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Assumes power after the Cuban Revolution.
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A group of some 1,500 Cuban exiles trained and financed by the CIA launched an ill-fated invasion of Cuba from the sea in the Bay of Pigs. The plan was to overthrow Fidel Castro and his revolution.
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American military units begin moving to bases as intelligence photos from another U-2 flight show additional sites.
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Visited by Gromko who asserts that Soviet aid to Cuba is purely defensive and does not represent a threat to the U.S.
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Plans for deploying naval units are developed and work is begun on a speech to notify the American people.
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Kennedy briefs Truman, Eisenhower, and Hoover on situation. Establishes Committee of the National Security Council.
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Ships move into place around Cuba. Soviet submarines threaten by moving into the Caribbean area. Kennedy asks Khrushchev to halt any Russian ships heading towards Cuba.
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Khrushchev responds to president Kennedy's letter.
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Kennedy mails Khrushchev again urging him to change the course of events. Some missiles are now operational in Cuba.
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Khrushchev makes an offer to remove missiles from Cuba in exchange for lifting quarantine and a pledge that the U.S. will not invade Cuba.
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Confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union that began with the shooting down of a U.S. U-2 reconnaissance plane over the Soviet Union and that caused the collapse of a summit conference in Paris between the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and France.