what was the Cuban missile crisis?

Answer 1

Rent (or get from your local public library) the movie Topaz - directed by Alfred Hitchcock - it gives a good idea what it was all about. (I saw Alfred Hitchcock at Lyndon Johnson's inaugural in 1964 - unlike everyone else, he sat next to his driver in the stretch limousine provided by the President - Hitchcock was one of the million dollar donors to the Democrats back when that was legal.)

The USA discovered that the Soviets were building missile launching sites in Cuba back in the Fall of 1962. President Kennedy put US Armed Forces on alert around the world ready for War but managed to cajole the Soviet Premier Kruschev to not try to break through our naval blockade of Cuba (the action that would have started the war) with the help of behind the scene diplomacy and some very good spy work.

I was at a top secret location in Okinawa at the time. When the alert came, we were all kept inside our highly secure work place, sleeping on the floor and having food brought into us while getting the teletype messages from around the world explaining what the military was doing to prepare for war. None of us felt we were really going to go to war but it was a very exciting time to live through.

Answer 2

If you really want to know about the Cuban Missle Crisis, but you are too impatient to read about it (like me) watch the movie, "13 Days". It was the most complete recreation of the Cuban Missle Crisis I ever seen.

I don't agree with the answerer above me that US missles became operational in Turkey in 1962, because in the movie 13 Days, they say that the missles in Turkey were "obsolete" indicating that they have been there for quite some time.

Answer 3

John Kennedy's finest hours. Go on the web and get the accurate accounting of the situation as it shaped America's future during the cold war, which culminated in the Soviet Unions down fall.

Answer 4

Here is a short version:
-Russia was an ally of Cuba
-Russia was trying, with Castro blessing, to place a missle sytem in Cuba
-President Kennedy blockcaded the Cuba ports
-Russia threatened war if we boarded any Russian ship or if we continued to block their passage
-Kennedy held his ground, Russia backed down
There more to it obviously but that is the short of it

Answer 5

And who can prove all the missles are out of Cuba??