The Cuban Missile Crisis

For thirteen days in October 1962, the United States and the Soviet Union stood on the brink of nuclear war. On October 16, President Kennedy was shown U-2 reconnaissance photographs revealing Soviet nuclear missile installations under construction in Cuba — 90 miles from the American coast. Kennedy imposed a naval blockade (termed a "quarantine") and demanded removal of the missiles. Soviet Premier Khrushchev initially refused. As Soviet ships approached the blockade line and nuclear forces on both sides went to maximum alert, the world held its breath. On October 28, Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the missiles in exchange for a U.S. pledge not to invade Cuba and a secret agreement to remove American missiles from Turkey. The crisis, during which the probability of nuclear war was later estimated at 25-50%, led to the installation of the Moscow-Washington hotline, the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, and a mutual recognition that nuclear brinkmanship was too dangerous to repeat.