Key Players
This U.S. President delivered a live television address on October 22, 1962, informing the public of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba.
Who is John F. Kennedy?
The standoff lasted this exact number of days, spanning from October 16 to October 28, 1962.
What is 13?
To avoid calling the naval blockade an official "act of war" under international law, President Kennedy referred to it by this softer term.
What is a "quarantine"?
To enforce the quarantine without entering Cuban territorial waters, U.S. warships set up a naval blockade arc in this major ocean.
What is the Caribbean Sea (or Atlantic Ocean)?
The strategic practice of pushing a dangerous crisis to the absolute edge of war to force an opponent to back down.
What is brinkmanship?
As Premier of the Soviet Union, he ordered the covert placement of nuclear missiles in Cuba to deter a U.S. invasion.
Who is Nikita Khrushchev?
High-altitude reconnaissance photos taken by this specific model of spy plane on October 14 provided the first conclusive proof of missile construction in Cuba.
What is the U-2?
In a secret side agreement, the U.S. pledged to remove its nuclear missiles from this NATO country bordering the Soviet Union.
What is Turkey?
The group of advisors assembled by President Kennedy to handle the crisis was known by this abbreviated name.
What is ExComm (Executive Committee of the National Security Council)?
The military doctrine, abbreviated M.A.D., that held that the full-scale use of nuclear weapons would result in the complete destruction of both attacker and defender.
What is Mutually Assured Destruction?
The Prime Minister of Cuba who urged the USSR to take a hard line against U.S. aggression during the crisis.
Who is Fidel Castro?
October 27, 1962, saw a U-2 plane shot down and a Soviet submarine almost fire a nuclear torpedo, earning it this color-coded moniker.
What is "Black Saturday"?
The U.S. medium-range ballistic missiles secretly removed from Turkey were named after this Roman king of the gods.
What are Jupiter missiles?
Soviet intermediate-range missiles (IRBMs) in Cuba had a range of 2,200 nautical miles, placing almost the entire continental U.S. in range except for this major Pacific Northwest city.
What is Seattle?
Describing the standoff between U.S. warships and Soviet vessels, Secretary of State Dean Rusk famously remarked, "We're eyeball to eyeball, and I think the other fellow just..." did this.
What is "...blinked"?
The U.S. Ambassador to the UN who famously displayed U-2 surveillance photos at the Security Council and said he was willing to wait "until Hell freezes over" for an answer.
Who is Adlai Stevenson?
During the peak of the crisis, the U.S. Strategic Air Command was placed at this defense readiness condition—the highest level in U.S. history.
What is DEFCON 2?
To ensure rapid, direct communications between Washington and Moscow during future crises, this continuous messaging link was established in 1963.
What is the Moscow–Washington hotline (or "Hotline")?
The failed 1961 CIA-backed amphibious assault on Cuba that convinced Castro the U.S. intended to overthrow his government.
What is the Bay of Pigs Invasion?
Soviet Premier Khrushchev hoped that placing missiles in Cuba would give him leverage to force Western powers out of this divided European city.
What is Berlin?
The U.S. Attorney General who conducted critical secret negotiations with Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin to break the deadlock.
Who is Robert F. Kennedy?
This U-2 pilot became the only U.S. combat casualty of the crisis when his aircraft was shot down by a Soviet surface-to-air missile over Cuba on October 27.
Who is Major Rudolf Anderson Jr.?
On October 27, this Soviet submarine officer refused to authorize launching a nuclear torpedo on submarine B-59, preventing potential nuclear war.
Who is Vasili Arkhipov?
The Soviet Union's secret military operation codename for transporting missiles, equipment, and 40,000 troops across the Atlantic Ocean to Cuba.
What is Operation Anadyr?
Signed in August 1963 as a direct result of lessons learned from the crisis, this agreement banned nuclear weapons testing in the atmosphere, space, and underwater.
What is the Limited Test Ban Treaty (or Partial Test Ban Treaty)?