The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis (of 1962) (Spanish: Crisis de Octubre) in Cuba, the Caribbean Crisis (Russian: Карибский кризис, tr. Karibsky krizis, IPA: [kɐˈrʲipskʲɪj ˈkrʲizʲɪs]) in Russia, or the Missile Scare, was a 13-day (October 16 – October 29, 1962) confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union, which escalated into an international crisis when American deployments of missiles in Italy and Turkey were matched by Soviet deployments of similar ballistic missiles in Cuba. Despite the short time frame, the Cuban Missile Crisis remains a defining moment in American national security and nuclear war preparation. The confrontation is often considered the closest the Cold War came to escalating into a full-scale conflict, nuclear war.
Fifteen US-built PGM-19 Jupiter missiles, with the capability to strike Moscow with nuclear warheads, were deployed in Turkey in 1961.[citation needed][/caption]Fifteen US-built PGM-19 Jupiter missiles, with the capability to strike Moscow with nuclear warheads, were deployed in Turkey in 1961.[citation needed][/caption]In 1961, the US government put Jupiter nuclear missiles in Italy and Turkey. It had also trained a paramilitary force of Cuban exiles, which the CIA led in an attempt to invade Cuba and overthrow the Cuban government. Starting in November of that year, the US government engaged in a campaign of terrorism and sabotage in Cuba, referred to as the Cuban Project, which continued throughout the first half of the 1960s. The Soviet administration was concerned about a Cuban drift towards China, with which the Soviets had an increasingly fractious relationship. In response to these factors, Soviet First Secretary, Nikita Khrushchev, agreed with the Cuban Prime Minister, Fidel Castro, to place nuclear missiles on the island of Cuba to deter a future invasion. An agreement was reached during a secret meeting between Khrushchev and Castro in July 1962, and construction of a number of missile launch facilities started later that summer.
During the campaigning for the 1962 United States elections, the White House denied the charges for months and ignored the presence of Soviet missiles positioned approximately 90 mi (140 km) away from Florida. Later, the missile preparations were confirmed when a US Air Force U-2 spy plane produced clear photographic evidence of medium-range R-12 (NATO code name SS-4) and intermediate-range R-14 (NATO code name SS-5) ballistic missile facilities.
When this was reported to President John F. Kennedy, he then convened a meeting of the nine members of the National Security Council and five other key advisers, in a group that became known as the Executive Committee of the National Security Council (EXCOMM). During this meeting, President Kennedy was originally advised to carry out an air strike on Cuban soil in order to compromise Soviet missile supplies, followed by an invasion of the Cuban mainland. After careful consideration, President Kennedy chose a less aggressive course of action, in order to avoid a declaration of war. After consultation with EXCOMM, Kennedy ordered a naval “quarantine” on October 22 to prevent further missiles from reaching Cuba.[5] By using the term “quarantine”, rather than “blockade” (an act of war by legal definition), the United States was able to avoid the implications of a state of war.[6] The US announced it would not permit offensive weapons to be delivered to Cuba and demanded that the weapons already in Cuba be dismantled and returned to the Soviet Union.
After several days of tense negotiations, an agreement was reached between Kennedy and 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 to not invade Cuba again. Secretly, the United States agreed with the Soviets that it would dismantle all of the Jupiter MRBMs which had been deployed to Turkey against the Soviet Union. There has been debate on whether or not Italy was included in the agreement as well. While the Soviets dismantled their missiles, some Soviet bombers remained in Cuba, and the United States kept the naval quarantine in place until November 20, 1962.[6]
When all offensive missiles and the Ilyushin Il-28 light bombers had been withdrawn from Cuba, the blockade was formally ended on November 20. The negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union pointed out the necessity of a quick, clear, and direct communication line between the two superpowers. As a result, the Moscow–Washington hotline was established. A series of agreements later reduced US–Soviet tensions for several years, until both parties eventually resumed expanding their nuclear arsenals.
The compromise embarrassed Khrushchev and the Soviet Union because the withdrawal of US missiles from Italy and Turkey was a secret deal between Kennedy and Khrushchev, and the Soviets were seen as retreating from circumstances that they had started. Khrushchev’s fall from power two years later was in part because of the Soviet Politburo’s embarrassment at both Khrushchev’s eventual concessions to the US and his ineptitude in precipitating the crisis in the first place. According to Dobrynin, the top Soviet leadership took the Cuban outcome as “a blow to its prestige bordering on humiliation”.
View of Jupiter missile sites 1 and 2 at at Gioia del Colle Air Base in Italy on April 15, 1960. According to the caption, the photo depicts “refresher training of Italian air force crews, with Jupiter missiles in background.” At the base, the U.S. deployed two squadrons, a total of 30 missiles, which became operational during April-July 1961. (Photo from U.S. National Archives Still Pictures Branch, Record Group 342B, box 1463)Jupiter intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) at Çiğli Air Base in Turkey, 1963. A squadron of 15 Jupiters became operational there in March 1962. (Photo courtesy of the late Lewis Mills)Fifteen US-built PGM-19 Jupiter missiles, with the capability to strike Moscow with nuclear warheads, were deployed in Turkey in 1961.[citation needed]The nuclear-armed Jupiter intermediate-range ballistic missile. The US secretly agreed to withdraw the missiles from Italy and Turkey.Close up of one of the Jupiter Intermediate-range ballistic missiles deployed at Cigli Air Base, Turkey, during 1961-1963. The “skirt” or “flower petal shelter” enclosing the bottom of the missile enabled the crew to work during bad weather. The “skirt” would unfold prior to launch. Inside the circular insignia is a mushroom cloud, not visible in this picture (Picture from Still Pictures Division, National Archives, College Park, courtesy of Phillip Nash, Pennsylvania State University).Incirlik Air Base, 1955. Originally named Adana Air Base, it was begun as a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project in the early 1950s. By 1952, the U.S. had plans to store 100,000 barrels of oil at Adana that could be used to fuel post-strike operations against the Soviet Union by U.S. bomber forces. In 1954, the U.S. and the Turkish Air Forces signed a joint-use agreement for the base, which was renamed Incirlik in 1958. (Still Picture Division, National Archives, RG 342-B, box 1504). The U.S. Army deployed nuclear-capable Honest John missiles in Turkey from 1959 until the early 1990s. This photo shows members of the 1st Battalion, 20th Field Artillery Regiment, preparing to fire a missile at Yakima Washington Firing Center during 1967. (Still Picture Division, National Archives, RG 111-CCS, box 69).A 31st Wing tactical fighter wing maintenance crew at work on a nuclear-capable F-100 fighter-bomber at Incirlik Air Base, Adana Turkey, during a “Quick Span” Tactical Air Command Friendship exercise, February 1960. (Still Picture Division, National Archives, RG 342-B, box 1505).The Italians played a major role in managing the Jupiter deployment. The missiles were subject to a two-key launch control system, with U.S. and Italian launch officers each carrying one of the keys. This photo depicts a training lesson for members of the 36th Italian Air Brigade at Gioia del Colle. On the board next to the instructor are renditions of the Jupiter and its Ground Support Equipment in the launch position. (Source: Antonio Mariani, La 36ª aerobrigata interdizione strategica. Il contributo italiano alla guerra fredda, Roma, Edizioni Rivista Aeronautica, 2022, 45.CIA reference photograph of Soviet medium-range ballistic missile (SS-4 in U.S. documents, R-12 in Soviet documents) in Red Square, Moscow.A Soviet R12 medium range ballistic missile deployed during the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. Newly translated accounts show how a Russian B-59 submarine commander came close to launching a nuclear torpedo.One of the first U-2 reconnaissance images of missile bases under construction shown to President Kennedy on the morning of October 16, 1962An aerial view of one of the Cuban medium-range missile bases, taken October 1962WASHINGTON - OCTOBER 1962: A spy photo of a medium range ballistic missile base in San Cristobal, Cuba, with labels detailing various parts of the base, is shown October 1962. Former Russian and U.S. officials attending a conference commemorating the 40th anniversary of the missile crisis October 2002 in Cuba said that the world was closer to a nuclear conflict during the 1962 standoff between Cuba and the U.S., than governments were aware of. A low-altitude reconnaissance photograph shows a nuclear warhead bunker under construction in Cuba. National ArchivesOctober 27, 1962: Cuban anti-aircraft gunners open fire on low-level reconnaissance planes over San Cristobal site no. 1 (a Soviet SA-2 missile shoots down Maj. Rudolf Anderson’s U-2 on this day).Early November 1962: Low-level photography captures convoy of Soviet trucks driving onto dock at north Mariel port to begin loading process.U.S. Air Force reconnaissance planes overflew the Banes site on October 26, 1962, and photographed Soviet SAM missiles in launching position.U.S. Air Force reconnaissance planes overflew the Banes site on October 26, 1962, and photographed Soviet SAM missiles in launching position.Soviet FKR cruise missile deployed in Cuba.Major Rudolph Anderson, Jr. was shot down and killed over Cuba during the October 1962 crisis. He was flying a U-2 from McCoy AFB, Fl., and was brought down by a Soviet SA-2 missile. Anderson was posthumously awarded the first Air Force Cross, which had been created in 1960. Anderson and other Strategic Air Command and Tactical Air Command pilots provided pictures that gave U.S. leaders crucial information and proved to the world that offensive nuclear missiles were being placed in Cuba. (U.S. Air Force photo)The coffin of Major Rudolf Anderson Jr, the sole casualty of the Cuban missile crisis, is lifted on to a Swiss plane at Havana's airport on 6 November 1962. Major Anderson's U-2 spy plane was shot down by a Soviet-supplied SA-2 missile, on 27 October 1962 over Cuba
A US Navy P-2H Neptune of VP-18 flying over a Soviet cargo ship with crated Il-28s on deck during the Cuban CrisisA US destroyer stops a soviet cargo coming from Cubain order to check the freight, on November 12, 1962, during the Cuban missiles crisis. A US destroyer stops a soviet cargo coming from Cubain order to check the freight, on November 12, 1962, during the Cuban missiles crisis. - The Cuban missile crisis and its aftermath was the most serious U.S.-Soviet confrontation of the Cold War.
On October 15, 1962, the US army discovered several Soviet nuclear missile ramps on the island of Cuba. President Kennedy then orders the maritime blockade of the island. After several days of negotiations between Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev, first secretary of the CPSU, during which the world lives under the threat of nuclear war, the USSR retreats.
After coming close to nuclear disaster, the two great powers decide to set up the hotline. A US Navy HSS-1 Seabat helicopter hovers over Soviet submarine B-59, driven to the surface by US Naval forces in the Caribbean near Cuba (October 28 or 29, 1962).An aerial picture taken 9 November 1962 off the Cuban coast of the Soviet freighter Anosov carrying missiles in accordance with the US-Soviet agreement on the withdrawal of the Russian missiles from Cuba. American planes and helicopters flew at low level to keep close check on the dismantling and loading operations, while US warships watch over Soviet freighters carrying missiles back to the Soviet UnionA Soviet freighter is photographed just after leaving Cuba to return home. Naval History & Heritage CommandAdlai Stevenson shows aerial photos of Cuban missiles to the United Nations, October 25, 1962.Captain Maultsby's U-2 plane, serial number 56-715 was lost off Alaska. It had taken the Strategic Air Command, or SAC, 90 minutes to report the missing plane to Washington. With Soviet and American armed forces on the highest alert across the globe.U.S. Air Force Captain Charles Maultsby.An Air Force photo with the following caption: "Jupiter, Deactivation, Missile Site… When: 1963. Where: Gioia del Colle, Italy. What: warhead is detached from missile and placed in container ... Why: Pot Pie I - Removal of Jupiter missiles from Italy."President Kennedy meets in the Oval Office with Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko, October 18, 1962.
President Kennedy meets in the Oval Office with General Curtis LeMay and the reconnaissance pilots who found the missile sites in Cuba.President Kennedy and Secretary of Defense McNamara in an EXCOMM meeting, October 29, 19623 June 1961: Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev and President John F Kennedy talk in the residence of the US ambassador in a suburb of Vienna, just over a month after the botched Bay of Pigs invasionPresident Kennedy signs the “Proclamation for Interdiction of the Delivery of Offensive Weapons to Cuba.” The order instituted a naval quarantine of Cuba. National Archives
