When speaking about the Cuban Missile Crisis, President Kennedy said: "It is foolish that two men, sitting at opposite ends of the world, could decide to bring an end to civilization” (“Nuclear Test Ban Treaty” 1). The Cuban Missile Crisis was a time when these two men, Kennedy and Khrushchev, had the power in their hands to end civilization in order to understand the importance of the Cuban missile. We must understand the crisis, the drama of the Cold War, the dangerous crisis and its importance today. In order to understand the importance of the Cuban Missile Crisis in American history, one must first understand the drama of the Cold War, Castro's rise to power, and the American crisis. operations that triggered the crisis. "The term Cold War refers to the post-World War II global geostrategic, economic, and ideological competition between the East, led by the Soviet Union, and the West, led by the United States." East was communist and the West was governed by democracy. The war began when Stalin refused democracy and continued his dictatorship after World War II. The Cold War quickly evolved from a war against communism to a race for greater nuclear weapons; this became dangerous because the theory of mass destruction showed that if one side fired a missile at the other, then the other would hit back, and so on, and in the end the world would be destroyed. This war began in 1947, and lasted until 1991 (“Cold War”1). Soon a new Soviet dictator would join the war. Fidel Castro grew up in a middle-class family while Fulgencio Batista y Zaldivar was the dictator of Cuba. In 1953, Castro attempted to bring down Batista and was arrested. When, in 1955, Castro was released, he went to Mexico and gathered a group to help him take...... middle of paper ...... War Reference Library. Ed. Richard C. Hanes, Sharon M. Hanes, and Lawrence W. Baker. Flight. 2: Almanac Volume 2. Detroit: UXL, 2004. 213-232. United States History in Context. Internet. March 14, 2014.---. International Encyclopedia of Social Sciences. Ed. William A. Darity, Jr. 2nd ed. Vol. 2. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2008. 183-185. World history in context. Web.March 14, 2014.---. Violence in America. Ed. Ronald Gottesman and Richard Maxwell Brown. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1999. United States History in Context. Internet. March 14, 2014. Gannon, Paul. “Technology in crisis”. Engineering and Technology (17509637) 7.10 (2012): 60-63. Premier Business Source. Internet. March 14, 2014. Gannon, Paul. “Technology in crisis”. Engineering and Technology (17509637) 7.10 (2012): 60-63.Business Source Premier. Internet. March 14, 2014. “Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.” jfklibrary.org. Web. 4/1/2014