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{{infobox military conflict
| conflict = Cuban Missile Crisis
| partof = the [[Cold War]]
| image = [[File:Soviet-R-12-nuclear-ballistic missile.jpg|300px]]
| caption = CIA reference photograph of [[R-12 Dvina|Soviet R-12]] intermediate-range nuclear ballistic missile (NATO designation ''SS-4'') in [[Red Square]], Moscow
| date = October 18–29, 1962<br><small>Blockade of Cuba ended November 20, 1962</small>
| place = [[Cuba]]
| coordinates =
| map_type =
| latitude =
| longitude =
| map_size =
| map_caption =
| map_label =
| territory =
| result =
*Withdrawal of the [[Soviet Union]]'s nuclear missiles from Cuba
*Withdrawal of the United States' nuclear missiles from [[Turkey]] and [[Italy]]
*Agreement with the Soviet Union that the United States would never invade Cuba
*Creation of a [[Moscow–Washington hotline|nuclear hotline]] between [[Washington, DC|Washington]] and Moscow
*[[Fidel Castro]]'s position as Cuban leader strengthened<ref name="axelrod2009"/>{{rp|335}}
| status =
| combatant1 =
{{flag|United States}}
{{flag|Turkey}}

Supported by:

{{flag|United Kingdom}}

{{flag|West Germany}}

{{flag|NATO}}
| combatant2 =
{{flag|Soviet Union}}
{{flag|Cuba}}
| combatant3 =
| commander1 =
{{flagicon|United States}} [[John F. Kennedy]]
{{flagicon|Turkey}} [[Cemal Gürsel]]
| commander2 =
{{flagicon|Soviet Union}} [[Nikita Khrushchev]]
{{flagicon|Cuba}} [[Fidel Castro]]
| commander3 =
| units1 =
| units2 =
| units3 =
| strength1 =
| strength2 =
| strength3 =
| casualties1 = 1 aircraft shot down<br>1 aircraft damaged<br>1 pilot killed
| casualties2 =
| casualties3 =
| notes =
}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2012}}
The '''Cuban Missile Crisis''',{{spaced ndash}} known as the '''October Crisis''' in [[Cuba]] and the '''Caribbean Crisis''' ({{lang-ru|link=no|Kарибский кризис}}) in the USSR{{spaced ndash}} was a thirteen-day confrontation between the [[Soviet Union]] and Cuba on one side and the United States on the other; the crisis occurred in October 1962, during the [[Cold War]]. In August 1962, after some unsuccessful operations by the US to overthrow the Cuban regime ([[Bay of Pigs Invasion|Bay of Pigs]], [[Operation Mongoose]]), the Cuban and Soviet governments secretly began to build bases in Cuba for a number of [[medium-range ballistic missile|medium-range]] and [[intermediate-range ballistic missile|intermediate-range ballistic]] nuclear missiles (MRBMs and IRBMs) with the ability to strike most of the [[continental United States]]. This action followed the 1958 deployment of [[Thor IRBM]]s in the UK ([[Project Emily]]) and [[Jupiter IRBM]]s to [[PGM-19 Jupiter#Military deployment|Italy and Turkey in 1961]] – more than 100 US-built missiles having the capability to strike Moscow with nuclear warheads. On October 14, 1962, a United States Air Force [[Lockheed U-2|U-2]] plane on a [[photoreconnaissance]] mission captured photographic proof of Soviet missile bases under construction in Cuba.

Not only does the ensuing crisis rank with the [[Berlin Blockade]], the [[Suez Crisis]] and the [[Yom Kippur War]] as one of the major confrontations of the Cold War, it is generally regarded as the moment in which the Cold War came closest to turning into a [[Nuclear warfare|nuclear conflict]],<ref>{{cite journal|first=B. Gregory |last=Marfleet|title=The Operational Code of John F. Kennedy During the Cuban Missile Crisis: A Comparison of Public and Private Rhetoric |journal=Political Psychology |volume=21|page=545|issue=3}}</ref> or [[WWIII]]. It also afterwards served the first documented instance of the threat of [[mutual assured destruction]] (MAD) being discussed as a determining factor in a major international arms agreement.<ref name="Cuban missile crisis overview">{{cite web
| year = 1997
| url = http://library.thinkquest.org/11046/briefing/index.html|publisher=ThinkQuest|work=Fourteen Days in October: The Cuban Missile Crisis
| title= Briefing Room
| accessdate =December 30, 2010}}</ref><ref name = "Khrushchev letters">{{cite web
| year = 2010
| url = http://library.thinkquest.org/11046/sitroom/letters.html
| title= Letters between Khrushchev and Kennedy
| accessdate =December 30, 2010}} Archive of correspondence between Kennedy and Khrushchev during Cuban Missile Crisis.</ref>

The United States considered attacking Cuba via air and sea, but decided on a military blockade instead, calling it a "quarantine" for legal and other reasons.<ref name = "quarantine term">{{cite web
| year = 2011
| author = Ernest R May
| url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/coldwar/kennedy_cuban_missile_01.shtml#three
| title= John F Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis
| accessdate =February 7, 2012}} BBC History of the Cold War.</ref> The US announced that it would not permit offensive weapons to be delivered to Cuba and demanded that the Soviets dismantle the missile bases already under construction or completed in Cuba and remove all offensive weapons. The [[Kennedy administration]] held only a slim hope that the Kremlin would agree to their demands, and expected a military confrontation. On the Soviet side, Premier [[Nikita Khrushchev]] wrote in a letter to Kennedy that his blockade<ref name = "quarantine term" /> of "navigation in international waters and air space" constituted "an act of aggression propelling humankind into the abyss of a world nuclear-missile war".

The Soviets publicly balked at the US demands, but in secret back-channel communications initiated a proposal to resolve the crisis. The confrontation ended on October 28, 1962,<ref>{{cite video
| year =1962
| title =Crisis Eases. Wary U.S. Awaits Missile Removal, 1962/10/29 (1962)
| url =http://www.archive.org/details/1962-10-29_Crisis_Eases
| publisher =[[Universal Newsreel]]
| accessdate =February 22, 2012
}}</ref> when President [[John F. Kennedy]] and [[United Nations Secretary-General]] [[U Thant]] reached a public and secret agreement with Khrushchev. Publicly, the Soviets would dismantle their offensive weapons in Cuba and return them to the Soviet Union, subject to United Nations verification, in exchange for a US public declaration and agreement never to invade Cuba. Secretly, the US agreed that it would dismantle all US-built Jupiter IRBMs deployed in Turkey and Italy.

Only two weeks after the agreement, the Soviets had removed the missile systems and their support equipment, loading them onto eight Soviet ships from November 5–9. A month later, on December 5 and 6, the Soviet [[Ilyushin Il-28|Il-28]] bombers were loaded onto three Soviet ships and shipped back to Russia. The blockade<ref name = "quarantine term" /> was formally ended at 6:45&nbsp;pm [[Eastern Daylight Time|EDT]] on November 20, 1962. Eleven months after the agreement, all American weapons were [[PGM-17 Thor#Deployment|deactivated (by September 1963)]]. An additional outcome of the negotiations was the creation of the Hotline Agreement and the [[Moscow–Washington hotline]], a direct communications link between Moscow and Washington, D.C.

==Earlier actions by the United States==
The Americans feared the Soviet expansion of Communism, but for a Latin American country to ally openly with the USSR was regarded as unacceptable, given the Soviet-American enmity since the end of World War II in 1945. Such an involvement would also directly defy the [[Monroe Doctrine]]; a United States policy which, while limiting the United States' involvement with European colonies and European affairs, held that European powers ought not have involvement with states in the [[Western Hemisphere]].

The United States had been embarrassed publicly by the failed [[Bay of Pigs Invasion]] in April 1961, which had been launched under President [[John F. Kennedy]] by [[CIA]]-trained forces of [[Cuban exile]]s. Afterward, former President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower|Eisenhower]] told Kennedy that "the failure of the Bay of Pigs will embolden the Soviets to do something that they would otherwise not do."<ref name=Absher>{{cite journal |title=Mind-Sets and Missiles: A First Hand Account of the Cuban Missile Crisis |first=Kenneth Michael |last=Absher |publisher=Strategic Studies Institute, United States Army War College |year=2009 |url=http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/display.cfm?pubID=935}}</ref>{{rp|10}} The half-hearted invasion left Soviet premier [[Nikita Khrushchev]] and his advisers with the impression that Kennedy was indecisive and, as one Soviet adviser wrote, "too young, intellectual, not prepared well for decision making in crisis situations ... too intelligent and too weak."<ref name=Absher /> US covert operations continued in 1961 with the unsuccessful [[Operation Mongoose]].<ref name="franklin">{{cite book |title=Cuba and the United States: A Chronological History |first = Jane |last = Franklin |url=http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~hbf/missile.htm |year=1997 |publisher=Ocean Press |location=Melbourne|isbn=1-875284-92-3}}</ref>

In addition, Khrushchev’s impression of Kennedy’s weakness was confirmed by the President’s soft response during the [[Berlin Crisis of 1961]], particularly the building of the [[Berlin Wall]]. Speaking to Soviet officials in the aftermath of the crisis, Khrushchev asserted, "I know for certain that Kennedy doesn’t have a strong background, nor, generally speaking, does he have the courage to stand up to a serious challenge." He also told his son [[Sergei Khrushchev|Sergei]] that on Cuba, Kennedy "would make a fuss, make more of a fuss, and then agree".<ref>{{cite book|last=Kempe|first=Frederick|title=Berlin 1961|year=2011|publisher=Penguin Group USA</ref>

In January 1962, General Edward Lansdale described plans to overthrow the Cuban Government in a top-secret report (partially declassified 1989), addressed to President Kennedy and officials involved with [[Operation Mongoose]].<ref name="franklin"/> CIA agents or "pathfinders" from the [[Special Activities Division]] were to be infiltrated into [[Cuba]] to carry out sabotage and organization, including radio broadcasts.<ref>{{cite book |title=Shadow Warrior: The CIA Hero of 100 Unknown Battles|last=Rodriguez |publisher=Simon & Schuster |date=October 1989 |isbn=978-0-671-66721-4 |others= John Weisman}}</ref> In February 1962, the United States launched an [[United States embargo against Cuba|embargo against Cuba]],<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=58824 |title = Proclamation 3447—Embargo on all trade with Cuba |author=[[John F. Kennedy]] |work= The American Presidency Project |location=Santa Barbara, California}}</ref> and Lansdale presented a 26-page, top-secret timetable for implementation of the overthrow of the Cuban Government, mandating that guerrilla operations begin in August and September, and in the first two weeks of October: "Open revolt and overthrow of the Communist regime".<ref name="franklin"/>

==Balance of power==
When Kennedy ran for president in 1960, one of his key election issues was an alleged "[[missile gap]]", with the Soviets leading. In fact, the United States led the Soviets. In 1961, the Soviets had only four [[intercontinental ballistic missile]]s (ICBMs). By October 1962, they may have had a few dozen, although some intelligence estimates were as high as 75.<ref name="afmag"/>

The United States, on the other hand, had 170 ICBMs and was quickly building more. It also had eight [[George Washington class submarine|George Washington]] and [[Ethan Allen class submarine|Ethan Allen]] class [[ballistic missile submarine]]s with the capability to launch 16 [[UGM-27 Polaris|Polaris]] missiles each with a range of {{convert|1400|mi}}.

Khrushchev increased the perception of a missile gap when he loudly boasted to the world that the USSR was building missiles "like sausages" whose numbers and capabilities actually were nowhere close to his assertion. However, the Soviets did have [[medium-range ballistic missile]]s in quantity, about 700 of them.<ref name="afmag"/>

In his memoirs published in 1970, Khrushchev wrote, “In addition to protecting Cuba, our missiles would have equalized what the West likes to call ‘the balance of massive nuclear missiles around the globe.’”<ref name="afmag"/>

==Soviet deployment of missiles in Cuba==
Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev was persuaded, in May 1962, of the idea of countering the United States' growing lead in developing and deploying strategic missiles by placing Soviet intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Cuba. Khrushchev was also reacting in part to the [[PGM-19 Jupiter|Jupiter]] intermediate-range ballistic missiles which the United States had installed in Turkey during April 1962.<ref name="afmag"/>

From the very beginning, the Soviet's operation entailed elaborate denial and deception, known in the USSR as ''Maskirovka''.<ref name=hansen/> All of the planning and preparation for transporting and deploying the missiles were carried out in the utmost secrecy, with only a very few told the exact nature of the mission. Even the troops detailed for the mission were given misdirection, told they were headed for a cold region and outfitted with ski boots, fleece-lined parkas, and other winter equipment.<ref name=hansen>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/vol46no1/pdf/v46i1a06p.pdf|title=Soviet Deception in the Cuban Missile Crisis|last=Hansen|first=James H.|work=Learning from the Past|accessdate=May 2, 2010|archiveurl = http://www.webcitation.org/5slHYhnEk |archivedate = September 15, 2010|deadurl=no}}</ref> The Soviet code name, [[Operation Anadyr]], was also the name of a [[Anadyr River|river]] flowing into the [[Bering Sea]], the name of the [[Anadyr (town)|capital]] of [[Chukotsky District]], and a bomber base in the far eastern region. All these were meant to conceal the program from both internal and external audiences.<ref name=hansen/>

In early 1962, a group of Soviet military and missile construction specialists accompanied an agricultural delegation to Havana. They obtained a meeting with Cuban leader [[Fidel Castro]]. The Cuban leadership had a strong expectation that the US would invade Cuba again and they enthusiastically approved the idea of installing nuclear missiles in Cuba. Specialists in missile construction under the guise of "machine operators", "irrigation specialists" and "agricultural specialists" arrived in July.<ref name=hansen/> Marshal Sergei Biryuzov, chief of the Soviet Rocket Forces, led a survey team that visited Cuba. He told Khrushchev that the missiles would be concealed and camouflaged by the palm trees.<ref name="afmag"/>

The Cuban leadership was further upset when in September the United States Congress approved US Joint Resolution 230, which expressed Congress's resolve to prevent the creation of an externally-supported military establishment.<ref name=blight/> On the same day, the US announced a major military exercise in the Caribbean, [[Operation Ortsac|PHIBRIGLEX-62]], which Cuba denounced as a deliberate provocation and proof that the US planned to invade Cuba.<ref name=blight/><ref name="thedays">{{cite web|url=http://library.thinkquest.org/10826/cuba.htm |title=The Days the World Held Its Breath |accessdate=March 4, 2010 |date=July 31, 1997}}</ref>

Khrushchev and Castro agreed to place strategic nuclear missiles secretly in Cuba. Like Castro, Khrushchev felt that a US invasion of Cuba was imminent, and that to lose Cuba would do great harm to the communist cause, especially in Latin America. He said he wanted to confront the Americans "with more than words... the logical answer was missiles".<ref>{{cite book|last=Weldes |first=Jutta |title=Constructing National Interests: The United States and the Cuban Missile Crisis |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |year=1999|isbn=978-0-8166-3111-7}}</ref>{{rp|29}} The Soviets maintained their tight secrecy, writing their plans longhand, which were approved by [[Rodion Malinovsky]] on July 4 and Khrushchev on July 7.

The Soviet leadership believed, based on their perception of Kennedy's lack of confidence during the Bay of Pigs Invasion, that he would avoid confrontation and accept the missiles as a ''fait accompli''.<ref name=Absher/>{{rp|1}} On September 11, the Soviet Union publicly warned that a US attack on Cuba or on Soviet ships carrying supplies to the island would mean war.<ref name=franklin /> The Soviets continued their ''Maskirovka'' program to conceal their actions in Cuba. They repeatedly denied that the weapons being brought into Cuba were offensive in nature. On September 7, Soviet Ambassador [[Anatoly Dobrynin]] assured US Ambassador to the United Nations [[Adlai Stevenson II|Adlai Stevenson]] that the USSR was supplying only defensive weapons to Cuba. On September 11, the Soviet News Agency TASS announced that the Soviet Union has no need or intention to introduce offensive nuclear missiles into Cuba. On October 13, Dobrynin was questioned by former Undersecretary of State [[Chester Bowles]] about whether the Soviets plan to put offensive weapons in Cuba. He denied any such plans.<ref name=blight>{{cite book|last=Blight|first=James G.|coauthors=Bruce J. Allyn and David A. Welch|title=Cuba on the Brink: Castro, the Missile Crisis, and the Soviet Collapse; [revised for the Fortieth Anniversary]|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|location=Lanham, Maryland| year=2002| edition=2nd |isbn=978-0-7425-2269-5}}</ref> And again on October 17, Soviet embassy official Georgy Bolshakov brought President Kennedy a "personal message" from Khrushchev reassuring him that "under no circumstances would surface-to-surface missiles be sent to Cuba."<ref name=blight/>{{rp|494}}

As early as August 1962, the United States suspected the Soviets of building missile facilities in Cuba. During that month, its intelligence services gathered information about sightings by ground observers of Russian-built [[Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21|MiG-21]] fighters and [[Ilyushin Il-28|Il-28]] light bombers. [[Lockheed U-2|U-2]] spyplanes found [[S-75 Dvina]] (NATO designation ''SA-2'') surface-to-air missile sites at eight different locations. CIA director [[John A. McCone]] was suspicious. On August 10, he wrote a memo to President Kennedy in which he guessed that the Soviets were preparing to introduce ballistic missiles into Cuba.<ref name="afmag">{{cite journal|url=http://www.airforce-magazine.com/MagazineArchive/Pages/2005/August%202005/0805u2.aspx|title=Airpower and the Cuban Missile Crisis |last=Correll |first=John T. |date=August 2005|volume=88|issue=8 |journal=AirForce-Magazine.com|accessdate=May 4, 2010}}</ref> On August 31, Senator [[Kenneth Keating]] (R-New York), who probably received his information from Cuban exiles in Florida,<ref name="afmag"/> warned on the Senate floor that the Soviet Union may be constructing a missile base in Cuba.<ref name="franklin"/>

Air Force General [[Curtis LeMay]] presented a pre-invasion bombing plan to Kennedy in September, while spy flights and minor military harassment from US forces at [[Guantanamo Bay Naval Base]] were the subject of continual Cuban diplomatic complaints to the US government.<ref name="franklin"/>

The first consignment of [[R-12 (missile)|R-12]] missiles arrived on the night of September 8, followed by a second on September 16. The R-12 was the first operational intermediate-range ballistic missile, the first missile ever mass-produced, and the first Soviet missile deployed with a [[thermonuclear]] warhead. It was a single-stage, road-transportable, surface-launched, storable liquid propellant fueled missile that could deliver a [[TNT equivalent|megaton-class]] nuclear weapon.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/russia/r-12-specs.htm|title=R-12 / SS-4 SANDAL|publisher=Global Security|accessdate=April 30, 2010 }}</ref> The Soviets were building nine sites—six for [[R-12 (missile)|R-12]] medium-range missiles (NATO designation ''[[SS-4 Sandal]]'') with an effective range of {{convert|2000|km}} and three for [[R-14 (missile)|R-14]] intermediate-range ballistic missiles (NATO designation ''SS-5 Skean'') with a maximum range of {{convert|4500|km}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/russia/r-14-specs.htm|title=R-14 / SS-5 SKEAN |publisher=Global Security|accessdate=April 30, 2010}}</ref>

==Cuba positioning==
On October 7, Cuban President [[Osvaldo Dorticós]] spoke at the [[UN General Assembly]]: "If ... we are attacked, we will defend ourselves. I repeat, we have sufficient means with which to defend ourselves; we have indeed our inevitable weapons, the weapons, which we would have preferred not to acquire, and which we do not wish to employ."

==Missiles reported==
The missiles in Cuba allowed the Soviets to effectively target almost the entire continental United States. The planned arsenal was forty launchers. The Cuban populace readily noticed the arrival and deployment of the missiles and hundreds of reports reached Miami. US intelligence received countless reports, many of dubious quality or even laughable, and most of which could be dismissed as describing defensive missiles. Only five reports bothered the analysts. They described large trucks passing through towns at night carrying very long canvas-covered cylindrical objects that could not make turns through towns without backing up and maneuvering. Defensive missiles could make these turns. These reports could not be satisfactorily dismissed.<ref name=GWUgraybeal>{{cite web| url = http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/coldwar/interviews/episode-21/graybeal3.html | publisher = [[George Washington University]], National Security Archive | work=Episode 21 | title = Interview with Sidney Graybeal – 29 January 1998 |date=March 14, 1999}}</ref>

[[File:U2 Image of Cuban Missile Crisis.jpg|thumb|U-2 reconnaissance photograph of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba. Missile transports and tents for fueling and maintenance are visible. Photo taken by the CIA]]

===U-2 flights find missiles===
Despite the increasing evidence of a military build-up on Cuba, no U-2 flights were made over Cuba from September 5 until October 14. The first problem that caused the pause in reconnaissance flights took place on August 30, an Air Force [[Strategic Air Command]] U-2 flew over [[Sakhalin|Sakhalin Island]] in the Far East by mistake. The Soviets lodged a protest and the US apologized. Nine days later, a Taiwanese-operated U-2<ref>[http://taiwanairpower.org/blog/?p=135 "Project RAZOR".] ''Taiwan Air Blog'', updated April 11, 2007. Retrieved: September 14, 2009.</ref><ref>[http://taiwanairpower.org/blog/?p=136 "Project RAZOR".] ''Taiwan Air Blog'', updated April 15, 2007. Retrieved: September 14, 2009.</ref> was lost over western China, probably to a [[surface-to-air missile|SAM]]. US officials were worried that one of the Cuban or Soviet SAMs in Cuba might shoot down a CIA U-2, initiating another international incident. At the end of September, Navy reconnaissance aircraft photographed the Soviet ship ''Kasimov'' with large crates on its deck the size and shape of [[Ilyushin Il-28|Il-28 light bombers]].<ref name=afmag/>

On October 12, the administration decided to transfer the Cuban U-2 reconnaissance missions to the Air Force. In the event another U-2 was shot down, they thought a cover story involving Air Force flights would be easier to explain than CIA flights. There was also some evidence that the Department of Defense and the Air Force lobbied to get responsibility for the Cuban flights.<ref name=afmag/> When the reconnaissance missions were re-authorized on October 8, weather kept the planes from flying. The US first obtained photographic evidence of the missiles on October 14 when a [[Lockheed U-2|U-2]] flight piloted by Major [[Richard Heyser]] took 928 pictures, capturing images of what turned out to be an SS-4 construction site at [[San Cristóbal, Cuba|San Cristóbal]], [[Pinar del Río Province]], in western Cuba.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://future.state.gov/educators/slideshow/cuba/cuba2.html| title=Cuban Missile Crisis |publisher=US Department of State|accessdate=May 6, 2010}}</ref>

===President notified===

On October 15, the CIA's National Photographic Intelligence Center reviewed the U-2 photographs and identified objects that they interpreted as medium range ballistic missiles. That evening, the CIA notified the [[United States Department of State|Department of State]] and at 8:30&nbsp;pm [[Eastern Daylight Time|EDT]], [[National Security Advisor (United States)|National Security Adviser]] [[McGeorge Bundy]] elected to wait until morning to tell the President. [[United States Secretary of Defense|Secretary of Defense]] [[Robert McNamara]] was briefed at midnight. The next morning, Bundy met with Kennedy and showed him the U-2 photographs and briefed him on the CIA's analysis of the images.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/colc.html |title=Revelations from the Russian Archives | publisher=Library of Congress |accessdate=April 20, 2010}}</ref> At 6:30&nbsp;pm EDT, Kennedy convened a meeting of the nine members of the [[United States National Security Council|National Security Council]] and five other key advisers,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://microsites.jfklibrary.org/cmc/oct16/doc3.html|title=Off the Record Meeting on Cuba: The White House|accessdate=August 26, 2011 |publisher=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum|date=October 16, 1962}}</ref> in a group he formally named the [[EXCOMM|Executive Committee of the National Security Council]] (EXCOMM) after the fact on October 22 by the National Security Action Memorandum 196.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://microsites.jfklibrary.org/cmc/oct22/doc2.html|title=National Security Action Memorandum 196|accessdate=August 26, 2011 |publisher=JFK Presidential Library and Museum|date=October 22, 1962}}</ref>

===Responses considered===

The US had no plan in place because US intelligence had been convinced that the Soviets would never install nuclear missiles in Cuba. The EXCOMM quickly discussed several possible courses of action, including:<ref name="thedays"/><ref>{{cite book | last = Allison | first = Graham T.| authorlink = Graham T. Allison |coauthor=Zelikow, Philip D.| title = [[Essence of Decision|Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis]] | publisher = Addison Wesley Longman |location=New York| pages = 111–116 | isbn = 978-0-321-01349-1 | year = 1999|edition=2nd|origyear=1971}}</ref>

# Diplomacy: Use diplomatic pressure to get the Soviet Union to remove the missiles.
# Warning: Send a message to Castro to warn him of the grave danger he, and Cuba were in.
# Blockade: Use the US Navy to block any missiles from arriving in Cuba.
# Air strike: Use the US Air Force to attack all known missile sites.
# Invasion: Full force invasion of Cuba and overthrow of Castro.

The [[Joint Chiefs of Staff]] unanimously agreed that a full-scale attack and invasion was the only solution. They believed that the Soviets would not attempt to stop the US from conquering Cuba. Kennedy was skeptical.

{{Block quote|They, no more than we, can let these things go by without doing something. They can't, after all their statements, permit us to take out their missiles, kill a lot of Russians, and then do nothing. If they don't take action in Cuba, they certainly will in Berlin.<ref name=rfkennedy>{{cite book | last = Kennedy | first = Robert | authorlink = Robert F. Kennedy | title = Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis | publisher = W.W. Norton & Company | page = 14 | isbn = 978-0-393-09896-9 | year = 1971 }}</ref>}}

Kennedy concluded that attacking Cuba by air would signal the Soviets to presume "a clear line" to conquer Berlin. Kennedy also believed that United States' allies would think of the US as "trigger-happy cowboys" who lost Berlin because they could not peacefully resolve the Cuban situation.<ref name="axelrod2009">{{cite book|last=Axelrod|first=Alan |title=The Real History of the Cold War: A New Look at the Past |publisher=Sterling Publishing Co.|location=New York|year=2009| isbn=978-1-4027-6302-1| url=http://books.google.com/?id=ZnYHG1eK-2AC| accessdate=April 22, 2010}}</ref>{{rp|332}}

[[File:McNamara and Kennedy.jpg|left|thumb|President Kennedy and Secretary of Defense McNamara in an EXCOMM meeting.]]
The EXCOMM then discussed the effect on the strategic balance of power, both political and military. The Joint Chiefs of Staff believed that the missiles would seriously alter the military balance, but Secretary of Defense [[Robert McNamara]] disagreed. He was convinced that the missiles would not affect the strategic balance at all. An extra forty, he reasoned, would make little difference to the overall strategic balance. The US already had approximately 5,000 strategic warheads,<ref>{{cite book|first=Robert Evan |last=Ornstein |title=New world new mind: moving toward conscious evolution|publisher=The University of Michigan, Doubleday |year=1989|unused_data=others}}</ref>{{rp|261}} while the Soviet Union had only 300. He concluded that the Soviets having 340 would not therefore substantially alter the strategic balance. In 1990, he reiterated that "it made ''no'' difference...The military balance wasn't changed. I didn't believe it then, and I don't believe it now."<ref>{{cite book|last=Blight|first=James G.|coauthors=David A. Welch |title=On the Brink: Americans and Soviets Reexamine the Cuban Missile Crisis |publisher= Hill and Wang|location=New York|year=1989|isbn=978-0-374-22634-3}}</ref>

The EXCOMM agreed that the missiles would affect the ''political'' balance. First, Kennedy had explicitly promised the American people less than a month before the crisis that "if Cuba should possess a capacity to carry out offensive actions against the United States...the United States would act."<ref>{{cite journal|last=Kennedy |first=J. |title=The President's News Conference of September&nbsp;13, 1962 |location=Washington, DC |publisher= Government Printing Office |year=1963|unused_data=DUPLICATE DATA: title=In Public Papers of the Presidents: John F Kennedy, 1962}}</ref>{{rp|674–681}} Second, US credibility among their allies, and among the American people, would be damaged if they allowed the Soviet Union to ''appear'' to redress the strategic balance by placing missiles in Cuba. Kennedy explained after the crisis that "it would have politically changed the balance of power. It would have appeared to, and appearances contribute to reality."<ref>{{cite journal|last=Kennedy, J. |title=After Two Years: A conversation with the president |date=December 17, 1962, 1963 |work=In 'Public Papers of the Presidents: John F. Kennedy, 1962' |location=Washington, DC. |publisher=Government Printing Office |pages=889–904}}</ref>

[[File:CMC Gromyko.jpg|thumb|President Kennedy meets with Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko in the Oval Office (October 18, 1962)]]

On October 18, President Kennedy met with Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs, [[Andrei Gromyko]], who claimed the weapons were for defensive purposes only. Not wanting to expose what he already knew, and wanting to avoid panicking the American public,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1736.html|title=Cuban Missile Crisis|publisher=Online Highways LLC|accessdate=May 5, 2010}}</ref> the President did not reveal that he was already aware of the missile build-up.<ref name=historyplace>{{cite web|url=http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/jfk-cuban.htm|title=JFK on the Cuban Missile Crisis|publisher=The History Place|accessdate=May 3, 2010}}</ref>

By October 19, frequent U-2 spy flights showed four operational sites. As part of the blockade, the US military was put on high alert to enforce the blockade and to be ready to invade Cuba at a moment's notice. The [[1st Armored Division (United States)|1st Armored Division]] was sent to [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], and five army [[Division (military)|divisions]] were alerted for maximal action. The [[Strategic Air Command]] (SAC) distributed its shorter-ranged [[B-47 Stratojet]] [[medium bomber]]s to civilian airports and sent aloft its [[B-52 Stratofortress]] [[heavy bomber]]s.<ref name=global/>

==Operational Plans==

Two Operational Plans (OPLAN) were considered. OPLAN 316 envisioned a full invasion of Cuba by Army and Marine units supported by the Navy following Air Force and naval airstrikes. However, Army units in the United States would have had trouble fielding mechanized and logistical assets, while the US Navy could not supply sufficient amphibious shipping to transport even a modest armored contingent from the Army. OPLAN 312, primarily an Air Force and Navy carrier operation, was designed with enough flexibility to do anything from engaging individual missile sites to providing air support for OPLAN 316's ground forces.<ref name="Kamps, Charles Tustin 2007, page 88">Kamps, Charles Tustin, "''The Cuban Missile Crisis''", Air & Space Power Journal, AU Press, Air University, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, Fall 2007, Volume XXI, Number 3, page 88.</ref>

==Blockade ("Quarantine")==
{{listen|filename=John F Kennedy Address on the Buildup of Arms in Cuba.ogg|title=Address on the Buildup of Arms in Cuba|description=Kennedy addressing the nation on October 22, 1962 about the buildup of arms on Cuba}}
[[File:P-2H Neptune over Soviet ship Oct 1962.jpg|thumb|A US Navy [[P-2 Neptune|P-2H Neptune]] of VP-18 flying over a Soviet cargo ship with crated [[Ilyushin Il-28|Il-28s]] on deck during the Cuban Crisis.<ref>{{cite book|title=Dictionary of American Naval Aviation Squadrons|publisher=Naval Aviation History Office |url=http://www.history.navy.mil/avh-vol2/chap3-4.pdf|chapter=Third VP-18|page=2|accessdate=January 16, 2011|date=November 9, 2000|volume=2}}</ref>]]

Kennedy met with members of EXCOMM and other top advisers throughout October 21, considering two remaining options: an air strike primarily against the Cuban missile bases, or a naval blockade of Cuba.<ref name=historyplace/> A full-scale invasion was not the administration's first option. Robert McNamara supported the naval [[blockade]] as a strong but limited military action that left the US in control. According to [[international law]] a blockade is an [[Casus belli|act of war]], but the Kennedy administration did not think that the USSR would be provoked to attack by a mere blockade.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Naval Quarantine of Cuba, 1962|url=http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq90-5.htm|work=Report on the Naval Quarantine of Cuba, Operational Archives Branch, Post 46 Command File, Box 10, Washington, DC|publisher=Naval History & Heritage Command|accessdate=January 25, 2011}}</ref>

[[Admiral]] [[George Whelan Anderson, Jr.|Anderson]], [[Chief of Naval Operations]] wrote a position paper that helped Kennedy to differentiate between what they termed a "quarantine"<ref name = "quarantine term" /> of offensive weapons and a blockade of all materials, claiming that a classic blockade was not the original intention. Since it would take place in international waters, Kennedy obtained the approval of the OAS for military action under the hemispheric defense provisions of the [[Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance|Rio Treaty]].

{{Block quote|Latin American participation in the quarantine now involved two Argentine destroyers which were to report to the US Commander South Atlantic [COMSOLANT] at Trinidad on November 9. An Argentine submarine and a Marine battalion with lift were available if required. In addition, two Venezuelan destroyers and one submarine had reported to COMSOLANT, ready for sea by November 2. The Government of Trinidad and Tobago offered the use of [[Chaguaramas, Trinidad|Chaguaramas]] Naval Base to warships of any OAS nation for the duration of the "quarantine". The Dominican Republic had made available one escort ship. Colombia was reported ready to furnish units and had sent military officers to the US to discuss this assistance. The Argentine Air Force informally offered three [[Grumman SA-16|SA-16]] aircraft in addition to forces already committed to the "quarantine" operation.<ref name="flagship"/>}}

{{Block quote|This initially was to involve a naval blockade against offensive weapons within the framework of the [[Organization of American States]] and the [[Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance|Rio Treaty]]. Such a blockade might be expanded to cover all types of goods and air transport. The action was to be backed up by surveillance of Cuba. The CNO's scenario was followed closely in later implementing the "quarantine".}}

On October 19, the EXCOMM formed separate working groups to examine the air strike and blockade options, and by the afternoon most support in the EXCOMM shifted to the blockade option.

[[File:President Kennedy signs Cuba quarantine proclamation, 23 October 1962.jpg|thumb|President Kennedy signs the Proclamation for Interdiction of the Delivery of Offensive Weapons to Cuba at the [[Oval Office]] on October 23, 1962.]]
At 3:00&nbsp;pm EDT on October 22, President Kennedy formally established the Executive Committee (EXCOMM) with National Security Action Memorandum (NSAM) 196. At 5:00&nbsp;pm, he met with Congressional leaders who contentiously opposed a blockade and demanded a stronger response. In Moscow, Ambassador [[Foy D. Kohler|Kohler]] briefed Chairman Khrushchev on the pending blockade and Kennedy's speech to the nation. Ambassadors around the world gave advance notice to non-[[Eastern Bloc]] leaders. Before the speech, US delegations met with Canadian Prime Minister [[John Diefenbaker]], British Prime Minister [[Harold Macmillan]], [[West German]] [[Chancellor]] [[Konrad Adenauer]], and French President [[Charles de Gaulle]] to brief them on the US intelligence and their proposed response. All were supportive of the US position.<ref name="brink">{{cite web |url=http://www.cubacrisis.net/angl/pages/aubordset_02.html |title=Brinkmanship |work=The Cuban Missile Crisis exhibition |publisher=The Caen Mémorial | last=Buffet |first=Cyril |coauthors=Touze, Vincent |accessdate=May 3, 2010}}</ref>

On October 22 at 7:00&nbsp;pm EDT, President Kennedy delivered a nation-wide televised address on all of the major networks announcing the discovery of the missiles.

{{Block quote|It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union.<ref name=upi/>}}

Kennedy described the administration's plan:

{{Block quote|To halt this offensive buildup, a strict quarantine on all offensive military equipment under shipment to Cuba is being initiated. All ships of any kind bound for Cuba, from whatever nation or port, will, if found to contain cargoes of offensive weapons, be turned back. This quarantine will be extended, if needed, to other types of cargo and carriers. We are not at this time, however, denying the necessities of life as the Soviets attempted to do in their Berlin blockade of 1948.<ref name=upi>{{cite news|url=http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1962/Cuban-Missile-Crisis/12295509437657-6/ |title=1962 Year In Review: Cuban Missile Crisis |year=1962|publisher= United Press International, Inc.|accessdate=April 22, 2010}}</ref>}}

During the speech a directive went out to all US forces worldwide placing them on [[DEFCON]] 3. The heavy cruiser [[USS Newport News (CA-148)|USS ''Newport News'']] was designated flagship for the blockade,<ref name = "quarantine term" /> with the [[USS Leary (DD-879)|USS ''Leary'' (DD-879)]] as ''Newport News''' [[destroyer]] escort.<ref name="flagship">{{cite report|url=http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq90-5c.htm |title=The Naval Quarantine of Cuba, 1962: Abeyance and Negotiation, 31 October − 13 November|month=January|year=2001|publisher= Department of the Navy, Naval Historical Center|accessdate=August 26, 2011}}</ref>

===Crisis deepens===
[[File:Khrushchev letter to kennedy.gif|thumb|left|Khrushchev's October 24, 1962 letter to President Kennedy stating that the Cuban Missile Crisis blockade "constitute[s] an act of aggression..."]]
On October 23 at 11:24&nbsp;am EDT a cable drafted by [[George Wildman Ball|George Ball]] to the US Ambassador in Turkey and the US Ambassador to [[NATO]] notified them that they were considering making an offer to withdraw what the U.S knew to be nearly obsolete missiles from Italy and Turkey in exchange for the Soviet withdrawal from Cuba. Turkish officials replied that they would "deeply resent" any trade for the US missile's presence in their country.<ref name="chrono26oct15nov">{{cite web |url=http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/cuba_mis_cri/621026_621115%20Chronology%201.pdf|title=Chronology 1: October 26, 1962 to November 15, 1962 |work=The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962 |publisher=The National Security Archive|accessdate=April 8, 2011}}</ref> Two days later, on the morning of October 25, journalist [[Walter Lippmann]] proposed the same thing in his syndicated column. Castro reaffirmed Cuba's right to self-defense and said that all of its weapons were defensive and Cuba would not allow an inspection.<ref name=franklin/>

===International response===
Three days after Kennedy's speech, the Chinese ''[[People's Daily]]'' announced that "650,000,000 Chinese men and women were standing by the Cuban people".<ref name="brink"/>

In West Germany, newspapers supported the United States' response, contrasting it with the weak-kneed American actions in the region during the preceding months. They also expressed some fear that the Soviets might retaliate in Berlin.<ref name="cubacrisis">{{cite web|url=http://www.cubacrisis.net/angl/pages/aubord_rfa11.html | title=Germany, between Cuba and Berlin |work=The Cuban Missile Crisis exhibition |publisher=The Caen Mémorial | last=Buffet |first=Cyril |coauthors=Touze, Vincent |accessdate=May 3, 2010}}</ref> In France on October 23, the crisis made the front page of all the daily newspapers. The next day, an editorial in ''[[Le Monde]]'' expressed doubt about the authenticity of the CIA's photographic evidence. Two days later, after a visit by a high-ranking CIA agent, they accepted the validity of the photographs. Also in France, in the October 29 issue of ''[[Le Figaro]]'', Raymond Aron wrote in support of the American response.<ref name="cubacrisis"/>

===Soviet broadcast===
At the time, the crisis continued unabated, and on the evening of October 24, the Soviet news agency [[Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union|Telegrafnoe Agentstvo Sovetskogo Soyuza]] (TASS) broadcast a telegram from Khrushchev to President Kennedy, in which Khrushchev warned that the United States' "pirate action" would lead to war. However, this was followed at 9:24&nbsp;pm by a telegram from Khrushchev to Kennedy which was received at 10:52&nbsp;pm EDT, in which Khrushchev stated, "If you coolly weigh the situation which has developed, not giving way to passions, you will understand that the Soviet Union cannot fail to reject the arbitrary demands of the United States" and that the Soviet Union views the blockade as "an act of aggression" and their ships will be instructed to ignore it.

===US alert level raised===
[[File:Adlai Stevenson shows missiles to UN Security Council with David Parker standing.jpg|thumb|[[Adlai Stevenson II|Adlai Stevenson]] shows aerial photos of Cuban missiles to the United Nations. (October 25, 1962)]]

The United States requested an emergency meeting of the [[United Nations Security Council]] on October 25. US Ambassador to the UN Adlai Stevenson confronted Soviet Ambassador [[Valerian Zorin]] in an emergency meeting of the SC challenging him to admit the existence of the missiles. Ambassador Zorin refused to answer. The next day at 10:00&nbsp;pm EDT, the US raised the readiness level of [[Strategic Air Command|SAC]] forces to DEFCON 2. For the only confirmed time in US history, the [[Boeing B-52 Stratofortress|B-52]] bombers were dispersed to various locations and made ready to take off, fully equipped, on 15&nbsp;minutes' notice.<ref name=hpol>{{cite web|editor1-last=Goldman|editor1-first=Jerry|title=The Cuban Missile Crisis, October 18–29, 1962 |url=http://www.hpol.org/jfk/cuban/ |work=History and Politics Out Loud |publisher=[[Northwestern University]]|date=October 8, 1997 |accessdate=May 11, 2011}}</ref> One-eighth of SAC's 1,436 bombers were on airborne alert, some 145 intercontinental ballistic missiles stood on ready alert, while [[Air Defense Command]] (ADC) redeployed 161 nuclear-armed interceptors to 16 dispersal fields within nine hours with one-third maintaining 15-minute alert status.<ref name="Kamps, Charles Tustin 2007, page 88"/> Twenty-three nuclear-armed B-52 were sent to orbit points within striking distance of the Soviet Union so that the latter might observe that the U.S. was serious.<ref>{{Cite journal |first=Vista |last=Boyland |coauthors=Klyne D. Nowlin |year=2012 |month=January |title=WW III, A Close Call |journal=The Intercom |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages=19–20 |id= |url=http://www.moaacc.org/Intercomjan12.pdf |quote= }}</ref>

"By October 22, [[Tactical Air Command]] (TAC) had 511 fighters plus supporting tankers and reconnaissance aircraft deployed to face Cuba on one-hour alert status. However, TAC and the [[Military Air Transport Service]] had problems. The concentration of aircraft in Florida strained command and support echelons; which faced critical undermanning in security, armaments, and communications; the absence of initial authorization for war-reserve stocks of conventional munitions forced TAC to scrounge; and the lack of airlift assets to support a major airborne drop necessitated the call-up of 24 Reserve squadrons."<ref name="Kamps, Charles Tustin 2007, page 88"/>

On October 25 at 1:45&nbsp;am EDT, Kennedy responded to Khrushchev's telegram, stating that the US was forced into action after receiving repeated assurances that no offensive missiles were being placed in Cuba, and that when these assurances proved to be false, the deployment "required the responses I have announced... I hope that your government will take necessary action to permit a restoration of the earlier situation."
[[File:Location of Navy and Soviet ships during the Cuban Missile Crisis.jpg|thumb|A recently declassified map used by the US Navy's Atlantic Fleet showing the position of American and Soviet ships at the height of the crisis.]]

===Blockade challenged===

At 7:15&nbsp;am EDT on October 25, the [[USS Essex (CV-9)|USS ''Essex'']] and [[USS Gearing (DD-710)|USS ''Gearing'']] attempted to intercept the ''Bucharest'' but failed to do so. Fairly certain the tanker did not contain any military material, they allowed it through the blockade. Later that day, at 5:43&nbsp;pm, the commander of the blockade effort ordered the [[USS Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. (DD-850)|USS ''Kennedy'']] to intercept and board the Lebanese freighter ''Marucla''. This took place the next day, and the ''Marucla'' was cleared through the blockade after its cargo was checked.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.battleshipcove.org/news-boarding-marucla.htm|title=Boarding MARUCLA: A personal account from the Executive Officer of USS Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr|last=Reynolds|first=K.C.|accessdate=June 22, 2010}}</ref>

At 5:00&nbsp;pm EDT on October 25, William Clements announced that the missiles in Cuba were still actively being worked on. This report was later verified by a CIA report that suggested there had been no slow-down at all. In response, Kennedy issued Security Action Memorandum 199, authorizing the loading of nuclear weapons onto aircraft under the command of [[SACEUR]] (which had the duty of carrying out first air strikes on the Soviet Union). During the day, the Soviets responded to the blockade by turning back 14 ships presumably carrying offensive weapons.<ref name=hpol/>

===Crisis stalemated===

The next morning, October 26, Kennedy informed the EXCOMM that he believed only an invasion would remove the missiles from Cuba. However, he was persuaded to give the matter time and continue with both military and diplomatic pressure. He agreed and ordered the low-level flights over the island to be increased from two per day to once every two hours. He also ordered a crash program to institute a new civil government in Cuba if an invasion went ahead.

At this point, the crisis was ostensibly at a stalemate. The USSR had shown no indication that they would back down and had made several comments to the contrary. The US had no reason to believe otherwise and was in the early stages of preparing for an invasion, along with a nuclear strike on the Soviet Union in case it responded militarily, which was assumed.<ref name = GWUCubaAG>{{cite web
| url = http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/cuba_mis_cri/620119%20Meeting%20with%20the%20Attorney%20Gen..pdf
| date = January 19, 1962 | title = Memorandum for the Director of Central Intelligence: Meeting with the Attorney General of the United States Concerning Cuba | author = Helms, Richard (Deputy Director for Plans, CIA) | publisher = [[George Washington University]], National Security Archive }}</ref>

==Secret negotiations==
At 1:00&nbsp;pm EDT on October 26, [[John A. Scali]] of [[ABC News]] had lunch with Aleksandr Fomin (alias of spy [[Alexander Feklisov]]) at Fomin's request. Fomin noted, "War seems about to break out" and asked Scali to use his contacts to talk to his "high-level friends" at the State Department to see if the US would be interested in a diplomatic solution. He suggested that the language of the deal would contain an assurance from the Soviet Union to remove the weapons under UN supervision and that Castro would publicly announce that he would not accept such weapons in the future, in exchange for a public statement by the US that it would never invade Cuba.<ref name=chrono28sep26oct>{{cite web|title=Chronology 1: September 28, 1962 to October 26, 1962|url=http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/cuba_mis_cri/620928_621025%20Chronology%201.pdf|work=The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962|publisher=The National Security Archive|accessdate=April 9, 2011}}</ref> The US responded by asking the [[Brazil]]ian government to pass a message to Castro that the US would be "unlikely to invade" if the missiles were removed.<ref name="chrono26oct15nov"/>

{{Quote box|align=right|quote=Mr. President, we and you ought not now to pull on the ends of the rope in which you have tied the knot of war, because the more the two of us pull, the tighter that knot will be tied. And a moment may come when that knot will be tied so tight that even he who tied it will not have the strength to untie it, and then it will be necessary to cut that knot, and what that would mean is not for me to explain to you, because you yourself understand perfectly of what terrible forces our countries dispose.

Consequently, if there is no intention to tighten that knot and thereby to doom the world to the catastrophe of thermonuclear war, then let us not only relax the forces pulling on the ends of the rope, let us take measures to untie that knot. We are ready for this. |source=Letter From Chairman Khrushchev to President Kennedy, October 26, 1962<ref>{{cite web|title=Department of State Telegram Transmitting Letter From Chairman Khrushchev to President Kennedy|url=http://microsites.jfklibrary.org/cmc/oct26/doc4.html|work=The Cuban Missile Crisis, October 1962|publisher=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum|accessdate=9 April 2011|date=26 October 1962}}</ref>|width=40%}}

On October 26 at 6:00&nbsp;pm EDT, the State Department started receiving a message that appeared to be written personally by Khrushchev. It was Saturday at 2:00&nbsp;am in Moscow. The long letter took several minutes to arrive, and it took translators additional time to translate and transcribe it.<ref name="chrono26oct15nov"/>

Robert Kennedy described the letter as "very long and emotional". Khrushchev reiterated the basic outline that had been stated to John Scali earlier in the day, "I propose: we, for our part, will declare that our ships bound for Cuba are not carrying any armaments. You will declare that the United States will not invade Cuba with its troops and will not support any other forces which might intend to invade Cuba. Then the necessity of the presence of our military specialists in Cuba will disappear." At 6:45&nbsp;pm EDT, news of Fomin's offer to Scali was finally heard and was interpreted as a "set up" for the arrival of Khrushchev's letter. The letter was then considered official and accurate, although it was later learned that Fomin was almost certainly operating of his own accord without official backing. Additional study of the letter was ordered and continued into the night.<ref name="chrono26oct15nov"/>

===Crisis continues===
{{Block quote|Direct aggression against Cuba would mean nuclear war. The Americans speak about such aggression as if they did not know or did not want to accept this fact. I have no doubt they would lose such a war. —[[Ernesto "Che" Guevara]], October 1962<ref>{{cite news|url= http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5062895.ece |title=Attack us at your Peril, Cocky Cuba Warns US |first= Henry |last=Brandon |work=The Sunday Times |location=London |date=October 28, 1962 }}</ref>}}

[[File:S-75 Dzwina RB2.jpg|thumb|[[S-75 Dvina]] with V-750V 1D missile (NATO SA-2 Guideline) on a launcher. An installation similar to this one shot down Major Anderson's U-2 over Cuba.]]
Castro, on the other hand, was convinced that an invasion of Cuba was soon at hand, and on October 26, he sent a telegram to [[Nikita Khrushchev|Khrushchev]] that appeared to call for a pre-emptive nuclear strike on the USA. However, in a 2010 interview, Castro said of his recommendation for the Soviets to attack America ''before'' they made any move against Cuba: "After I've seen what I've seen, and knowing what I know now, it wasn't worth it at all."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11226158 |first= Jeffrey |last=Goldberg |publisher=BBC |date=September 8, 2010 | title=Cuban model no longer works, says Fidel Castro}}</ref> Castro also ordered all anti-aircraft weapons in Cuba to fire on any US aircraft,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.marxists.org/history/cuba/subject/missile-crisis/ch03.htm|title=Cuban History Missile Crisis|last=Baggins|first=Brian |work=Marxist History: Cuba (1959 – present)|publisher=Marxists Internet Archive|accessdate=May 7, 2010}}</ref> whereas in the past they had been ordered only to fire on groups of two or more. At 6:00&nbsp;am EDT on October 27, the CIA delivered a memo reporting that three of the four missile sites at San Cristobal and the two sites at Sagua la Grande appeared to be fully operational. They also noted that the Cuban military continued to organize for action, although they were under order not to initiate action unless attacked.{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}}

At 9:00&nbsp;am EDT on October 27, [[Voice of Russia|Radio Moscow]] began broadcasting a message from Khrushchev. Contrary to the letter of the night before, the message offered a new trade, that the missiles on Cuba would be removed in exchange for the removal of the [[PGM-19 Jupiter|Jupiter]] missiles from Italy and Turkey. At 10:00&nbsp;am EDT, the executive committee met again to discuss the situation and came to the conclusion that the change in the message was due to internal debate between Khrushchev and other party officials in the Kremlin.<ref>{{cite book |title=For the President's Eyes Only: Secret Intelligence and the American Presidency from Washington to Bush |last=Christopher |first= Andrew |page=688 |isbn=978-0-06-092178-1|publisher=Harper Perennial |date=March 1, 1996}}</ref>{{rp|300}} McNamara noted that another tanker, the ''Grozny'', was about {{convert|600|mi|km|-1}} out and should be intercepted. He also noted that they had not made the USSR aware of the blockade line and suggested relaying this information to them via [[U Thant]] at the United Nations.

[[File:U-2F refueling from KC-135Q.jpg|thumb|left|A [[Lockheed Corporation|Lockheed]] U-2F, the high altitude reconnaissance type shot down over Cuba, being refueled by a [[Boeing]] [[KC-135]]Q. The aircraft in 1962 was painted overall gray and carried USAF military markings and national insignia.]]
While the meeting progressed, at 11:03&nbsp;am EDT a new message began to arrive from Khrushchev. The message stated, in part,

{{Block quote|You are disturbed over Cuba. You say that this disturbs you because it is ninety-nine miles by sea from the coast of the United States of America. But... you have placed destructive missile weapons, which you call offensive, in Italy and Turkey, literally next to us... I therefore make this proposal: We are willing to remove from Cuba the means which you regard as offensive... Your representatives will make a declaration to the effect that the United States ... will remove its analogous means from Turkey ... and after that, persons entrusted by the United Nations Security Council could inspect on the spot the fulfillment of the pledges made.}}

The executive committee continued to meet through the day.

Throughout the crisis, Turkey had repeatedly stated that it would be upset if the [[PGM-19 Jupiter|Jupiter]] missiles were removed. Italy's Prime Minister [[Amintore Fanfani|Fanfani]], who was also Foreign Minister ''ad interim'', offered to allow withdrawal of the missiles deployed in [[Apulia]] as a bargaining chip. He gave the message to one of his most trusted friends, [[Ettore Bernabei]], the general manager of [[RAI|RAI-TV]], to convey to [[Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.]]. Bernabei was in New York to attend an international conference on satellite TV broadcasting. Unknown to the Soviets, the U.S regarded the Jupiter missiles as obsolete and already supplanted by the Polaris nuclear ballistic submarine missiles.<ref name=afmag/>

[[File:Engine u2.jpg|thumb|The engine of the [[Lockheed U-2]] shot down over Cuba on display at [[Museum of the Revolution (Cuba)|Museum of the Revolution]] in [[Havana]].]]
On the morning of October 27, a U-2F (the third CIA U-2A, modified for air-to-air refueling) piloted by USAF Major [[Rudolf Anderson]],<ref>Pocock, Chris, "50 Years of the U-2: The Complete Illustrated History of the 'Dragon Lady' ", Schiffer Publishing, Ltd., Atglen, Pennsylvania, Library of Congress card number 2005927577, ISBN 978-0-7643-2346-1, page 406.</ref> departed its forward operating location at [[McCoy AFB]], Florida, and at approximately 12:00&nbsp;pm EDT, the aircraft was struck by a [[S-75 Dvina]] ([[NATO]] designation ''[[SA-2 Guideline]]'') [[Surface-to-air missile|SAM]] missile launched from Cuba. The aircraft was shot down and Anderson was killed. The stress in negotiations between the USSR and the US intensified, and only much later was it learned that the decision to fire the missile was made locally by an undetermined Soviet commander acting on his own authority. Later that day, at about 3:41&nbsp;pm EDT, several US Navy [[F8U Crusader|RF-8A Crusader]] aircraft on low-level [[photoreconnaissance]] missions were fired upon, and one was hit by a 37&nbsp;mm shell but managed to return to base.

At 4:00&nbsp;pm EDT, Kennedy recalled members of EXCOMM to the [[White House]] and ordered that a message immediately be sent to U Thant asking the Soviets to "suspend" work on the missiles while negotiations were carried out. During this meeting, Maxwell Taylor delivered the news that the U-2 had been shot down. Kennedy had earlier claimed he would order an attack on such sites if fired upon, but he decided to not act unless another attack was made. In an interview 40 years later, McNamara said:

{{Block quote| We had to send a U-2 over to gain reconnaissance information on whether the Soviet missiles were becoming operational. We believed that if the U-2 was shot down that—the Cubans didn't have capabilities to shoot it down, the Soviets did—we believed if it was shot down, it would be shot down by a Soviet surface-to-air-missile unit, and that it would represent a decision by the Soviets to escalate the conflict. And therefore, before we sent the U-2 out, we agreed that if it was shot down we wouldn't meet, we'd simply attack. It was shot down on Friday [...]. Fortunately, we changed our mind, we thought "Well, it might have been an accident, we won't attack." Later we learned that Khrushchev had reasoned just as we did: we send over the U-2, if it was shot down, he reasoned we would believe it was an intentional escalation. And therefore, he issued orders to Pliyev, the Soviet commander in Cuba, to instruct all of his batteries not to shoot down the U-2.<ref name=mcnamara group=note>McNamara mistakenly dates the shooting down of USAF Major [[Rudolf Anderson]]'s U-2 on October 26.</ref><ref>{{cite video | people = Robert McNamara | title = Interview included as special feature on [[Dr. Strangelove|Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb]]| medium = DVD | publisher = Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment | year=2004 | origyear=1964 }}</ref> }}

===Drafting the response===

Emissaries sent by both Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev agreed to meet at the Yenching Palace Chinese restaurant in the [[Cleveland Park]] neighborhood of Washington D.C. on the evening of October 27.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/13/AR2007011301272.html|title=At Yenching Palace, Five Decades of History to Go|last=Frey|first=Jennifer |date=January 14, 2007|work=Washington Post|accessdate=December 27, 2008}}</ref> Kennedy suggested that they take Khrushchev's offer to trade away the missiles. Unknown to most members of the EXCOMM, Robert Kennedy had been meeting with the Soviet Ambassador in Washington to discover whether these intentions were genuine. The EXCOMM was generally against the proposal because it would undermine [[NATO]]'s authority, and the Turkish government had repeatedly stated it was against any such trade.

As the meeting progressed, a new plan emerged and Kennedy was slowly persuaded. The new plan called for the President to ignore the latest message and instead to return to Khrushchev's earlier one. Kennedy was initially hesitant, feeling that Khrushchev would no longer accept the deal because a new one had been offered, but [[Llewellyn Thompson]] argued that he might accept it anyway. White House Special Counsel and Adviser [[Ted Sorensen]] and Robert Kennedy left the meeting and returned 45&nbsp;minutes later with a draft letter to this effect. The President made several changes, had it typed, and sent it.

After the EXCOMM meeting, a smaller meeting continued in the [[Oval Office]]. The group argued that the letter should be underscored with an oral message to Ambassador Dobrynin stating that if the missiles were not withdrawn, military action would be used to remove them. Dean Rusk added one proviso, that no part of the language of the deal would mention Turkey, but there would be an understanding that the missiles would be removed "voluntarily" in the immediate aftermath. The President agreed, and the message was sent.

[[File:EXCOMM meeting, Cuban Missile Crisis, 29 October 1962.jpg|left|thumb|An [[EXCOMM]] meeting on October 29, 1962 held in the White House Cabinet Room during the Cuban Missile Crisis. President Kennedy is to the left of the American flag; on his left is Secretary of Defense [[Robert McNamara]] and his right is Secretary of State [[Dean Rusk]].]]

At [[Juan Brito]]{{specify|Not [[Juan Martinez Brito]] or the Dominican player [[Juan Brito]]! Where is this man from, and what position does he helded?|date=December 2011}}'s request, Fomin and Scali met again. Scali asked why the two letters from Khrushchev were so different, and Fomin claimed it was because of "poor communications". Scali replied that the claim was not credible and shouted that he thought it was a "stinking double cross". He went on to claim that an invasion was only hours away, at which point Fomin stated that a response to the US message was expected from Khrushchev shortly, and he urged Scali to tell the State Department that no treachery was intended. Scali said that he did not think anyone would believe him, but he agreed to deliver the message. The two went their separate ways, and Scali immediately typed out a memo for the EXCOMM.{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}}

Within the US establishment, it was well understood that ignoring the second offer and returning to the first put Khrushchev in a terrible position. Military preparations continued, and all active duty Air Force personnel were recalled to their bases for possible action. Robert Kennedy later recalled the mood, "We had not abandoned all hope, but what hope there was now rested with Khrushchev's revising his course within the next few hours. It was a hope, not an expectation. The expectation was military confrontation by Tuesday, and possibly tomorrow..."{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}}

At 8:05&nbsp;pm EDT, the letter drafted earlier in the day was delivered. The message read, "As I read your letter, the key elements of your proposals—which seem generally acceptable as I understand them—are as follows: 1) You would agree to remove these weapons systems from Cuba under appropriate United Nations observation and supervision; and undertake, with suitable safe-guards, to halt the further introduction of such weapon systems into Cuba. 2) We, on our part, would agree—upon the establishment of adequate arrangements through the United Nations, to ensure the carrying out and continuation of these commitments (a) to remove promptly the quarantine measures now in effect and (b) to give assurances against the invasion of Cuba." The letter was also released directly to the press to ensure it could not be "delayed".{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}}

With the letter delivered, a deal was on the table. However, as Robert Kennedy noted, there was little expectation it would be accepted. At 9:00&nbsp;pm EDT, the EXCOMM met again to review the actions for the following day. Plans were drawn up for air strikes on the missile sites as well as other economic targets, notably petroleum storage. McNamara stated that they had to "have two things ready: a government for Cuba, because we're going to need one; and secondly, plans for how to respond to the Soviet Union in Europe, because sure as hell they're going to do something there".{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}}

At 12:12&nbsp;am EDT, on October 27, the US informed its NATO allies that "the situation is growing shorter... the United States may find it necessary within a very short time in its interest and that of its fellow nations in the Western Hemisphere to take whatever military action may be necessary." To add to the concern, at 6&nbsp;am the CIA reported that all missiles in Cuba were ready for action.

Later on that same day, what the White House later called "Black Saturday", the US Navy dropped a series of "signaling [[depth charge]]s" (practice depth charges the size of hand grenades<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB75/|title=The Submarines of October|accessdate=May 1, 2010|publisher= [[George Washington University]], National Security Archive }}</ref>) on a Soviet submarine (''B-59'') at the blockade line, unaware that it was armed with a nuclear-tipped torpedo with orders that allowed it to be used if the submarine was "hulled" (a hole in the hull from depth charges or surface fire).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/cuba_mis_cri/press3.htm|title=The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962: Press Release, 11&nbsp;October 2002, 5:00&nbsp;pm|date=October 11, 2002|publisher= [[George Washington University]], National Security Archive |accessdate=October 26, 2008}}</ref> On the same day, a US U-2 spy plane made an accidental, unauthorized ninety-minute overflight of the Soviet Union's far eastern coast.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.usip.org/files/resources/sr205.pdf|title=Why We Should Still Study the Cuban Missile Crisis |last=Dobbs|first=Michael|authorlink=Michael Dobbs (US author)|date=June 2008|work=Special Report 205|publisher=United States Institute of Peace|accessdate=August 26, 2011}}</ref>

The Soviets scrambled MiG fighters from [[Wrangel Island]] and in response the Americans sent aloft [[F-102 Delta Dagger|F-102]] fighters armed with nuclear air-to-air missiles over the Bering Sea.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/filmnotes/thirteendays4.html|title=The Thirteen Days, October&nbsp;16–28, 1962 |last=Schoenherr|first=Steven |date=April 10, 2006|accessdate=May 3, 2010|archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20070310104929/http%3A//history.sandiego.edu/gen/filmnotes/thirteendays4.html |archivedate = March 10, 2007|deadurl=yes}}</ref>

==Crisis ends==
[[File:Soviet b-59 submarine.jpg|thumb|A US Navy HSS-1 Seabat helicopter hovers over Soviet submarine ''B-59'', forced to the surface by US Naval forces in the Caribbean near Cuba (October 28–29, 1962)]]

On October 27, After much deliberation between the Soviet Union and Kennedy's cabinet, Kennedy secretly agreed to remove all missiles set in southern Italy and in Turkey, the latter on the border of the Soviet Union, in exchange for Khrushchev removing all missiles in Cuba. <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/cuba_mis_cri/moment.htm|title=Anatomy of a Controversy:Anatoly F. Dobrynin's Meeting With Robert F. Kennedy, Saturday, 27 October 1962| THE COLD WAR INTERNATIONAL HISTORY PROJECT BULLETIN|year=Issue 5, Spring 1995|author=Jim Hershberg|accessdate=May 29, 2012}}</ref>

At 9:00&nbsp;am EDT, on October 28, a new message from Khrushchev was broadcast on Radio Moscow. Khrushchev stated that, "the Soviet government, in addition to previously issued instructions on the cessation of further work at the building sites for the weapons, has issued a new order on the dismantling of the weapons which you describe as 'offensive' and their crating and return to the Soviet Union."

Kennedy immediately responded, issuing a statement calling the letter "an important and constructive contribution to peace". He continued this with a formal letter: "I consider my letter to you of October twenty-seventh and your reply of today as firm undertakings on the part of both our governments which should be promptly carried out... The US will make a statement in the framework of the Security Council in reference to Cuba as follows: it will declare that the United States of America will respect the inviolability of Cuban borders, its sovereignty, that it take the pledge not to interfere in internal affairs, not to intrude themselves and not to permit our territory to be used as a bridgehead for the invasion of Cuba, and will restrain those who would plan to carry an aggression against Cuba, either from US territory or from the territory of other countries neighboring to Cuba."<ref name=Faria>{{cite book|last=Faria |first=Miguel A.|title=Cuba in Revolution: Escape from a Lost Paradise|year=2002 |publisher= Hacienda Pub|location=Macon, GA| isbn=978-0-9641077-3-1}}</ref>{{rp|103}}

The U.S continued the blockade, and in the following days, aerial reconnaissance proved that the Soviets were making progress in removing the missile systems. The 42 missiles and their support equipment were loaded onto eight Soviet ships. The ships left Cuba from November 5–9. The US made a final visual check as each of the ships passed the blockade line. Further diplomatic efforts were required to remove the Soviet IL-28 bombers, and they were loaded on three Soviet ships on December 5 and 6. Concurrent with the Soviet commitment on the IL-28's, the US Government announced the end of the blockade effective at 6:45&nbsp;pm EDT on November 20, 1962.<ref name=global>{{cite web|url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/cuba-62.htm|title=Cuban Missile Crisis|publisher=Global Security|accessdate=May 6, 2010}}</ref> <!-- This ref. mistakenly has a typo claiming Nov. 20, 1963 is the date of end of quarantine instead of 1962, as the 4-wk. quarantine period would encompass, and not into 1963 -->

In his negotiations with the Soviet Ambassador [[Anatoly Dobrynin]], US Attorney General [[Robert Kennedy]] informally proposed that the [[PGM-19 Jupiter|Jupiter]] missiles in [[Turkey]] would be removed "within a short time after this crisis was over."<ref>{{cite book | last=Glover |first=Jonathan |title=Humanity: a moral history of the twentieth century |url=http://books.google.com/?id=xtqFJVhmuowC |accessdate=July 2, 2009 |year=2000 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-08700-0 |page=464 }}</ref>{{rp|222}} The last US missiles were disassembled by April 24, 1963, and were flown out of Turkey soon after.<ref>{{cite book |last=Schlesinger |first=Arthur |title=Robert Kennedy and his times |url=http://books.google.com/?id=0xqrU5lnD7AC&pg=PA528&dq=robert+kennedy+ambassador++cuban+missile |accessdate=July 2, 2009 |year=2002 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |isbn=978-0-618-21928-5 |page=1088 }}</ref>

The practical effect of this Kennedy-Khrushchev Pact was that it effectively strengthened Castro's position in Cuba, guaranteeing that the US would not invade Cuba. It is possible that Khrushchev only placed the missiles in Cuba to get Kennedy to remove the missiles from Italy and Turkey and that the Soviets had no intention of resorting to nuclear war if they were out-gunned by the Americans.<ref>{{cite web|last=Garthoff|first=Raymond L.|title=Did Khrushchev Bluff in Cuba? No|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=sAYAAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA40&dq=Khrushchev%20only%20placed%20the%20missiles%20in%20Cuba%20to%20get%20Kennedy%20to%20remove%20the%20missiles%20from%20Italy%20and%20Turkey&pg=PA40#v=onepage&q&f=false|work=Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists|accessdate=January 25, 2011|pages=40–43|date=July 1988}}</ref> Because the withdrawal of the Jupiter missiles from NATO bases in Southern Italy and Turkey was not made public at the time, Khrushchev appeared to have lost the conflict and become weakened. The perception was that Kennedy had won the contest between the superpowers and Khrushchev had been humiliated. This is not entirely the case as both Kennedy and Khrushchev took every step to avoid full conflict despite the pressures of their governments. Khrushchev held power for another two years.<ref name=Faria/>{{rp|102–105}}

===Aftermath===
[[File:Jupiter IRBM.jpg|thumb|The [[PGM-19 Jupiter|Jupiter]] intermediate-range ballistic missile. The US secretly agreed to withdraw these missiles from Italy and Turkey.]]
The compromise was a particularly sharp embarrassment for Khrushchev and the Soviet Union because the withdrawal of US missiles from Italy and Turkey was not made public at that time—it was a secret deal between Kennedy and Khrushchev. The Soviets were seen as retreating from circumstances that they had started—though if played well, it could have looked just the opposite. Khrushchev's fall from power two years later can be partially linked to [[Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Politburo]] embarrassment at both Khrushchev's eventual concessions to the US and his ineptitude in precipitating the crisis in the first place. Taubman (2004) reports that, according to Dobrynin, the top Soviet leadership took the Cuban outcome as "a blow to its prestige bordering on humiliation".<ref>William Taubman, ''Khrushchev: the man and his era'' (2004) p. 579.</ref>

Cuba perceived it as a partial betrayal by the Soviets, given that decisions on how to resolve the crisis had been made exclusively by Kennedy and Khrushchev. Castro was especially upset that certain issues of interest to Cuba, such as the status of Guantanamo, were not addressed. This caused Cuban-Soviet relations to deteriorate for years to come.<ref name=Ramonet>{{cite book|first=Ramonet|last=Ignacio |title=Fidel Castro: My Life |publisher=Penguin Books |year=2007|isbn=978-0-14-102626-8}}</ref>{{rp|278}} On the other hand, Cuba continued to be protected from invasion.

Although General [[Curtis LeMay]] told the President that he considered the resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis the "greatest defeat in our history", his was a distinctly minority position.<ref name="axelrod2009"/>{{rp|335}} LeMay had pressed for an immediate invasion of Cuba as soon as the crisis began, and he still favoured invading Cuba even after the Soviets had withdrawn their missiles.<ref>http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/airforce/p/lemay.htm</ref>

The Cuban Missile Crisis spurred the [[Hotline Agreement]], which created the [[Moscow–Washington hotline]], a direct communications link between Moscow and Washington, D.C. The purpose was to have a way that the leaders of the two Cold War countries could communicate directly to solve such a crisis. The world-wide US Forces DEFCON 3 status was returned to DEFCON 4 on November 20, 1962. U-2 pilot Major Anderson's body was returned to the United States and he was buried with full military honors in South Carolina. He was the first recipient of the newly-created [[Air Force Cross (United States)|Air Force Cross]], which was awarded posthumously.

Although Anderson was the only combat fatality during the crisis, eleven crew members of three reconnaissance Boeing [[RB-47 Stratojet]]s of the 55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing were also killed in crashes during the period between September 27 and November 11, 1962.<ref>Lloyd, Alwyn T., "Boeing's B-47 Stratojet", Specialty Press, North Branch, Minnesota, 2005, ISBN 978-1-58007-071-3, page 178.</ref> Further, seven crew died when a [[Military Air Transport Service|MATS]] Boeing [[Boeing C-135 Stratolifter|C-135B Stratolifter]] delivering ammunition to [[Guantanamo Bay Naval Base]] stalled and crashed on approach on October 23.<ref>http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19621023-1</ref>

Critics including Seymour Melman<ref>{{cite book |first=Seymour |last=Melman |title=The Demilitarized Society: Disarmament and Conversion |publisher=Harvest House |year=1988|authorlink=Seymour Melman |location=Montreal}}</ref> and Seymour Hersh<ref>{{cite book|first=Seymour |last=Hersh |title= The Dark Side of Camelot |year=1978|authorlink=Seymour Hersh}}</ref> suggested that the Cuban Missile Crisis encouraged US use of military means, such as in the [[Vietnam War]]. This Soviet-American confrontation was synchronous with the [[Sino-Indian War]], dating from the US's military blockade of Cuba; historians{{Who|date=May 2010}} speculate that the Chinese attack against India for disputed land was meant to coincide with the Cuban Missile Crisis.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://journal.frontierindia.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=section&id=7&Itemid=53 |title=Frontier India India-China Section| quote= Note alleged connections to Cuban Missile Crisis|archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20070928115849/http%3A//journal.frontierindia.com/index.php%3Foption%3Dcom_content%26task%3Dsection%26id%3D7%26Itemid%3D53 |archivedate = September 28, 2007|deadurl=yes}}</ref>


===Post-crisis history===
[[Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.]], a historian and adviser to John F. Kennedy, told [[National Public Radio]] in an interview on October 16, 2002 that Castro did not want the missiles, but that Khrushchev had pressured Castro to accept them. Castro was not completely happy with the idea but the Cuban National Directorate of the Revolution accepted them to protect Cuba against US attack, and to aid its ally, the Soviet Union.<ref name=Ramonet/>{{rp|272}} Schlesinger believed that when the missiles were withdrawn, Castro was angrier with Khrushchev than he was with Kennedy because Khrushchev had not consulted Castro before deciding to remove them.<ref name=castro group=note>In his biography, Castro does not compare his feelings for either leader at that moment, however, he makes it clear that he was angry with Khrushchev for failing to consult with him. (Ramonet 1978)</ref>

In early 1992, it was confirmed that Soviet forces in Cuba had, by the time the crisis broke, received tactical nuclear warheads for their [[rocket artillery|artillery rockets]] and [[Ilyushin Il-28|Il-28 bombers]].<ref name="aca">{{cite web |url=http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2002_11/cubanmissile.asp |title=Arms Control Association: Arms Control Today}}</ref> Castro stated that he would have recommended their use if the US invaded despite knowing Cuba would be destroyed.<ref name="aca"/>

Arguably the most dangerous moment in the crisis was only recognized during the Cuban Missile Crisis Havana conference in October 2002. Attended by many of the veterans of the crisis, they all learned that on October 26, 1962 the [[USS Beale (DD-471)|USS ''Beale'']] had tracked and dropped signaling depth charges (the size of hand grenades) on the ''B-59'', a Soviet Project 641 (NATO designation ''[[Foxtrot class submarine|Foxtrot]]'') submarine which, unknown to the US, was armed with a 15 kiloton nuclear torpedo. Running out of air, the Soviet submarine was surrounded by American warships and desperately needed to surface. An argument broke out among three officers on the ''B-59'', including submarine captain Valentin Savitsky, political officer Ivan Semonovich Maslennikov, and Deputy brigade commander Captain 2nd rank (US Navy Commander rank equivalent) [[Vasili Arkhipov]]. An exhausted Savitsky became furious and ordered that the nuclear torpedo on board be made combat ready. Accounts differ about whether Commander Arkhipov convinced Savitsky not to make the attack, or whether Savitsky himself finally concluded that the only reasonable choice left open to him was to come to the surface.<ref>{{cite book |last=Dobbs |first=Michael |authorlink=Michael Dobbs (US author)|title=One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|location=New York|year=2008|isbn=978-1-4000-4358-3}}</ref>{{rp|303, 317}} During the conference Robert McNamara stated that nuclear war had come much closer than people had thought. Thomas Blanton, director of the National Security Archive, said, "A guy called Vasili Arkhipov saved the world."

The crisis was a substantial focus of the 2003 documentary, ''[[The Fog of War]]'', which won the [[Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature]].

==See also==
{{Portal|Cold War|Cuba}}
* [[Bomber gap]]
* [[Cuba – Soviet Union relations]]
* [[Dino Brugioni]]
* [[International crisis]]
* [[Norwegian rocket incident]]
* [[Stanislav Petrov]]

===Media===
(listed chronologically)
* [[Thirteen Days (book)|''Thirteen Days'' (book)]], Robert F. Kennedy's account of the crisis, released in 1969
* ''[[The Missiles of October]]'', 1974 TV docudrama about the crisis
* ''[[The World Next Door]]'', 1990 novel by Brad Ferguson, set in this period
* ''[[Quantum Leap]]'',1991 TV Show, (Season 3 Episode, Nuclear Family - October 26, 1962), Sam must deal with the panic associated with the Cuban Missile Crisis as a Florida fallout shelter salesman.
* {{Internet Archive short film|id=gov.ntis.PB94780186|name=CIA Symposium on Intelligence and the Cuban Missle Crisis 1962 (1992)}}
* [[Blast from the Past (film)|''Blast from the Past'' (film)]], 1999 American romantic comedy film, set in this period
* ''[[Resurrection Day]]'', 1999 alternate history novel written by Brendan DuBois, set in this period
* [[Thirteen Days (film)|''Thirteen Days'' (film)]], 2000 docudrama directed by Roger Donaldson about the crisis
* ''[[The Fog of War]]'', 2003 American documentary film about the life and times of former US Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara
*''[[Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater]]'', 2004 video game directed by Hideo Kojima, features a fictional conflict inspired by the Cuban Missile Crisis.
* "Meditations in an Emergency", the last episode of [[Mad Men (season 2)|season 2 of the television series ''Mad Men'']] takes place during the crisis
* ''[[Call of Duty: Black Ops]]'', 2010 video game, set during and after the Cuban Missile Crisis.
* [[The Kennedys (TV miniseries)|''The Kennedys'' (TV miniseries)]], 2011 production chronicling the lives of the Kennedy family, including a dramatization of the crisis
* ''[[X-Men: First Class]]'', 2011 superhero film set during the Cuban Missile Crisis

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=note|colwidth=30em}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Additional reading==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book|last=Chayes|first=Abram|authorlink=Abram Chayes|title=The Cuban Missile Crisis|series=International crises and the role of law|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=London|year= 1974|isbn=978-0-19-825320-4}}
* {{cite book|last=Diez Acosta |first=Tomás|authorlink=Tomás Diez Acosta|title=October 1962: The "Missile" Crisis As Seen from Cuba|publisher=Pathfinder|location=New York|year=2002|isbn=978-0-87348-956-0}}
* {{cite book|last=Divine |first= Robert A.| title=The Cuban Missile Crisis|location=New York|publisher=M. Wiener Pub|year=1988|isbn=978-0-910129-15-2}}
* {{cite book|last=Feklisov|first=Aleksandr|authorlink=Alexander Feklisov |coauthors=Kostin, Sergueï| title=The Man Behind the Rosenbergs: By the KGB Spymaster Who Was the Case Officer of Julius Rosenberg, Klaus Fuchs, and Helped Resolve the Cuban Missile Crisis |publisher=Enigma Books|location=New York|year= 2001|isbn=978-1-929631-08-7}}
* {{cite book|last=Frankel |first= Max|authorlink=Max Frankel|title=High Noon in the Cold War: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and the Cuban Missile Crisis |publisher= Ballantine Books|location=New York|year=2004|isbn=978-0-345-46505-4}}
* {{cite book|last=Fursenko |first= Aleksandr |coauthors= Naftali, Timothy J.| title=One Hell of a Gamble: Khrushchev, Castro, and Kennedy, 1958–1964 |publisher=Norton|location=New York|year=1998|isbn=978-0-393-31790-9}}
* {{cite journal|last=Fursenko |first= Aleksandr |url=http://www.usnwc.edu/getattachment/022a95fa-5ac0-40ad-8fe6-d332b30b5a3e/Night-Session-of-the-Presidium-of-the-Central-Comm| title=Night Session of the Presidium of the Central Committee, 22–23 October 1962|journal= [[Naval War College Review]]|volume=59|date=Summer 2006|issue=3}}
* {{cite book|last=George|first=Alice L.|title=Awaiting Armageddon: How Americans Faced the Cuban Missile Crisis |year=2003 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press|location=Chapel Hill|isbn=978-0-8078-2828-1}}
* {{cite book|last=Gonzalez|first= Servando|title=The Nuclear Deception: Nikita Khrushchev and the Cuban Missile Crisis|publisher= Spooks Books |location=Oakland, CA|year=2002 |isbn=978-0-9711391-5-2}}
* {{cite journal|last=Khrushchev|first=Sergei|authorlink=Sergei Khrushchev|title=How My Father And President Kennedy Saved The World|journal=[[American Heritage (magazine)|American Heritage]]|month=October|year=2002|volume=53|issue=5|url=http://www.americanheritage.com/content/how-my-father-and-president-kenedy-saved-world}}
* {{cite book|last=Polmar|first= Norman|coauthors=Gresham, John D.|others=Foreword by [[Tom Clancy]]| title=DEFCON-2: Standing on the Brink of Nuclear War During the Cuban Missile Crisis|publisher=Wiley |location=Hoboken, NJ|year=2006|isbn=978-0-471-67022-3}}
* {{cite book|last=Pope|first= Ronald R.|title=Soviet Views on the Cuban Missile Crisis: Myth and Reality in Foreign Policy Analysis|publisher=Univ. Press of America|location=Washington, DC|year=1982|isbn=978-0-8191-2584-2}}
* {{cite journal|last=Pressman|first=Jeremy|title=September Statements, October Missiles, November Elections: Domestic Politics, Foreign-Policy Making, and the Cuban Missile Crisis|journal=[[Security Studies (journal)|Security Studies]]|volume= 10|year=2001|pages=80–114|issue= 3|doi=10.1080/09636410108429438}}
* {{cite book |title= Unarmed Victory|last=Russell|first= Bertrand |authorlink= Bertrand Russell|year= 1963|publisher= Allen & Unwin|location=London |isbn= 0-04-327024-7}}
* {{cite book|last=Stern|first= Sheldon M.|title=Averting 'the Final Failure': John F. Kennedy and the Secret Cuban Missile Crisis Meetings|series=Stanford nuclear age series|publisher=Stanford University Press|location=Stanford, Calif|year=2003|url=http://www.sup.org/book.cgi?id=5073|isbn= 978-0-8047-4846-9}}
* {{cite book|last=Stern|first=Sheldon M.|title=The Week the World Stood Still: Inside the Secret Cuban Missile Crisis|series=Stanford nuclear age series|publisher=Stanford University Press|location=Stanford, Calif|year=2005|url=http://www.sup.org/book.cgi?id=7994|isbn=978-0-8047-5077-6}}
* {{cite book|last=Trahair |first= Richard C. S.|coauthors=Miller, Robert L.|title=Encyclopedia of Cold War Espionage, Spies, and Secret Operations|publisher=Enigma Books|location=New York|year=2009|isbn=978-1-929631-75-9}}
{{refend}}
* {{cite book|last = Allison |first= Graham|coauthor=Zelikow, Philip|title=Essence of Decision, Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis|publisher=Addison Wesley Longman|location=New York|year=1999|isbn=0-321-01349-2}}

===Historiography===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Allison|first1=Graham T.|authorlink=Graham T. Allison|year=1969|month=September |title= Conceptual Models and the Cuban Missile Crisis|journal= [[American Political Science Review]]|volume= 63|issue= 3|pages= 689–718|jstor= 1954423}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Garthoff|first1=Raymond L.|authorlink=Raymond L. Garthoff|date= Spring 2004|title= Foreign Intelligence and the Historiography of the Cold War|journal= [[Journal of Cold War Studies]]|volume= 6|issue= 2|pages= 21–56 |publisher= [[Project MUSE]]|issn= 1520-3972}}
* {{cite journal |last1= Jones|first1= John A.|last2= Jones|first2= Virginia H.|date=Spring 2005|title= Through the Eye of the Needle: Five Perspectives on the Cuban Missile Crisis|journal=Rhetoric & Public Affairs|volume= 8|issue= 1|pages=133–144 |publisher= [[Project MUSE]]|doi= 10.1353/rap.2005.0044}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Lebow|first1= Richard Ned|authorlink=Richard Ned Lebow|year=1990|month=October|title= Domestic Politics and the Cuban Missile Crisis: The Traditional and Revisionist Interpretations Reevaluated|journal= Diplomatic History|volume= 14|issue= 4|pages= 471–492|doi=10.1111/j.1467-7709.1990.tb00103.x}}
{{refend}}

===Primary sources===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |title= The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962: A National Security Archive Documents Reader |editor1-last=Chang |editor1-first= Laurence |editor2-last= Kornbluh |editor2-first=Peter |year= 1998 |edition=2nd |publisher= New Press|location= New York|isbn= 978-1-56584-474-2|url=http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/cuba_mis_cri/declass.htm|chapter=Introduction}}
* {{cite web|title=Cuban Missile Crisis|url=http://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/JFK-in-History/Cuban-Missile-Crisis.aspx|work=JFK in History|publisher=[[John F. Kennedy Library]]}}
* {{cite web|title=Cuban Missile Crisis 1962|url=http://whitehousetapes.net/foreign-policy/cuba/cuban-missile-crisis-1962|work=Presidential Recordings Program|publisher=[[Miller Center of Public Affairs]], [[University of Virginia]]}}
* {{cite web|title=Cuban Missile Crisis|url=http://legacy.wilsoncenter.org/va2/index.cfm?topic_id=1409&fuseaction=HOME.browse&sort=Collection&item=Cuban%20Missile%20Crisis Cold War International History Project: Virtual Archive 2.0|publisher=[[Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars]]}}
* {{cite book |title= Cuban Missile Crisis and Aftermath |editor1-last=Keefer |editor1-first=Edward C. |editor2-last=Sampson |editor2-first=Charles S. |editor3-last=Smith |editor3-first= Louis J. |series= Foreign relations of the United States, 1961–1963|volume=XI|year= 1996|publisher= U.S. Government Printing Office|location= Washington, D.C|isbn= 0-16-045210-4|url= http://www.state.gov/www/about_state/history/frusXI/index.html}}
* {{cite book|last=Kennedy |first=Robert F.| title=[[Thirteen Days (book)|Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis]]|year=1969 |publisher=W. W. Norton |location=New York|isbn=978-0-393-31834-0}}
* {{cite book |title= The Kennedy Tapes: Inside the White House During the Cuban Missile Crisis |edition=2nd | editor1-last=May |editor1-first=Ernest R. |editor2-last=Zelikow |editor2-first= Philip D. |year= 2002 |origyear=1997 |publisher= Norton |location= New York |isbn= 978-0-393-32259-0 |url= http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/cuba_mis_cri/audio.htm}}
* {{cite web|editor1-first= Mary S.|editor1-last=McAuliffe|title=CIA Documents on the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962 |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/Cuban%20Missile%20Crisis1962.pdf |work=Historical Review Program|publisher=[[Central Intelligence Agency]]|location=Washington, DC|month=October |year=1992}}
* {{cite web|title=The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962: The 40th Anniversary |url=http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/cuba_mis_cri/index.htm|work=National Security Archive: Special Exhibits|publisher=The George Washington University|location=Gelman Library}}
* {{cite web|title=The World On the Brink: John F. Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis|url=http://microsites.jfklibrary.org/cmc/|work=Interactive Exhibits|publisher=John F. Kennedy Library}}
{{refend}}

===Lesson plans===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite web|url=http://future.state.gov/educators/slideshow/cuba.html| title=Cuban Missile Crisis|work=Slideshows for Educators |publisher=Bureau of Public Affairs, US Department of State}}
* {{cite web|last=Moser|first=John|title=The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962: 'The Missiles of October'|url=http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/missiles-october-cuban-missile-crisis-1962|work=EDSITEment: Lesson Plans|publisher=National Endowment for the Humanities|coauthors=Hahn, Lori|date=July 15, 2010}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons|Cuban missile crisis}}
* {{flickr|photos/martintrolle/sets/72157621696357587/with/3683916412|Cuban Missile Crisis: Операция Анадырь (Operation Anadyr)}}
*[http://repository.library.georgetown.edu/handle/10822/552532 Cuban Missile Crisis and the Fallout] from the [http://repository.library.georgetown.edu/handle/10822/552494 Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives]
* {{cite web|title=Cuban Missile Crisis|url=http://www.history.com/topics/cuban-missile-crisis|work=Topics|publisher=[[History (TV channel)]] |year=2011}}
* {{cite web|title=Cuban Missile Crisis|url=http://www.nuclearfiles.org/menu/key-issues/nuclear-weapons/history/cold-war/cuban-missile-crisis/index.htm|work=Nuclear Weapons History: Cold War|publisher=[[Nuclear Age Peace Foundation]]}}
* {{cite web|title=Cuban Missile Crisis Bibliography|url=http://alsos.wlu.edu/adv_rst.aspx?keyword=Cuban*Missile*Crisis&results=10|publisher=[[Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues]]}}
* [http://www.usarmygermany.com/Units/HqUSAREUR/USAREUR_HqUSAREUR%201.htm October 1962: DEFCON 4, DEFCON 3]
* [http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/COLDcubanmissile.htm Spartacus Educational(UK): ''Cuban Missile Crisis'']
* [http://www.ussmullinnix.org/1962Cruise.html Latin American Task Force]
* [http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/06/what_the_president_didnt_know.html What the President didn't know]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/radio4_aod.shtml?radio4/document Document-''Britain's Cuban'']
* [http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=65071 The Cuban Missile War]: an alternate history timeline
* [http://www.october1962.com/ No Time to Talk: The Cuban Missile Crisis]
* [http://www.airforce.ru/history/cold_war/cuba/index_en.htm The 32nd Guards Air Fighter Regiment in Cuba (1962–1963)] S.Isaev.
* {{Internet Archive short film|id=gov.ntis.PB94780186|name=Symposium on Intelligence and the Cuban Missile Crisis 1962 (1992)}}
*[http://www.wilsoncenter.org/nuclear-history-documents The Woodrow Wilson Center's Nuclear Proliferation International History Project] or NPIHP has a collection of primary source archival documents on the Cuban Missile Crisis.

{{Cold War}}
{{Cuba-United States relations}}
{{United States intervention in Latin America}}

[[Category:1962 in Cuba]]
[[Category:1962 in international relations]]
[[Category:1962 in the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:1962 in the United States]]
[[Category:Blockades]]
[[Category:Cold War military history of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1962]]
[[Category:Cuba–Soviet Union relations]]
[[Category:Cuba–United States relations]]
[[Category:Cuban Revolution]]
[[Category:Fidel Castro]]
[[Category:History of Key West, Florida]]
[[Category:Nikita Khrushchev]]
[[Category:Nuclear history of the United States]]
[[Category:Presidency of John F. Kennedy]]
[[Category:Soviet Union–United States relations]]
[[Category:Cuban Missile Crisis| ]]

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[[te:క్యూబా క్షిపణి సంక్షోభం]]
[[th:วิกฤตการณ์ขีปนาวุธคิวบา]]
[[tr:Küba Füze Krizi]]
[[uk:Карибська криза]]
[[vi:Khủng hoảng tên lửa Cuba]]
[[war:Krisis han Misiles ha Cuba]]
[[zh:古巴导弹危机]]

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