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Fidel Castro
Assumes power after the Cuban Revolution. -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
A group of some 1,500 Cuban exiles trained and financed by the CIA launched an ill-fated invasion of Cuba from the sea in the Bay of Pigs. The plan was to overthrow Fidel Castro and his revolution. -
Movement of Military Units
American military units begin moving to bases as intelligence photos from another U-2 flight show additional sites. -
Kennedy Meets with the Soviets
Visited by Gromko who asserts that Soviet aid to Cuba is purely defensive and does not represent a threat to the U.S. -
Navy Plans
Plans for deploying naval units are developed and work is begun on a speech to notify the American people. -
Day 7
Kennedy briefs Truman, Eisenhower, and Hoover on situation. Establishes Committee of the National Security Council. -
Day 8
Ships move into place around Cuba. Soviet submarines threaten by moving into the Caribbean area. Kennedy asks Khrushchev to halt any Russian ships heading towards Cuba. -
Day 9
Khrushchev responds to president Kennedy's letter. -
Day 10
Kennedy mails Khrushchev again urging him to change the course of events. Some missiles are now operational in Cuba. -
Day 11
Khrushchev makes an offer to remove missiles from Cuba in exchange for lifting quarantine and a pledge that the U.S. will not invade Cuba. -
U-2 Incident
Confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union that began with the shooting down of a U.S. U-2 reconnaissance plane over the Soviet Union and that caused the collapse of a summit conference in Paris between the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and France.
