Communication Strategies Used in the Cuban Missile Crisis
A historical political thriller, Thirteen Days is an American film that revolves around the Cuban Missile Crisis. A 2001 released the movie shows the perspective of US political leadership on the 1962 Cuban Missile crisis. The film is often thought to be based on the book, “Thirteen Days” written by Robert F Kennedy but in reality it is not so.
1: The two ways used by the parties to communicate tacitly are mentioned below:
- Placing of intermediate range ballistic missiles in Cuba.
- Kennedy’s decision of not to attack Cuba initially (Peltonen, 2019).
The two explicit ways that the parties communicate are outlined below:
- The announcement that US Naval ship will not allow any ships to enter Cuban water.
- The offer of Soviet to remove missiles from Cuban side by back channel communication.
A personal message by the Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev offering to remove the missiles from Cuba in exchange of the assurance from the US that it would not invade the Cuban soil definitely played a huge role in negotiating the Cuban missiles crisis in 1962. Thus, the explicit communication was more effective in avoiding the Cuba missiles crisis.
2: Following are the two direct threats made by one of the parties to the Cuba Missiles crisis at the face of the other party:
- The blockade step taken by the US which is an act of war in itself. The US administration decided to block all ships from entering the Cuban shore without checking by US naval forces
- The authorization of military attacks on the missile sites in Cuba by the President John F Kennedy (Krebs, 2015).
Apart from direct threats at the face of one party by the other party to the Cuban missiles crisis there were instances when a party saves the face of the other party by its actions. Here are two such instances where one of the parties to the crisis saved the face of the other party to the crisis.
- Final attempt by John F Kennedy to avoid a military confrontation by sending his brother to negotiate with Soviet ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin.
- The removal of Jupiter missiles from Turkey by the US administration to avoid military confrontation with the Soviet and Cuba.
The strategy to save the face of another party proved to more effective in avoiding the military confrontation which could have escalated to the use of Nuclear weapons. Thus, removal of missiles from Cuba by the Soviet and removal of missiles from Turkey by the US proved more effective.
3: US keeping its Jupiter missiles in Turkey and Soviet removing its missiles from Cuban soil. From Soviet perspectives US removing Jupiter missiles from Turkey and Soviet gets to keep the missiles in Cuba (Bernstein, 2015).
In first case it is fully beneficial for the US administration whereas in the second case the Soviet would be in a position of strength.
US had a better BATNA as it has its own missiles in Turkey along with the Cuban sites where Soviet kept the missiles.
4: Three issues are as following:
- Negotiation to remove missiles from Cuba.
- Negotiation to remove Jupiter missiles from Turkey.
- Negotiation of not to invade Cuba.
Position: The United States of America.
Interests: Avoiding Cuban missiles crisis of 1962.
Priorities: Removal missiles from Cuba.
5: Making concessions would be characterised in an appeasement negotiation by the negotiator. Thus, concessional style is best suited to a negotiator willing to give in to the demands of an aggressor.
Effective explicit communication and responding to the efforts of the Soviet by taking immediate steps would be two effective strategies in negotiating Cuban crisis with USSR.
Since the explicit communication will help the USSR administration to understand the actual steps that the US is taking to ease the situation. Immediate steps would also help in easing the tension between the two (Scott & Hughes, 2015).
6: The decision of Kennedy Administration to ignore the second message of the Soviet to negotiate a deal to remove the Jupiter missiles from Turkey as it was thought to be taken by the Politburo.
Maintaining and effective communication line between the two administration and communicating to each other before taking any actions.
Maintaining effective communication would have ensured that information is provided to the Governments at the each country.
No action before communication will also improve the relationship between the two.
7: The decision of US administration to stop all ships from entering Cuban shores.
In this particular situation it was not a very effective decision as it made the situation worse than what it was between the US and Cuba (Atkinson, 2015).
No, at the end of the day the power based response example provided above has no real impact on resolving the Cuban missiles crisis.
8: The decision to sanction military stakes in Cuba was an unethical decision as it would have resulted in huge number of loss to the human lives.
Cuban force shot down the pilot of a US air force in response to the US sending the air force to gather intelligence for attack on Cuban soils. It is definitely not an ethical behaviour on the part of the Cuba but was effective in neutralizing the situation (Heller, 2016).
Cuba could have lodged international protest instead of shooting dead the pilot.
9: The fact that US wanted the Soviet to remove the missiles from Cuba whereas the Soviet wanted the US to remove Jupiter missiles from Turkey. Soviet also wanted to ensure that US at no cost should invade Cuba.
Three strategies to work as a cohesive unit:
- To look for broader perspective in the situation.
- To contemplate about the possible implications of a military conflict.
- Consideration of the impact on economic progress development and growth of all the parties involved in the negotiation (Colman, 2016).
10: The distributive strategy is the situation in a negotiation where one party must win at the expense of the other party. Thus, in distributive strategy competitive bargaining takes place to gain one party at the loss of the other party.
The two examples of disruptive strategy used in the movie are as following:
- Quarantine strategy by the US.
- Stopping the ships from entering Cuban waters.
The two examples of integrative strategy used in the movie are as following:
- The strategy of the US administration to ask the Soviet to remove its missiles from Cuba in exchange of US giving assurance that it will not invade Cuba.
- The removal of Jupiter missiles from Turkey.
Yes, at the end the negotiation resulted in avoidance of military conflicts thus, the solution reached was best possible solution especially with integrative strategy.
References:
Atkinson, A. (2015). Cold War on Maplewood Street by Gayle Rosengren. Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, 69(3), 164-165.
Bernstein, B. J. (2015). Examining The Fourteenth Day: studying the neglected aftermath period of the October Cuban missile crisis, and underscoring missed analytical opportunities. In The Cuban Missile Crisis (pp. 58-92). Routledge.
Colman, J. (2016). Cuban Missile Crisis: Origins, Course and Aftermath. Edinburgh University Press.
Heller, J. (2016). Kennedy, Israel and the Cold War before the Cuban Missile Crisis (1961–62). In The United States, the Soviet Union and the Arab–Israeli conflict, 1948–67. Manchester University Press.
Krebs, R. R. (2015). How Dominant Narratives Rise and Fall: Military Conflict, Politics, and the Cold War Consensus. International Organization, 69(4), 809-845.
Peltonen, T. (2019). Case Study 1: Wise Leadership During the Cuban Missile Crisis. In Towards Wise Management (pp. 69-102). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Scott, L., & Hughes, R. G. (Eds.). (2015). The Cuban Missile Crisis: A Critical Reappraisal. Routledge.
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