Cuban missile crisis was a period in October 1962 when the United States and the Soviet Union teetered on the brink of war. The United States learned that the Soviet Union had secretly installed missiles in Cuba, about 90 miles (140 kilometers) from Florida. The missiles could have been used to launch nuclear attacks on American cities. The crisis was one of the most serious incidents of the Cold War. The Cold War was an intense U.S.-Soviet rivalry that had begun after World War II ended in 1945. Most experts believe that the missile crisis brought the United States and the Soviet Union close to nuclear war.
The Soviet Union had placed the missiles in Cuba earlier in 1962, after Cuban leaders became convinced that the United States was planning to attack Cuba. During the Cold War, Cuba was an ally of the Soviet Union. President John F. Kennedy of the United States learned of the missiles’ presence on October 16. He demanded that the Soviet Union remove them. On October 22, he ordered a naval quarantine (blockade) of Cuba to stop further shipment of arms.
At first, the United States expected to invade Cuba to destroy the missiles. At one point, an invasion was scheduled for October 29 or October 30. Nearly all of Kennedy’s advisers agreed that a landing of U.S. forces in Cuba would probably mean war—most likely nuclear war—with the Soviet Union.
The Soviet Union offered to remove the missiles if the United States would promise not to invade Cuba. It later said that it would not remove the missiles unless the United States would dismantle its military bases in Turkey. Turkey was a U.S. ally that bordered the Soviet Union. Kennedy agreed privately to dismantle all U.S. missile bases in Turkey. Kennedy and Soviet leader Nikita S. Khrushchev also made a public agreement. In that deal, Khrushchev promised to remove all Soviet missiles in Cuba in exchange for Kennedy’s promise that the United States would not invade the island. On October 28, the two leaders completed the agreement, ending the crisis.
Loading the player...Excerpts from JFK's televised address
The agreement between Kennedy and Khrushchev regarding the missile bases in Turkey was kept secret because many Americans opposed such a deal. Almost all Americans thus thought that Kennedy had forced the Soviet Union to remove the missiles from Cuba simply by threatening war. Some experts believe that, as a result, U.S. foreign policy used greater toughness and more threats of force after the crisis.
