Question

Nikita Krushchev stated in his memoirs that the Cuban Missile Crisis was "...a great victory...a triumph of Soviet foreign policy."

Was Khrushchev accurate in his assessment of the Cuban Missile Crisis?

Answer 1

Not really. To the public at large, at least outside of the USSR, the conclusion of the Crisis was seen as something of a humiliating defeat. The Soviets were seen to have started it, recklessly pushing the world to the brink of potential conflict, and then backed down. It was like a bully making a lot of noise, waving a bat around, and then backing off when things started to get real.

Part of the problem was that the public weren't given all of the facts. The US had agreed to pull back missiles from Turkey and Italy in secret while making a public declaration to leave Cuba alone. But because no one really knew about the US withdrawal of similar missiles in similar positions on the other side of the ocean, it was seen as a huge success for the Americans in getting what they wanted.

Later, Khruschev's prestige would also suffer from this defeat and he was eventually ousted from power and replaced by the Party leadership who thought he had gone too far with his "adventurism".