On this day in 1962, the world stood on the brink of nuclear war as the Cuban Missile Crisis began.
The 13-day confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union started after American spy planes discovered Soviet nuclear missiles being installed in Cuba, just 90 miles from Florida.
President John F. Kennedy responded by imposing a naval blockade around the island, demanding the missiles’ removal and warning of “a full retaliatory response” if any were launched.
The crisis was eventually defused when Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the weapons in exchange for a secret US pledge to remove American missiles from Turkey.
The Cuban Missile Crisis is widely seen as the closest the world has ever come to nuclear war — a moment that reshaped Cold War diplomacy and cemented the need for direct communication between Washington and Moscow.
Also read: ON THIS DAY: First verdicts at Nuremberg (1946)
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