The Cuban missile crisis: for 13 terrifying days in 1962, the U.S. seemed to be on the brink of war.

In 1962, 19-year-old Robert O'Hanneson had a daunting assignment. At the time, he was a member of the U.S. Air Force, based in Okinawa, Japan. If commanded to do so, O'Hanneson would have had to fire nuclear missiles at the Soviet Union. "At any moment, I could be asked to open [an order to fire] ... and place our missiles into launch mode," he later wrote.

For 13 terrifying days in October 1962, it looked as if O'Hanneson might get that order. The U.S. had just learned that the Soviet Union was placing nuclear missiles in Cuba. The missiles lay about 90 miles off the coast of Florida, posing a direct threat to many U.S. cities. President John F. Kennedy threatened to bomb and invade Cuba unless the missiles were removed.

At the time, the U.S. and the Soviet Union were locked in a Cold War (1945-1991). There was no actual combat between armies. But the Soviets' actions in Cuba--and Kennedy's response--brought the two sides to the brink of nuclear war.

Target: Castro

In 1959, revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro toppled a corrupt dictatorship in Cuba. Soon, Castro alarmed the U.S. by seizing American-owned businesses. Declaring himself a Communist, he allied Cuba with the Soviet Union, then the world's most powerful Communist country.

In April 1961, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) directed a secret invasion of Cuba. The invasion was carried out by anti-Castro Cuban exiles at a place called the Bay of Pigs.

The attack ended in failure and embarrassment for President Kennedy. Even so, he pressed ahead with other secret plans to topple Castro.

Both Castro and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev (KROOSH-choff] feared another U.S. invasion of Cuba. Khrushchev also worried about his own country. The U.S. had placed nuclear missiles in Turkey, near the Soviet border. Khrushchev felt that positioning Soviet missiles in Cuba was a way to even the balance. "It was high time America learned," he later wrote, "what it feels like to have her own land and her own people threatened."

"Eyeball to Eyeball"

The Soviet missiles were first spotted by CIA planes flying over Cuba. Kennedy learned about them on October 16. He understood the grave danger they represented. Such missiles could destroy Atlanta, Dallas, or Washington, D.C., in a matter of minutes.

Some of Kennedy's top advisers favored a surprise air attack, followed by a ground invasion. But U.S. military leaders could not be sure that such an attack would knock out all the missiles.

That kind of approach posed other dangers. Kennedy knew that the Soviets would retaliate. They might even launch nuclear missiles and bombers from the Soviet Union. In the end, he chose a more measured response. He ordered the Navy to set up a quarantine (blockade) around Cuba, to halt the shipment of military equipment.

On October 22, Kennedy gave a televised address to the nation. Americans learned about the crisis for the first time, as the President described his decision to quarantine Cuba. "Our unswerving objective," he said, is to "prevent the use of these missiles on this or any other country."

Americans supported Kennedy's actions, but many people panicked. Supermarket shelves emptied of food, water, and other supplies, as families prepared for nuclear war.

One tense day followed another. On October 24, Soviet ships approached the quarantine line. A confrontation was imminent. Then, one by one, nearly every Soviet ship either slowed or reversed course. "We're eyeball to eyeball," said Secretary of State Dean Rusk, "and I think the other fellow just blinked."

Avoiding Catastrophe

The crisis was not over. Kennedy planned to invade Cuba if the Soviet missiles were not removed. Tensions peaked on October 27. The day started with a U.S. spy plane straying into the Soviet Union's air space, raising alarm on both sides. Later, a Soviet officer disobeyed orders and shot down a U.S. spy plane over Cuba, killing the pilot. Both acts fed a growing hostility.

Despite the pressure to go to war, Kennedy and Khrushchev both wanted to avoid conflict without looking weak. The two leaders exchanged letters and sent secret messages through aides. They carefully worked out a deal. Khrushchev would remove the missiles from Cuba. In exchange, the U.S. would privately pledge not to invade Cuba. In secret, the U.S. also agreed to remove its missiles from Turkey.

On October 28, Khrushchev announced that the missiles in Cuba would be dismantled and sent home. No one was more relieved than Robert O'Hanneson. "My whole body shook," he said later. "The gravity of how close we'd come to nuclear disaster hit me."

The Cold War lasted another 28 years, but the two sides never again came so close to catastrophe.

Objective

Students should be able to:

* understand the significance of an event in the recent past that might have altered the course of history.

Background

"There can be no long-term living with Castro," wrote General Maxwell Taylor, a chief adviser to President John F. Kennedy, after the Bay of Pigs incident. From then on, the White House redoubled its efforts to depose the Cuba n leader. Kennedy approved a secret CIA program of sabotage and political propaganda in Cuba, designed to weaken support for Castro. The CIA also reportedly hatched plots to assassinate him. For Castro and his ally, Nikita Khrushchev, this amounted to a provocation that couldn't be ignored.

Critical Thinking

CAUSE AND EFFECT: Why did Nikita Khrush they feel justified putting missiles in Cuba? (The U.S. had tried to depose Castro and had placed missiles in Turkey. Khrushchev saw the Soviet missiles as a way to balance the degree of threat.)

Activity

TICK, TICK, TICK: Have students write an imaginative diary entry around the events of October 1962. How would they have reacted on the evening of the 22nd when they learned of the Soviet missiles? (Built a bomb shelter? tried to forestall panic in their community?) Yon may want to assign roles: parent, teacher, mayor, etc. Impress on students the intensity of hour-by-hour anxiety that the Cuban Missile Crisis instilled in ordinary Americans.

STANDARD

SOCIAL STUDIES, GRADES 5-8

* Power, authority, and governance: Political differences led to the brink of nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

RESOURCES

PRINT

* McConnell, William S. (ed.), Living Through the Cuban Missile Crisis (Thomson Gale, 2005). Grades 6 & up.

* Whiting, Jim, The Cuban Missile Crisis (Mitchell Lane, 2005). Grades 5-7.

WEB SITES

* Memories of the Crisis news.bbc.co.uk/1 /hi/world/americas /2317931.stm

* State Dept. Photos future.state.gov/educators /slideshow/cuba.html

QUICK QUIZ

* Write the letter of the correct answer on the line
before each question.

--11. From 1945 until 1991, the Soviet Union and
the United States were engaged in what?

A. armed combat             C. Cuban Missile Crisis

B. Cold War                 D. trade embargo

--12. Where did the U.S. attempt to invade Cuba in
1961?

A. Bay of Pigs                  C. Havana

B. Guantanamo Bay               D. Isle of Youth

--13. That invasion was directed by which U.S.
organization?

A. Air Force            C. Defense Department

B. Central Intelligence D. FBI
Agency

--14. How did the U.S. learn of Soviet missiles in Cuba?

A. CIA spy plane           C. hotline from Moscow

B. Cuban exiles            D. United Nations

--15. Who led the Soviet Union during the Cuban
Missile Crisis?

A. Fidel Castro            C. Nikita Khrushchev

B. Raul Castro             D. Vladimir Putin

--16. Who was the U.S. President during the Cuban
Missile Crisis?

A. Edward M. Kennedy             C. Joseph P. Kennedy

B. John F. Kennedy               D. Robert F. Kennedy

--17. Which military branch did President Kennedy
order to quarantine Cuba?

A. Air Force        C. Marines

B. Army             D. Navy

--18. Americans first learned of the quarantine
by what?

A. Internet                  C. Khrushchev's
blogs                        televised speech

B. Kennedy's                 D. newspaper
televised speech             headlines

--19. The U.S. eventually agreed to remove its
missiles from which country?

A. Cuba             C. Soviet Union

B. Haiti            D. Turkey

20. After settling the Cuban Missile Crisis, the U.S.
and Soviet Union did what?

A. became allies             C. continued the Cold War

B. built the Berlin Wall     D. ended Communism