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Article Summary of "Escalation in the Cuban Missile Crisis" by Dean Pruitt and Jeffrey Rubin
Citation:
Selection from: Dean Pruitt and Jeffrey Rubin, Social Conflict: Escalation, Stalemate and Settlement, (New York: Random House, 1986), pp. 128-9.
This Article Summary written by: Tanya Glaser, Conflict Research Consortium
The authors discuss the purposeful escalation of conflict costs to produce a stalemate
in the Cuban Missile Crisis. In 1962 the USSR began to ship Nuclear missiles to Cuba, with
the intention of targeting them at major US cities. US president Kennedy responded with
the military threat to blockade Cuba if the missiles were not removed. Receiving no
response from the Soviets, Kennedy ordered a naval blockade.
On the morning of October 24, two Soviet ships and a submarine approached the blockaded
area. The Soviet vessels stopped short of the blockade. American ships were ordered not to
interfere with the Soviet vessels. The two sides were at a stalemate.
By escalating the crisis to a military confrontation, Kennedy had greatly increased the
costs of continuing the conflict. The cost of challenging the US blockade, or pursuing the
Soviet ships, was probable nuclear war. Fortunately, neither side was willing to incur
that cost. A stalemate had been reached. Both sides were then willing to seek an
agreement, rather than continue the conflict. Stalemate broken, the Soviet vessels turned
back to Russia and agreed to remove the missiles from Cuba, and the US agreed not to
invade Cuba.
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