Cuban Missile Crisis

The crisis grew out of the Cold War rivalry and conflict over Cuba's security and political future. After the failed U.S.-backed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 and amid subsequent U.S. plans directed against Fidel Castro's government, Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev and Cuban premier Fidel Castro reached an agreement in July 1962 to place Soviet nuclear missiles on the island as a deterrent to another invasion. Washington viewed the deployments as an unacceptable strategic threat close to U.S. territory. The United States also had Jupiter nuclear missiles stationed in Turkey and Italy. The private missile-withdrawal assurance associated with the crisis settlement concerned the missiles in Turkey, not the Italian deployment.

On 14 October 1962, a U.S. U-2 aircraft photographed missile sites under construction in Cuba; the images were presented to Kennedy the next day. After considering possible military and diplomatic responses, he announced on 22 October that the United States would impose a naval quarantine to stop further offensive weapons from reaching Cuba and demanded the dismantling of the sites already there. The administration chose the term quarantine rather than blockade because a blockade implied a state of war. The standoff brought the two nuclear superpowers close to armed conflict as military forces were put on alert and messages passed between Kennedy and Khrushchev. On 27 October, a U.S. U-2 was shot down over Cuba, while a Soviet message proposed including U.S. Jupiter missiles in Turkey in a settlement.

On 28 October, Khrushchev publicly announced that the Soviet Union would dismantle and remove its missiles from Cuba. The public understanding included a U.S. pledge not to invade the island. Separately, in a secret conversation, U.S. officials indicated that the Jupiter missiles in Turkey would be removed; this part of the arrangement was not publicly presented as a condition of the settlement. Cuba was affected directly but was not included in the final U.S.–Soviet agreement. Castro objected to the way the crisis was resolved, issued his own demands and refused on-site United Nations inspection of the missile removal. The U.S. naval quarantine continued after 28 October while the Soviet Union's IL-28 bombers were also removed; Washington ended it on 20 November. The Jupiters were withdrawn from Turkey in April 1963.

The crisis ended without a U.S.–Soviet war, but it did not end the Cold War or the arms race. The danger exposed weaknesses in communication between the two governments. A direct communications link between the White House and the Kremlin—the hotline—was established afterward, and the superpowers took steps toward arms control. The Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, signed in 1963, was one important subsequent measure. Historians also examine the crisis from Cuban, Soviet and U.S. perspectives: decisions by Washington and Moscow shaped the settlement, while Cuba bore the immediate consequences and contested terms made without its participation.