North-South Tensions and the ‘Vietnam War 7 beyond diplomatic i 'gcrous sign. Washington's failure to oe seri Prove to its North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies what Teady feared: the United States could no lon; fe had become vulnerable to attack and “ relied upon to protect Europe, But the Soviet Union ted gh for aero’ the United States in the wrong place. If a > stakes were high for the Soviet Union, they were even higher for the ey States, and Kennedy felt that Under no circumstances could he afford lose, The first option was Tejected because Kennedy knew that. ‘compromising with Moscow would result i in further loss of prestige for the United States. The second and third options were dismissed as ‘too dangerous, Thus Kennedy chose a fourth option and ordered a blockade of Cuba to Prevent further missile shipments. On October 22, he demanded the removal of the missiles already in Place, To demonstrate his resolve, Kennedy placed the Strategic Air Command on its highest alert status and ordered the deploy- ment of more than five hundred B-52 bombers armed with nuclear warheads, Meanwhile, American submarines and surface ships patrolled the Caribbean Sea, under orders to attack Soviet naval vessels that violated the blockade, Much to everyone's relief, the Kremlin backed down; Khrushchev called back his ships and ordered deactivation of the missile sites. As Secretary of State Dean Rusk vividly described it, “We were eyeball to eyeball, and the other fel- ae Peis act of brinkmanship produced its desired outcome, Castro Bertrand eda and reosined a metace othe United States. teas influence was illustrated in April 1965 by the U.S. intervention ue continuing ion in the Caribbean Sea that shared the mini Republic, a poor nation in the pee eae a with Haiti. The celsis was sparked in 1961 by the over- eee etal cert tin iat oryteseel theDoriitianipaople pega ilo, ‘thirty-one years. He was replaced two years later by Picci hime for eee of Trujillo, who came to powerin Juan Bosch, a popular author pene rts re nalori ce Derninica ving econ ee vacted sweeping social and economic reforms nee the military, in extreme poverty, Bos -ds beyond the small elite, But a re a pe Cattle Charch accel Bor, closely tied to wealthy lan ie military coup ended Bosch’s short reign in “, Castro.’ of being “another September 1963. ana Philp Zelikow, Esence of Dectson, 2nd ed. (New York: Longman, 1999). SS att F (Graham T. Allison: