Cuban Missile Crisis — October 1962 confrontation between the Soviet Union, Cuba and the United States
The closest the Cold War came to full-scale nuclear war, resolved through secret diplomacy and leading to the Moscow–Washington hotline.
Key Facts
- Duration
- 13 days (16–28 October 1962)
- Naval blockade lifted
- 20 November 1962
- US missiles removed from Turkey
- Secret agreement; all Thors in UK disbanded by August 1963
- Key US decision-making body
- Executive Committee of the NSC (EXCOMM)
- Outcome for Khrushchev
- Contributed to his fall from power two years later
- Direct result
- Establishment of Moscow–Washington hotline
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
US deployment of Thor and Jupiter nuclear missiles in the UK, Italy, and Turkey — all within range of Moscow — combined with the failed Bay of Pigs invasion and ongoing covert sabotage operations in Cuba, prompted the Soviet Union and Cuba to agree in July 1962 to station Soviet nuclear missiles on Cuban soil as a deterrent against further US aggression.
Between 16 and 28 October 1962, after U-2 reconnaissance photographs revealed Soviet missile launch facilities under construction in Cuba, President Kennedy convened EXCOMM, rejected an immediate air strike, and imposed a naval quarantine. Tense negotiations between Kennedy and Khrushchev ensued, with the world on the brink of nuclear exchange.
The crisis ended when the Soviets agreed to dismantle their Cuban missiles in exchange for a US pledge not to invade Cuba and a secret US commitment to remove Jupiter missiles from Turkey. The episode humiliated Khrushchev, contributed to his 1964 removal from power, and spurred the creation of the Moscow–Washington hotline to prevent future miscommunication.