Peace News, Will There Be War Over Cuba?

Item type

Newspaper

Date

26.10.1962

Description

Front page of Peace News from October 26th 1962 (Peace News has been in production since 1936). On 22nd October 1962 the President of US, John F. Kennedy, told the world that the USSR had set up missile bases on the island of Cuba. Cuba is only 90 miles from teh US coast and in the mistrustful atmosphere of the Cold War Kennedy saw the Soviet bases as a threat. He made it clear that US ships would prevent any more missiles getting to Cuba, even if it meant using force. Tensions increased the next day when it emerged that Soviet ships, carrying more missiles, were heading for Cuba. As the Soviet and US ships neared each other a third World War seemed increasingly likely. Newspapers, such as Peace News, reflected the growing fears around the world. However, both President Kennedy and Soviet Premier Kruschev resisted calls for war and frantically tried to work out a compromise. Six days later, on October 28th, a deal was agreed. The Soviet missiles would be removed in exchange for US promises not to invade Cuba and to secretly remove their missiles from Turkey. That same day the Soviet ships turned back and the Cuban missile sites were dismantled. On the 29th the US began the process of taking its own missiles out of Turkey. The solving of the crisis showed that even when stakes were extremely high, a deal could still be agreed, as long as both sides were willing to compromise.

Image

DSCF9266.jpg

Berlin Wall fragment

Item type

Wall fragment

Date

1989

Description

After World War II Berlin was divided into British, US, French and Soviet zones of control. As relations between the former allies slipped into a Cold War, the position of Western controlled Berlin became difficult. By 1948 about one million East Germans had fled to the West through Berlin. To stop this, on the 12/13th of August 1961 Soviet soldiers put up a barbed wire fence along the border. By the Autumn this barrier had become a 13ft (4 metre) high wall around West Berlin. Over 10,000 escapes over it were attempted and at least 80 people were killed trying to make it over the wall. The wall became a symbol of the Cold War years. By 1989 Soviet control of Eastern Europe was being eased by Premier Mikhail Gorbachov. East Germans began to call for change and many passed through Hungary to reach the West. On the 4th of November nearly a million people protested in East Berlin Finally, on the 9th, the government announced that Easterners would be allowed to cross into West Germany. That night, thousands passed through the wall and Berlin becaome the scene of a giant party. Many people broke off pieces of the wall as souvenirs – this is one of them. Nonviolent protests helped bring about a change which led to the reunification of Germany on October 2nd 1990

Image

SCF9065.jpg

Item type

Letter

Date

1958 = 1959

Description

Title “From: the Earl Russell, O.M.F.R.S.” (Order of Merit, Fellow of the Royal Society). Letter of 20th November 1962, from Earl Russell to Mr A.E.Smith, honorary secretary of Bradford CND, thanking him for his good wishes during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Bertrand Russell was born in 1872, the grandson of former Prime Minister Lord John Russell. He attended the University of Cambridge, gaining a first class degree in Mathematics and Moral Sciences. He held strong pacifist beliefs and in 1916 was convicted of anti-war activities, fined and dismissed from his post as lecturer at Cambridge. He was convicted again in 1918 and spent six months in prison. In 1939 the rise of facism led him to renounce pacifism, but during the 1950s he became involved in the anti-nuclear movement. An author of many books, such as the History of Western Philosophy, he used his acceptance speech of the 1950 Nobel Prize for Literature to warn against the dangers of nuclear weapons. He was a founder member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and was arrested in 1961 for taking part in a protest. He was sentenced to two months in prison but this was reduced to one week in prison hospital, as at the time he was 89 years old. Throughout his life he corresponded with many world figures, notably President Kennedy and Premier Kruschev. During the Cuban Missile Crisis he sent telegrams asking them both to seek a peaceful solution. This letter dates from that time and clearly illustrates both his relief at the outcome of the crisis and his commitment to peace. Bertrand Russell died in 1970 at the age of 97.

Image

IMG006.tif

IMG005.tif

Item type: Letter
Date:1958 = 1959

Description: Title “From: the Earl Russell, O.M.F.R.S.” (Order of Merit, Fellow of the Royal Society). Letter of 20th November 1962, from Earl Russell to Mr A.E.Smith, honorary secretary of Bradford CND, thanking him for his good wishes during the Cuban Missile Crisis. (more…)