October 27, 1962. Two world superpowers, equipped with over
4,000 nuclear warheads in total, are flirting with a dangerous escalation of what had so
far been a Cold War, one fought without direct confrontation. Both the US and USSR have placed missiles
in third countries close to each others’ borders, pointed directly at enemy soil. In this critical moment, two events happen
on the same day. An American U-2 reconnaissance plane is shot
down over Cuba, where the Soviet missile bases have been built up, and Kennedy is urged to
retaliate militarily directly against the Soviets. Meanwhile, American warships drop depth charges
to force a Soviet B-59 submarine to surface. The submarine’s officers are unaware they
are violating a US naval blockade, and interpret the maneuvers of the US warships as an act
of war. What the Americans don’t know is that the
Soviet submarine being threatened is carrying a nuclear-tipped torpedo… Had two men made different decisions, that
could easily have been the day the world exploded into nuclear war. Why didn’t it? To understand the actions taken in the days
of the Cuban Missile Crisis, it’s crucial to take a quick look back a couple of years
at US, Cuban, and Soviet relations. Since the Monroe Doctrine, the US had increasingly
asserted its power and influence over the Western Hemisphere. With the Soviet bloc a declared ideological
enemy, the US was especially vigilant about communism penetrating the West. This sphere of influence would be tested in
1959, when young revolutionary Fidel Castro took power in Cuba after waging a guerilla
war against US-backed military dictator Fulgencio Batista. He quickly converted the nation to communism,
further angering US politicians who were engaged in a political conflict and arms race with
the most powerful communist nation of all at the time. Dwight D. Eisenhower, the US President at
the time, deemed Castro’s administration in Cuba unacceptable. Initially, his idea was simple: the CIA would
train 1,400 Cuban exiles in the US, sympathetic to the old government and angry at Castro,
to invade Cuba and win the country back. The plan was hatched under Eisenhower in 1960. By the time it was ready, the charismatic
John F. Kennedy was President of the US. Kennedy had second - and third and fourth
- thoughts about the planned invasion. The strategy of sending in Cuban exiles had
come about to 1) make it seem it wasn’t a US government invasion of Cuba and 2) to
keep the invading group small and clandestine, so they could infiltrate the island nation
and win the support of even more anti-Castro Cubans. Kennedy worried that the group was too small
to be militarily effective, and too large to keep secret. However, on April 17, 1961, the Bay of Pigs
invasion was launched. The result was embarrassing. The US government had severely underestimated
Castro’s forces and severely overestimated Cuban nostalgia for a US puppet government
on the island. Within 24 hours, the US-trained Cuban exiles
had been defeated, and Kennedy’s administration was humiliated. Nevertheless, the effort to dismantle Castro’s
regime continued with foiled assassination attempts throughout the year. Even though many top US officials advised
Kennedy that Cuba wasn’t much of a threat to the US at all, Kennedy had told voters
he would be tough on communism, and in politics, appearances matter most. Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev wanted to
assist the newly formed Communist government in Cuba against US interference, while also
looking for a possible bargaining chip to gain influence in West Berlin. As he said, “we had to establish a tangible
and effective deterrent to American interference in the Caribbean. But what exactly? The logical answer was missiles”. In addition, USSR and US nuclear capabilities
were vastly different at this time, and Khruschev sought to bridge the gap. Physicist Pavel Podvig pointed out that Soviet
bombers “could deliver about 270 nuclear weapons to US territory”, while the US had
thousands of warheads and almost 2,000 missile delivery systems; 1,576 Strategic Air Command
bombers, 183 Atlas and Titan ICBMs, 144 Polaris missiles on nuclear submarines, and ten Minuteman
ICBMs. The Soviets, in contrast, had good medium-range
ballistic missiles and intermediate-range ballistic missiles, though relatively unreliable
ICBMs, aka intercontinental ballistic missiles. Placing weapons in Cuba, only 90 miles from
Florida, would give the USSR a more reliable attack system against the US. After all, the US had already placed Jupiter
missiles in Turkey pointed at the USSR, so Khrushchev figured missiles in Cuba would
be an effective response. From July to October of 1962, the Soviets
started secretly transporting troops and equipment to Cuba. Though the operation was hardly a secret from
Cuban civilians - 41,902 soldiers were deployed unconvincingly disguised as “agricultural
specialists”, while at one point Marshal Sergey Biryuzov suggested disguising the missiles
as palm trees - the CIA wouldn’t discover the nuclear plot until October, as it had
withdrawn most of its presence after the Bay of Pigs. Though the US had noticed a Soviet military
buildup in Cuba, it was on October 14, 1962 that U-2 spy plane pilot Major Richard Heyser
photographed a Soviet SS-4 medium-range ballistic missile being assembled. This started the clock on one of the most
tense, harrowing periods in US history. The next day, Kennedy sees the photos and
calls his closest advisors to a meeting in order to discuss US options. He forms a group called the Executive Committee
of the National Security Council, or EXCOMM for short, consisting of five close advisors
and nine members of the National Security Council. Suggestions thrown out in the meeting are
all over the map, ranging from a stern warning to the Soviet Union and Cuba, to an air strike
and outright invasion of the island. Kennedy, ignoring his hawkish Joint Chiefs
of Staff, reflecting on humiliating previous interventions in Cuba and rightly considering
that a direct attack and invasion may lead to disaster, chooses another path. He decides the US will conduct a naval blockade
of the island, although he calls it a “quarantine” instead. Why a quarantine? Because a blockade is technically an act of
war, and this one word difference would actually further escalate the situation. JFK dictates a letter to Khrushchev announcing
that the US will not permit Soviet shipments of weapons to Cuba. The President further demands that the Soviet
Union dismantle the current Cuban missile bases and return all weapons to Moscow. That night, Kennedy makes a serious public
announcement regarding the crisis to the US public. On national television, he says, “it shall
be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against
any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States,
requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union”. The same day, the Joint Chiefs of Staff upgrades
the US’ military readiness status to DEFCON 3; not full readiness yet, but increased vigilance
with the Air Force ready to mobilize within 15 minutes. While Kennedy is taking this bold, powerful
stance in front of the American people, another discussion entirely is taking place behind
closed doors in EXCOMM meetings. Special Counsel Theodore Sorensen, articulating
the views of the EXCOMM board, writes the following memo regarding the Soviet missiles
in Cuba: “It is generally agreed that these missiles, even when fully operational, do
not significantly alter the balance of power—i.e., they do not significantly increase the potential
megatonnage capable of being unleashed on American soil, even after a surprise American
nuclear strike.” The Soviets already had missiles capable of
attacking the US from longer distances. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara points
out the obvious in EXCOMM meetings: “A missile is a missile. It makes no great difference whether you are
killed by a missile from the Soviet Union or Cuba.” The fact that the longer-range missiles were
somewhat more unreliable didn’t mean much in the long run. The US is a pretty big target to hit. However, the Kennedy administration knows
that optics are important, and after the humiliating events of the last two years in Cuba, the
US cannot afford to look weak in the face of an aggressive Soviet act. Meanwhile, halfway across the world, Khrushchev
receives Kennedy’s letter and sees his television appearance announcing the quarantine. On October 24, Khrushchev comes back with
a response of his own. The Soviet leader calls a spade a spade, or
rather, a blockade a blockade, and dubs it an “act of aggression” on the part of
the US. However, even while Khrushchev publicly condemns
the US’s actions, he is unwilling to have weapon-carrying ships breach the US quarantine
line. Soviet ships are turned back by the US, except
for a few carrying no weapons. The tensions between the two Cold War superpowers
are being felt all around the world. China starts publicly announcing its support
of Cuba, while the citizens of West Berlin fear their freedom will end up trampled in
any Soviet-US conflict. Though Khrushchev is unwilling to breach the
quarantine line, more US spy planes inform Kennedy that the Soviets’ missile site on
Cuba is still being worked on and almost ready. Seeing that his calls to dismantle the site
have gone unheeded, Kennedy and his administration upgrade the readiness status of Strategic
Air Command to DEFCON 2. DEFCON 1, the highest level of military readiness-
including its nuclear forces-, has in fact never been called for in US history. So the upgrade to DEFCON 2, meaning war is
imminent, underscores the grave nature of the crisis. On October 26, Kennedy starts seriously considering
the option of a US invasion in Cuba and a direct strike on the missile site. Predicting that this will cause global mayhem,
he wants to give his diplomatic option more time to work, while facing extreme pressure
from both Congress and EXCOMM to take military action. That same evening, around 2 AM Moscow time,
Khrushchev sends a long, emotional message to Kennedy, in which he details his fears
of the current situation resulting in nuclear apocalypse. In a private, heartfelt letter to the US President,
the Soviet leader writes, “If there is no intention to doom the world to the catastrophe
of thermonuclear war, then let us not only relax the forces pulling on the ends of the
rope, let us take measures to untie that knot. We are ready for this.” Khrushchev promises to remove the missiles
in exchange for a simple US assurance that they will not invade Cuba. However, the next day on October 27, Khrushchev,
apparently over whatever dark night of the soul caused him to reach out to Kennedy the
night before, goes back on his conciliatory stance. In a much more harshly worded, and unfortunately,
public letter, he indicates any deal must include the removal of US Jupiter missiles
from Turkey in order to be accepted by the USSR. Furthermore, another military action forces
the US closer than ever to war with the USSR. Soviets tracking an American U-2 spy plane
conducting a reconnaissance mission over Cuba become increasingly concerned the US will
learn too much as the pilot spends well over an hour near secret locations of Soviet nuclear
weapons. Even though only the commanding general is
supposed to authorize a surface to air missile launch, he is nowhere to be found. Lieutenant General Stepan Grechko gives the
order to shoot the plane down instead. Two missiles are fired; one of them manages
to find its target, bringing down the plane and killing US pilot Rudolf Anderson. A hush falls over Kennedy’s meeting with
his team as the killing of Anderson reaches their ears. Assistant Secretary of Defense Paul Nitze
remarks, “They’ve fired the first shot”. To everyone in the room, war now seems inevitable. In Moscow, Khrushchev hears of the attack
and starts to realize the situation is quickly careening out of control. As he would state later in life, the Soviet
premier had mostly wanted to make the US “learn just what it feels like to have enemy missiles
pointing at you; we’d be doing nothing more than giving them a little of their own medicine”. It was never his intention to come so close
to nuclear war, a possibility which now seems increasingly likely, and is about to become
an even closer call. At the same time the two leaders are deciding
their next move, there is a problem at the quarantine line. The US Navy is dropping a series of signaling
depth charges close to a Soviet B-59 submarine to force it to surface. Unbeknownst to them, the submarine is equipped
with a nuclear-tipped torpedo, one that it has orders to use if the submarine is fired
on. Unfortunately, the submarine has been too
deep in the ocean for too long to know the current status of the crisis. Captain Valentin Grigorievitch Savitsky assumes
the charges being dropped on the B-59 are an attack, and that the US and USSR are already
at war. He makes the decision to launch the torpedo. However, all three officers on board need
to sign off on the decision to launch a nuclear weapon from the submarine. One man, Vasili Arkhipov, holds out, believing
the situation might be a misunderstanding; the torpedo remains unlaunched, and a nuclear
strike is, once again, very narrowly averted. Back in D.C., with news of the U-2 plane being
shot down all over the White House, Kennedy’s advisers are clamoring for revenge. They urge Kennedy to launch a retaliatory
attack the next morning. Kennedy, however, correctly suspects that
Khrushchev did not authorize this air strike against a US plane. He is still hesitant to take military action. As he explains to the advisers directing him
towards war, “it isn’t the first step that concerns me, but both sides escalating
to the fourth or fifth step and we don’t go to the sixth because there is no one around
to do so”. At this point, the US administration makes
a risky move. Kennedy decides to ignore Khrushchev's second,
angrier letter, as promising to withdraw missiles from Turkey would show US weakness and risk
NATO alliances. The President decides to respond only to the
first letter instead. Ignoring the existence of an official enemy
demand in a crisis is definitely a bold move, but one that Kennedy feels will pay off. JFK also realizes that to preserve US status
and alliances, he has little other choice at this point. Little do the EXCOMM members know that JFK
has also been secretly playing another hand this whole time. Perhaps to be expected from such a tight-knit
family, JFK keeps his younger brother, Robert F. Kennedy, just 36 years old at the time,
as his most trusted advisor. As the missile crisis is escalating, RFK is
functioning as the President’s de facto chief of staff. Unbeknownst to the rest of the EXCOMM members,
while the team publicly drafts JFK’s response to Khrushchev - a promise not to attack Cuba
in exchange for the removal of Soviet missiles - JFK has sent his younger brother on a mission. Robert F. Kennedy secretly meets with Soviet
Ambassador to the US Anatoly Dobrynin. He informs the ambassador that the US will,
in fact, remove their Jupiter missiles from Turkey, and that they were planning to do
so anyway. However, he emphasizes the fact that for the
sake of optics and alliances, this removal cannot be part of any public deal between
the US and the Soviet Union. Dobrynin conveys the message to Khrushchev,
who is already fearful of an imminent war between the two nuclear superpowers. Upon hearing the US will accept the Soviets’
demands, even in secret, the Soviet premier decides to put an end to this crisis once
and for all. At 10 AM on October 28, Radio Moscow interrupts
everything to make one of the most important announcements of the year, reading a letter
from Khrushchev to Kennedy: the Soviet Union will dismantle and remove all missiles from
Cuba. Though Castro is angry with what he perceives
as the Soviets backing down in the face of US intimidation, most of the world breathes
a sigh of relief. Back on American soil, Kennedy hears the message
and responds in kind, promising to keep peace in the Caribbean area, and praising Khrushchev
for his “statesmanlike decision”. After a harrowing 13 days, the Cuban Missile
Crisis came to an end. The Soviet Union started dismantling their
missiles, and on November 20, after Kennedy was satisfied that all missiles had been removed,
he ended the quarantine of Cuba. Six months later, in April of 1963, the US
removed its Jupiter missiles from Turkey, though the world wouldn’t know this was
part of the US-USSR pact for years. Since this part of the deal was kept a secret,
Kennedy won praise for his resolution of the crisis while Khrushchev ended up viewed as
somewhat weaker, having given in to US demands in exchange for a simple reassurance of peace. However, one good effect of the crisis was
the installation of a “hotline” between D.C. and Moscow, to prevent another similar
conflict from ever taking place. It is terrifying to think that were it not
for a few moments of hesitation on the parts of Kennedy and Khrushchev, or the actions
of one man on a submarine such as Vasili Arkhipov, the world could have erupted in nuclear war
in October of 1962. Now that you’ve learned the fascinating
history of the week the world almost ended in nuclear war, go discover another incredible
story or check out this other video instead!
