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Event

Cuban Missile Crisis

Thirteen-day confrontation in October 1962 between the United States and the Soviet Union over Soviet missiles in Cuba.

15 links, 15 backed by primary records, 1 still being verified

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Dates
16–28 Oct 1962
Place
Cuba
Also known as
October Crisis, Caribbean Crisis
How each side tells it

According to United States government

According to Soviet government

According to Catholic Church

Records from opposing sides confirm

Side by side, with proof ›

For thirteen days in October 1962 the United States and the Soviet Union came closer to nuclear war than at any other time in the Cold War. The two governments told different stories about its cause.

According to the United States government, the crisis began with the secret Soviet deployment of missiles to Cuba (Operation Anadyr). According to the Soviet government, it grew out of US missiles already in Turkey (Jupiter missile deployment in Turkey). Records from both sides confirm that the settlement included the quiet withdrawal of the Jupiters in 1963. The crisis also led to the Moscow–Washington hotline.

Connections 15

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part of

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Timeline 2 dates
  1. 16–28 Oct 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis
  2. 25 Oct 1962 Pope John XXIII intervened in Cuban Missile Crisis
Proof 8 sources
  1. Message du Pape Jean XXIII pour la paix (25 octobre 1962), Catholic Church, 25 Oct 1962. Primary record
    l'Eglise n'a rien tant à coeur que la paix et la fraternité entre les hommes, et elle travaille, sans se lasser, à les établir.
  2. Address of Pope Francis on the 50th anniversary of Pacem in Terris, Catholic Church, 3 Oct 2013. Primary record
    At the end of 1962 humanity was on the brink of an atomic world war and the Pope raised a dramatic and heart-rending appeal for peace, thus turning to all those in positions of power
    The most elderly among us can remember well the era of the Encyclical Pacem in Terris at the peak of the “Cold War”.
  3. The Cuban Missile Crisis, October 1962 (Milestones in the History of U.S. Foreign Relations), U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian. Primary record
    in July 1962 Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev reached a secret agreement with Cuban premier Fidel Castro to place Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba to deter any future invasion attempt.
    The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 was a direct and dangerous confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War
    U.S. Jupiter missiles were removed from Turkey in April 1963.
    In an effort to prevent this from happening again, a direct telephone link between the White House and the Kremlin was established; it became known as the “Hotline.”
  4. Letter From Chairman Khrushchev to President Kennedy, Moscow, October 27, 1962 (FRUS 1961–1963, vol. VI, doc. 66), U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, 27 Oct 1962. Primary record
    Your missiles are located in Turkey. You are disturbed over Cuba. You say that this disturbs you because it is 90 miles by sea from the coast of the United States of America. But Turkey adjoins us; our sentries patrol back and forth and see each other.
  5. Radio and Television Report to the American People on the Soviet Arms Buildup in Cuba, The American Presidency Project, UC Santa Barbara, 22 Oct 1962. Primary record
    Within the past week, unmistakable evidence has established the fact that a series of offensive missile sites is now in preparation on that imprisoned island.
  6. Memorandum From Attorney General Kennedy to Secretary of State Rusk, October 30, 1962 (FRUS 1961–1963, vol. XI, doc. 96), U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, 30 Oct 1962. Primary record
    He then asked me about Khrushchev’s other proposal dealing with the removal of the missiles from Turkey.
  7. Cable, Ambassador Dobrynin to the Soviet Foreign Ministry, Meeting with Robert Kennedy, Wilson Center Digital Archive, 27 Oct 1962. Primary record
    “I think that in order to withdraw these bases from Turkey,” R. Kennedy said, “we need 4-5 months.”
  8. Memorandum of Understanding Regarding the Establishment of a Direct Communications Link (narrative and text), U.S. Department of State, 20 Jun 1963. Primary record
    The Cuban missile crisis of October 1962 compellingly underscored the importance of prompt, direct communication between heads of state.
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