Oct. 22, 1962: Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Brink of War

Oct. 22, 1962: Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Brink of War
By Tony Long Email 10.22.07 | 12:00 AM

1962: President Kennedy goes on television and informs the world that
the Soviet Union has placed missile installations in Cuba, only 90 miles
from the American mainland.

If the world, and especially the American public, was shocked by the
revelation, the Kennedy administration was not. The president had known
about the installations since at least Oct. 1 and received final
confirmation on Oct. 16, when a U.S. U-2 spy plane returned
high-altitude photographs clearly showing the presence of at least 15
Soviet surface-to-air missile launchers.

There were also unconfirmed reports of SS-3 and SS-4 missiles on an
airfield outside of Havana, which, if true, put most of the eastern
seaboard and southern United States within range of Soviet nuclear
warheads. Russian military personnel and technicians were also known to
be on the island.

So there was the real threat of nuclear holocaust. But there was also
the audacity of the Russian move, which completely disregarded the
Monroe Doctrine with its political justification for American hegemony
in the Western Hemisphere.

The Russian perspective was somewhat different. With the Bay of Pigs
invasion still fresh in his mind, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev
feared another U.S. attempt to overthrow his ally Fidel Castro, so the
missiles were meant as much as a deterrent as a threat. The Russians
were also unhappy about the United States putting their missiles right
next door in Turkey, so this represented a quid pro quo.

Once the cat was out of the bag, Kennedy reacted swiftly. His image has
been softened over time by the Camelot mythology but make no mistake --
Kennedy was no dove. By the time he went on TV with the news, he was
resolved to go to the mat with Khrushchev.

Washington informed the Kremlin that any attack launched against the
United States from Cuban soil would be regarded as an attack by the
Soviet Union itself, with the resulting consequences. Kennedy also
ordered a naval blockade of Cuba, posing a direct challenge to the
Soviet freighters still in the process of delivering their military
hardware.

The Cold War was suddenly getting very hot. On Oct. 26, Kennedy raised
military readiness to DEFCON 2, one step removed from a total war
footing. It is generally accepted that the Cuban missile crisis was the
closest the world has come (so far) to an all-out nuclear war.

In the end, Khrushchev blinked first. Realizing he'd overstepped
himself, he sent a letter to Kennedy offering to withdraw the missiles
in exchange for American guarantees not to invade Cuba. A second letter
-- saying that the Russians would pull their missiles from Cuba if the
United States removed its missiles from Turke -- was ignored by
Washington. In the end, Khrushchev's first proposal was accepted and the
Russians pulled out.

http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2007/10/dayintech_1022