Nikita Khrushchev converted Cuba into a Russian base.

Background:
- In 1959, Fidel Castro overthrew the Cuban government and established a communist regime in Cuba.
- The U.S. government was concerned about the spread of communism in the Western Hemisphere and attempted to overthrow Castro's government through the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961.
- This led to increased tensions between the U.S. and Cuba.

Khrushchev's decision to place missiles in Cuba:
- Khrushchev saw an opportunity to gain a strategic advantage over the U.S. by placing missiles in Cuba.
- In 1962, Khrushchev secretly began to send Soviet missiles and military personnel to Cuba.
- The U.S. discovered the missile sites through aerial reconnaissance and demanded that the Soviet Union remove them.

The Cuban Missile Crisis:
- The discovery of the missile sites led to a tense standoff between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.
- The U.S. blockaded Cuba to prevent any further shipments of missiles and demanded that the Soviet Union remove the existing missiles.
- Khrushchev initially refused to remove the missiles, but eventually agreed to remove them in exchange for a U.S. promise not to invade Cuba and to remove missiles from Turkey.

Aftermath:
- The Cuban Missile Crisis was a turning point in the Cold War and demonstrated the dangers of nuclear war.
- Khrushchev's decision to place missiles in Cuba strained relations between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.
- Cuba remained a communist country and a close ally of the Soviet Union until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.