The 50th Anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis
Fifty years ago today (on October 25, 1962), the Cuban Missile Crisis was ongoing and United States Ambassador to the United Nations Adlai Stevenson was speaking at the UN General Assembly. The mission given to him by President John F. Kennedy was to convince the UN and the world at large of the nuclear threat being confronted by the United States and perpetrated by the Soviet Union.
This thirteen day confrontation between the Soviet Union and Cuba on one side, and the United States on the other was of the major confrontations of the Cold War, and is generally regarded as the moment in history in which the Cold War came closest to turning into a nuclear conflict.
After the failed US attempt to overthrow the Cuban regime of Fidel Castro (the Bay of Pigs invasion), in May of 1962 Nikita Khrushchev decided to place Soviet nuclear missiles on Cuba to deter any future invasion attempt. In a meeting between Khrushchev and Raúl Castro that July, an agreement was reached and construction of several missile sites began in the late summer. These preparations were discovered by US surveillance aircraft, and on October 14th, a US U-2 aircraft took several pictures showing construction of sites for medium-range and intermediate-range ballistic nuclear missiles (MRBMs and IRBMs). These images were processed and presented to President John F. Kennedy on October 15, which is considered as the beginning of the 13-day crisis.
The United States considered attacking Cuba via air and sea, but decided on a military blockade instead, calling it a "quarantine" for legal and other reasons. The US announced that it would not permit offensive weapons to be delivered to Cuba, demanded that the Soviets dismantle the missile bases already under construction or completed, and return all offensive weapons to the USSR. The Kennedy administration were skeptical that the USSR would agree to their demands, and prepared for a military confrontation.
Premier Nikita Khrushchev wrote in a letter from October 24, 1962 to President John F. Kennedy that the blockade constituted "an act of aggression propelling humankind into the abyss of a world nuclear-missile war". However, in secret back-channel communications the President and Premier initiated a proposal to resolve the crisis. While this was taking place, several Soviet ships attempted to run the blockade, increasing tensions to the point that orders to US Navy ships to fire warning shots and then open fire were sent out.
The United States requested an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on October 25. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (and former two-time Democratic Presidential Candidate) Adlai Stevenson confronted Soviet Ambassador Valerian Zorin, challenging him to admit the existence of the missiles. Zorin refused to answer.
Following in a YouTube Video of that historic confrontation, in which Stevenson says that he is "prepared to wait until hell freezes over" for Zorin's answer:
On 27 October a U-2 was shot down by a Soviet missile crew, an action that Kennedy had previously stated would result in immediate retaliation. However, Kennedy did not retaliate, notice the high stakes of the moment.
The confrontation ended on October 28, 1962, when Kennedy and United Nations Secretary-General U Thant reached an agreement with Khrushchev. Publicly, the Soviets would dismantle their offensive weapons in Cuba and return them to the Soviet Union, subject to United Nations verification, in exchange for a US public declaration and agreement never to invade Cuba. Secretly, the US agreed that it would dismantle all US-built Jupiter IRBMs deployed in Turkey and Italy.
After the removal of the missiles and Ilyushin Il-28 light bombers, the blockade was formally ended at 6:45 pm EDT on November 20, 1962. This conflict resulted in the creation of the Moscow–Washington hotline, a direct communications link between Moscow and Washington, D.C. for Kennedy and all of his successors.
The Cuban Missile Crisis has been dramatized in a number of movies, including the 1974 TV docudrama The Missiles of October starring William Devane as President Kennedy, and the 2000 movie Thirteen Days starring Kevin Costner, with the role of Kennedy played by Bruce Greenwood (the full movie can be seen here.
This thirteen day confrontation between the Soviet Union and Cuba on one side, and the United States on the other was of the major confrontations of the Cold War, and is generally regarded as the moment in history in which the Cold War came closest to turning into a nuclear conflict.
After the failed US attempt to overthrow the Cuban regime of Fidel Castro (the Bay of Pigs invasion), in May of 1962 Nikita Khrushchev decided to place Soviet nuclear missiles on Cuba to deter any future invasion attempt. In a meeting between Khrushchev and Raúl Castro that July, an agreement was reached and construction of several missile sites began in the late summer. These preparations were discovered by US surveillance aircraft, and on October 14th, a US U-2 aircraft took several pictures showing construction of sites for medium-range and intermediate-range ballistic nuclear missiles (MRBMs and IRBMs). These images were processed and presented to President John F. Kennedy on October 15, which is considered as the beginning of the 13-day crisis.
The United States considered attacking Cuba via air and sea, but decided on a military blockade instead, calling it a "quarantine" for legal and other reasons. The US announced that it would not permit offensive weapons to be delivered to Cuba, demanded that the Soviets dismantle the missile bases already under construction or completed, and return all offensive weapons to the USSR. The Kennedy administration were skeptical that the USSR would agree to their demands, and prepared for a military confrontation.
Premier Nikita Khrushchev wrote in a letter from October 24, 1962 to President John F. Kennedy that the blockade constituted "an act of aggression propelling humankind into the abyss of a world nuclear-missile war". However, in secret back-channel communications the President and Premier initiated a proposal to resolve the crisis. While this was taking place, several Soviet ships attempted to run the blockade, increasing tensions to the point that orders to US Navy ships to fire warning shots and then open fire were sent out.
The United States requested an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on October 25. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (and former two-time Democratic Presidential Candidate) Adlai Stevenson confronted Soviet Ambassador Valerian Zorin, challenging him to admit the existence of the missiles. Zorin refused to answer.
Following in a YouTube Video of that historic confrontation, in which Stevenson says that he is "prepared to wait until hell freezes over" for Zorin's answer:
On 27 October a U-2 was shot down by a Soviet missile crew, an action that Kennedy had previously stated would result in immediate retaliation. However, Kennedy did not retaliate, notice the high stakes of the moment.
The confrontation ended on October 28, 1962, when Kennedy and United Nations Secretary-General U Thant reached an agreement with Khrushchev. Publicly, the Soviets would dismantle their offensive weapons in Cuba and return them to the Soviet Union, subject to United Nations verification, in exchange for a US public declaration and agreement never to invade Cuba. Secretly, the US agreed that it would dismantle all US-built Jupiter IRBMs deployed in Turkey and Italy.
After the removal of the missiles and Ilyushin Il-28 light bombers, the blockade was formally ended at 6:45 pm EDT on November 20, 1962. This conflict resulted in the creation of the Moscow–Washington hotline, a direct communications link between Moscow and Washington, D.C. for Kennedy and all of his successors.
The Cuban Missile Crisis has been dramatized in a number of movies, including the 1974 TV docudrama The Missiles of October starring William Devane as President Kennedy, and the 2000 movie Thirteen Days starring Kevin Costner, with the role of Kennedy played by Bruce Greenwood (the full movie can be seen here.