Cuban Missile Crisis
In October 1962, the United States and the Soviet Union came closer to nuclear war than at any other point in the Cold War. The confrontation began when American aircraft photographed Soviet nuclear missile sites under construction in Cuba, and it ended after thirteen tense days with a negotiated settlement. It mattered not only because of the danger itself, but because the shock of it reshaped how the superpowers managed their rivalry.
The crisis grew out of several overlapping tensions. Fidel Castro had come to power in Cuba in 1959 and moved steadily toward the Soviet bloc. In April 1961, a CIA-backed invasion by Cuban exiles at the Bay of Pigs failed badly, leaving Castro fearful of another attempt. The United States also had nuclear missiles in Turkey and Italy that could reach Soviet territory. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev decided to place medium-range missiles in Cuba, apparently to defend the island, to narrow the Soviet Union's disadvantage in strategic weapons, and to gain leverage in the dispute over Berlin. Historians still debate how much weight each motive deserves.
After U-2 reconnaissance photographs confirmed the sites in mid-October, President John F. Kennedy convened a secret advisory group, often called ExComm. Some advisers urged air strikes or an invasion, but Kennedy chose a naval "quarantine" of Cuba, announced in a televised address, which avoided the formal meaning of a blockade. Soviet ships carrying military cargo approached the line, and most turned back or stopped. Meanwhile, American forces were on heightened alert, and the risk of accident or miscalculation was severe. An American U-2 was shot down over Cuba, and another strayed into Soviet airspace. Later accounts also revealed that Soviet submarine commanders, under pressure from U.S. naval forces, had nuclear-armed torpedoes aboard, and that a disaster at sea was narrowly avoided.
The crisis was resolved through a mix of public and private diplomacy. Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles from Cuba in return for a U.S. pledge not to invade the island. In a secret understanding, the United States also agreed to withdraw its missiles from Turkey, which was carried out some months later. The secrecy of that second part meant the public saw it as a clear American victory, a perception that may have contributed to Khrushchev's weakened standing before his removal from power in 1964.
The legacy was substantial. A direct telephone link between Washington and Moscow was set up in 1963, and the same year the two powers signed the Partial Test Ban Treaty. Both sides had seen how quickly leaders could lose control of events. The arms race nonetheless continued, and Soviet leaders resolved to build up their strategic forces. Castro's government survived, and Cuba remained a Cold War flashpoint for decades.