Cartoon

Cuban Missile Crisis

  • Bay of Pigs

    Bay of Pigs
    Brigade 2506, a group of Anti-Castro rebels sponsored and armed by the United Sates launches its ill fated invasion of
  • Missiles Discovered

    Missiles Discovered
    A U-2 reconnaissance aircraft reveals several SS-4 nuclear missiles in Cuba
  • Ex-Comm Assembled

    Ex-Comm Assembled
    Crisis begins: President Kennedy convenes his Executive Committee to consider America's options.
  • Kennedy meets with Foreign Minister Gromyko

    President Kennedy meets with Soviet Foreign Minister Andrie Gromyko and advises him that America will not tolerate Soviet missiles in Cuba. Gromyko denies the presence of any Soviet weaponry in Cuba.
  • Period: to

    Cuban Missile Crisis

  • Naval Blockade Begins

    Naval Blockade Begins
    President Kennedy decides on a Naval Blockade of Cuba Link text
  • Kennedy addresses the Nation

    In a dramatic, prime time television address, President John F. Kennedy informs the public of the presence of Soviet Missiles in Cuba and the subsequent Naval Quarantine.
  • Quarantine Standoff

    Soviet ships reach the quarantine line, but receive radio orders from Moscow to hold their positions.
  • Adalai Stevenson at the UN .

    Adalai Stevenson at the UN .
    U.S. Ambassador Adlai Stevenson confronts the Soviets at the U.N. but they refuse to answer. American military forces are instructed to set DEFCON 2 - the highest ever in U.S. history.
  • Khrushchev reaches out, Crisis deepens

    EX-COMM receives a letter from Khrushchev stating that the Soviets would remove their missiles if President Kennedy publicly guarantees the U.S. won't invade Cuba. The CIA reports construction is continuing and accelerating. RFK meets secretly with Soviet Ambassador Dobrynin and states removal of US missiles from Turkey is negotiable as part of a settlement. Khrushchev receives a cable from Castro urging a nuclear first strike against the US in the event of an invasion of Cuba.
  • Resolution nears.

    Resolution nears.
    A U2 spy plane is shot down over Cuba. EX-COMM receives a second letter from Khrushchev stating that, in addition to a public promise not to invade Cuba, the U.S. remove its missiles from Turkey.
  • Resolution Announced

    The crisis is over. In a speech aired on Radio Moscow, Khrushchev announces the dismantling of Soviet missiles in Cuba and does not insist on his demands concerning the removal of U.S. missiles from Turkey.
  • Kennedy assasinated in Dallas

    Kennedy assasinated in Dallas
    John F. Kennedy is assassinated during a campaign stop in Dallas Texas
  • Khrushchev is removed from power

    Nikita Khrushchev is removed from power and replace by Leonoid Brezhnev
  • Castro dies

    Castro dies
    Fidel Castro dies in Havana, Cuba.