respectful in dealing with people or communities.
  discovery	Noun	something seen, documented, or noticed for the first time.
  equipment	Noun	tools and materials to perform a task or function.
  freighter	Noun	large ship used for carrying heavy cargo, or freight.
  military	Noun	armed forces.
  nuclear weapon	Noun	explosive device that draws power from the splitting and combining of atomic nuclei.
  offensive	Adjective	invading or attacking, not defending.
  quarantine	Noun	enforced isolation, usually to prevent the spread of disease.
  republic	Noun	system of government where power rests in citizens who vote and representatives who stand for those citizens. The United States is a republic.
  retaliation	Noun	reprisal, or an act taken in response to an injury or offense.
  Soviet Union	Noun	(1922-1991) large northern Eurasian nation that had a communist government. Also called the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or the USSR.
  trade	Noun	buying, selling, or exchanging of goods and services.
  travel	Noun	movement from one place to another.
  war	Noun	large-scale armed conflict.
  withdraw	Verb	to remove or retract.