Nuclear Reactions: The Cuban Missile Crisis and Cold War in Latin America

FAIN: FZ-272061-20

Renata Nicole Keller
University of Nevada, Reno (Reno, NV 89557-0001)

Writing of a history of the Cuban Missile Crisis from Latin American perspectives.

Nuclear Reactions is a hemispheric history of the Cuban Missile Crisis. It argues that this event was critical to shaping Latin American history and that, in turn, Latin America was critical to the global history of the crisis. Faced with the threat of nuclear war, Latin American politicians, military officers, and citizens seized active roles in the crisis, and their reactions had important results. Few histories of the missile crisis look beyond the United States, the Soviet Union, and Cuba, and no histories of Latin America analyze the wider impact of the crisis. This project draws on archival sources from across the Americas, the records of international organizations like the United Nations and the Organization of American States, and the cultural productions of diverse Latin Americans to determine the impact of the Cuban Missile Crisis on Latin America and uncover the ways that Latin American governments and individuals shaped the outcome of the crisis.

Associated Products

“Alarming News: The Cuban Missile Crisis and the Media in Latin America” (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: “Alarming News: The Cuban Missile Crisis and the Media in Latin America”
Author: Renata Keller
Abstract: At the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, newspaper readers in Bogotá, Colombia, were bombarded with alarming information. The Colombian press published articles speculating whether Colombia would be affected if the Cubans decided to target the Panama Canal, maps of possible nuclear fallout zones, and instructions about how to build a shelter and survive an atomic war. A headline in the newspaper El Espectador predicted that “A Bomb in Panama Would Bring Us a Slow Death.” Another article warned readers that in the case of nuclear war, “You have to think only of yourself. You cannot wait for friends… Any delay can be fatal.” An editorial in another newspaper, La República, reminded readers that “It is possible that while you are reading these lines someone will have determined the extinction of all human life on Earth.” The coverage in the Colombian press reached such hysterical proportions that the newspapers started accusing each other of “atomic terrorism.” This presentation, part of a larger project on the impact of the Cuban Missile Crisis across Latin America, explores why the Colombian coverage of the crisis was particularly alarmist. It compares it to coverage in other parts of Latin America, asking: what does this tell us about Colombian society and politics in 1962? What does it reveal about the Colombian press, and its treatment of science and technology? What impact did this press coverage have on public responses to the Cuban Missile Crisis in Colombia?
Date: 02/25/2022
Conference Name: American Historical Association Annual Conference

The Cuban Missile Crisis and a War of Words in Argentina (Article)
Title: The Cuban Missile Crisis and a War of Words in Argentina
Author: Renata Keller
Abstract: This Research Note discusses a new methodological approach to the history of the Cuban Missile Crisis that approaches the event through the lens of a collection of communist and anticommunist pamphlets from an archive in La Plata, Argentina. It argues that the words and images contained in these documents reveal popular, non-government responses to the crisis. The pamphlets offer the opportunity to tell a new history that shifts the focus from superpower rivalry to local activism and global engagement.
Year: 2022
Access Model: Subscription Only
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: The Journal of Cold War History

“Rockets Here, In Our Pretty Little Cuba: The View from the Epicenter of the Cuban Missile Crisis" (Article)
Title: “Rockets Here, In Our Pretty Little Cuba: The View from the Epicenter of the Cuban Missile Crisis"
Author: Renata Keller
Abstract: Describes the Cuban Missile Crisis from the point of view of the Cuban government and members of the public.
Year: 2022
Access Model: Subscription
Format: Magazine
Periodical Title: History Today

The Cuban Missile Crisis Offers Lessons for Diplomacy Today—If We Listen (Article)
Title: The Cuban Missile Crisis Offers Lessons for Diplomacy Today—If We Listen
Author: Renata Keller
Author: Michelle Paranzino
Abstract: Applies lessons from the Cuban Missile Crisis to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Year: 2022
Primary URL: https://www.washingtonpost.com/made-by-history/2022/10/22/cuban-missile-crisis-offers-lessons-diplomacy-todayif-we-listen/
Access Model: Open Access
Format: Newspaper
Periodical Title: The Washington Post

Jornada a Instantes de la Destrucción: Geopolítica, cultura e imaginarios bélicos a 60 años de la Crisis de los Mísiles (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Jornada a Instantes de la Destrucción: Geopolítica, cultura e imaginarios bélicos a 60 años de la Crisis de los Mísiles
Author: Renata Keller
Abstract: Comments delivered during the closing panel on a day-long conference about the Cuban Missile Crisis
Date: 10/20/2022
Conference Name: Jornada a Instantes de la Destrucción: Geopolítica, cultura e imaginarios bélicos a 60 años de la Crisis de los Mísiles

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