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Fidel Castro led a revolution that set up a socialist state in Cuba. Many middle and upper class cubans flead to the US.
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John F. Kennedy became president.
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1,200 cuban exiles landed at the Bay of Pigs. The landing was poorly planed, there no air support, and the exiles were quickly struck down. It was an embarrassment to the US and strenghtened Castro's hold in Cuba.
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Soviet Foreign Minister, Andrei Gromyko, warns that an American attack on Cuba could mean war with the Soviet Union
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JFK learns the Soviets were secretly building missle bases in Cuba (90 miles south of Florida). He made a television apperance telling the American public about the bases and announced a "strict quarantien" of Cuba.
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US has a U-2 flying over western Cuba obtains photographs of missile sites.
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Kennedy receives a letter from Khrushchev in which Khrushchev states that there is a, "serious threat to peace and security of peoples." Kennedy speaks with Ambassador Dobrynin.
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An American U-2 is shot down over Cuba killing the pilot, Major Rudolf Anderson.
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Kennedy sends Khrushchev a letter stating that he will make a statement that the U.S. will not invade Cuba if Khrushchev removes the missiles from Cuba.
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Khrushchev announces over Radio Moscow that he has agreed to remove the missiles from Cuba.
In return the US agrees to the withdrawal of US nuclear missiles from Turkey ending the Cuban Missile Crisis.
