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Finding out!
United States found out that Cuba and the U.S.S.R. were working together in Cuba to build and stor missiles in Cuba. The U.S. was furious. And we started figuring out ways to stop this. -
Fidel Castro The Leader
Fidel Castro was not the best leader. Many Cubans were getting sick of him. So they fled to the United States because they thought it would be better here. -
The day announced to the public
We found out of the missiles by one of our airships flying over Cuba. President at the time John F. Kennedy did a T.V. Broadcast showing a picture that our air craft took of the Cubans and the U.S.S.R. Building Missiles. We thought about if we should attack them by the air or by the sea. But in the end we decided to take a Military Blockade instead. This day marks the beginning of the 13 day Cuban Missile Crisis. -
The Bay Of Pigs
When the U.S. saw all of the Cubans coming in they got an idea. That's when the Bay Of Pigs operation was launched. We rounded up all of the Cubans willing to fight and we sent them back to Cuba to try to overthrow Castro. We failed misrably. Castro had no problem defeating us. -
The Letter From Premier Nikita Krushchev
The Premier of the U.S.S.R. at the time was Nikita Krushchev. He wrote a letter to U.S. President John F. Kennedy stating that his blockade of "navigation in international waters and air space" constituted "an act of aggression propelling human kind into the abyss of a world nuclear-missile war". -
President Kennedy's Handling
When the Bay of Pigs operation was launched, President Kennedy was just coming in to office. So he wasn't completely in control of it. But unlike a lot of Presidents when the Bay of Pigs operation failed he took all of the blame. He didn't blame it on the last President or a General. He took it all. Which was something we hadn't seen in many Presidents. -
The Attempted Attacks
Several Soviet ships attempted to run the blockade, increasing tensions to the point that orders were sent out to U.S. Navy ships to fire warning shots and then open fire. On October 27th of 1962 a Soviet Misssile Crew shot down a U.S. U-2 Plane. Which could have resulted in immediate retaliation by the Kennedy crisis cabinet, according to Secretary of Defense McNamara. -
The Resolution
On October 28th 1962 President Kennedy and Premier Khrushchev reached an agreement. The Soviets agreed to publicly start dismantling their misssiled and the U.S. agreed to dismantle all of our Jupiter IRBMs. -
The Taking Down Of The Blockade.
On November 20th 1962 the U.S. took down the blockade at exactly 6:45 p.m. Not only the American citizens were happy about this, but the Cuban citizens, and the Soviet citizens were also happy because it really marked the stop of an "almost" nuclear war. -
Direct Telephone Line
The tense negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union, during which the use of nuclear weapons was not ruled out, pointed out the necessity of a quick, clear and direct communication between Washington and Moscow. As a result, a direct telephone link between the leaders of the two countries was established.
