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President Kennedy decided on a blockade of Cuba by the U.S. Navy to prevent further shipments of military supplies to the island
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On the evening of October 22, Kennedy announced in a televised speech to the American public that the Soviets were installing nuclear missiles in Cuba.
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Kennedy’s October 22 address caught the Soviet government off guard.
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On October 23, he blasted the U.S. quarantine of Cuba as a violation of international law.
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The U.S. naval quarantine went into effect October 24
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On October 25, at least a dozen Soviet ships en route to Cuba turned back, but preparations at the missile sites on the island accelerated. Soviets and Cubans started working around the clock to make the missiles operational.
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The first letter, was an emotional appeal apparently composed by Khrushchev himself, calling on Kennedy to avoid the catastrophe of nuclear war
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War seemed even more likely when Soviet forces shot down a U.S. reconnaissance flight over Cuba on October 27, killing the pilot, Major Rudolf Anderson.
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October 28, Castro kept Cuba on a war footing