Outcomes
Immediate Outcomes
The most immediate outcome of the Cuban Missile Crisis is the removal of missiles in Cuba and Turkey. This resulted in the Soviet Union removing the U.S. missiles from their closest launch site to Moscow and the United States removing Soviet missiles from the Western Hemisphere. The removal of U.S. missiles from Turkey was done outside of the public's knowledge to not cause fear in Turkey. Overall, the removal of nuclear missiles decreased the threat of a large-scale nuclear war and de-escalated the Cold War.
Additionally, the United States agreed to a non-aggression pledge with Cuba. This meant that despite the removal of Soviet missiles, communism would be able to persist in the West and Cuba became a communist ally of the Soviet Union.
Diplomatic Consequences
One of the biggest diplomatic consequences of the Cuban Missile Crisis was a direct telephone line between Washington D.C. and Moscow. The crisis could have been resolved sooner with a direct line of communication between the United States and the Soviet Union. This telephone line was very useful in the remainder of the Cold War in events like the 1979 Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan and during Ronald Reagen and Mikhail Gorbachev's discussions in ending the Cold War.
Another consequence was the shift to finding mechanisms for resolving tensions and conflicts. A global nuclear war almost broke out, so naturally, politicians in both the United States and the Soviet Union were scared of one happening. This led to the creation of arms control agreements like the 1963 Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and the 1968 Non-Proliferation Treaty. Additionally, the United States and the Soviet Union strengthened their ability to survive a nuclear strike and retaliate. Both countries also avoided direct conflict after this and focused on fighting in proxy wars like in Vietnam and Afghanistan.
This crisis demonstrated the weakness of the Soviet Union: they were unable to accurately land their missiles on the United States mainland. This led to improving their Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) and well as producing more of them. Khrushchev presented the resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis as a victory for peace, however, his political rivals believed that he handled the situation poorly and removed him from office in 1964.
In the United States, Kennedy was able to maintain their status as a global leader and responsible nuclear power. Additionally, he continued the embargo on Cuba, causing Cuba to be a symbol of defiance against the United States in Latin America.
