1. OCTOBER SKIES
Essential Questions:
1. How did the Cuban Missile Crisis unfold?
2. What was the American response to the Soviet
installation of missiles on Cuba?
3. What was the quarantine?
4. How was the Cuban Missile Crisis brought to a
conclusion?

2. U-2 flights and discovery
 Soviets were building nine missile sites in
Cuba
 They had a range of 2,400 miles
 First shipment of medium-range ballistic
missiles arrived in Cuba in September1962
 Cubans of the island clearly noticed the
arrival of the missiles
 Over 1000 reports reached Miami
 U.S. intelligence officials, however,
considered them shady/not genuine
 This, along with several unrelated
problems, meant the missiles were not
discovered immediately
 On October 15th a U-2 flight showed the
construction of an SS-4 site in western
Cuba

3. EXCOMM
 Kennedy saw the
photographs on October 16
 Kennedy assembled the
Executive Committee of the
National Security Council
(ExComm)
 14 key officials and his
brother Bobby
 The U.S. had no plan for
dealing with such a threat
 U.S. intelligence was
convinced the Soviets would
not install nuclear missiles in
Cuba

4. EXCOMM
 EXCOMM quickly discussed 5 courses of
action:
 Do nothing
 Use diplomatic pressure to get the
Soviet Union to remove the missiles
 An air attack on the missiles
 A full military invasion of Cuba
 The naval blockade or quarantine of
Cuba
 The Joint Chiefs of Staff unanimously
agreed that a full-scale attack and invasion
was the only solution
 Said Soviets would not act to stop the
U.S. from conquering Cuba
 Kennedy was skeptical
 Concluded that attacking would signal
to the Soviets they could conquer
Soviet surrounded Berlin
 Said it would signal to U.S. allies that
we were just quot;trigger-happy cowboysquot;

5. The American Response
 The Joint Chiefs believed the
missiles would seriously alter
the military balance in the
region
 Secretary of Defense Robert
McNamara disagreed
 He was convinced the
missiles would not effect the
strategic balance at all
 Said the US already had
5,000 strategic warheads
 The Soviet Union had only 300
 He said that the Soviets
having 340 would not
substantially alter the
strategic balance

6. The American Response
 ExComm did agree the missile
would affect the political
balance of power
 Would alter U.S. credibility in
Europe and Latin America
 Would impact the way the
American people viewed
Kennedy
 Kennedy’s image would have been
damaged if the Soviets were
allowed to keep the missiles in
Cuba
 Kennedy ruled out a full-scale
invasion
 But something had to be done
 Robert McNamara supported the
naval blockade

7. A Quarantine
 Blockade
 Stops all shipments into the
area
 Is considered an act of war
 Quarantine
 This is more selective
 Limited to offensive weapons
 The quarantine would take
place in International waters
 Kennedy obtained approval
from various international
countries in the region

8. The Crisis Deepens
 At 11:24am the U.S.
Ambassador in Turkey and
the US Ambassador to
NATO were notified JFK
was considering making an
offer
 Considering withdrawing
missiles from Turkey in
exchange for a withdrawal
from Cuba
 After this a series of
telegrams were sent to and
from Washington and
Moscow
 Between JFK and Nikita
Khrushchev

9. The Crisis Deepens: DEFCON
2
 On the night of October 23, the Joint
Chiefs of Staff instructed Strategic Air
Command to go to DEFCON 2
 Was the only time in US history
 Refers to an increase in force
readiness just below maximum
 The message, and the response,
were deliberately transmitted
uncoded and unencrypted
 Was done in order to allow Soviet
intelligence to capture them
 Operation Falling Leaves quickly set
up three radar bases to watch for
missile launches from Cuba

10. A Ship Slips Through
 On October 25, Kennedy
responded to Khrushchev's
telegram
 Stated that the U.S. was
forced into quarantining Cuba
 Later that day a Soviet ship
failed to be intercepted
 It was let through since
officials were fairly certain it
contained no military material
 It was then reported to JFK
that the missiles in Cuba
were still actively being
worked on

11. SACEUR
 In response Kennedy authorized the
loading of nuclear weapons onto
aircraft under the command of
SACEUR
 Supreme Allied Commander
Europe
 Had the duty of carrying out the
first air strikes on the Soviet
Union
 Kennedy informed the EXCOMM that
he believed only an invasion would
remove the missiles from Cuba
 He was persuaded to give the matter
more time and continue with both
military and diplomatic pressure
 At this point the crisis was a
stalemate

12. A Message From Khrushchev
 At 6:00pm the State
Department started receiving
a message that appeared to
be written personally by
Khrushchev
 Robert Kennedy described
the letter as quot;very long and
emotional”
 Khrushchev reiterated the
basic outline of earlier
telegrams :
 U.S.S.R. would declare
that all ships bound for
Cuba had no arms aboard
 U.S. needed to declare
that it would not invade
Cuba

13. Jupiters in Turkey
 By 9am Moscow's Voice of Russia
began broadcasting a new message
from Khrushchev
 This message complained about
missiles the U.S. had in Turkey
 Kennedy and his committee met again
to discuss the situation
 Concluded the change in message was
due to internal debate between
Khrushchev and other officials in the
Kremlin
 At 11:03am a new message arrived
from Khrushchev
 Said the Soviet Union was upset
having the missiles in Turkey

14. Ending the Crisis
 After much deliberation
between the Soviet Union
and Kennedy's cabinet a deal
was reached
 Kennedy secretly agreed to
remove all missiles in Turkey
 In exchange Khrushchev
would remove all missiles in
Cuba
 Khrushchev stated the
missiles in Cuba would be
dismantled and future
construction halted
 Kennedy immediately
responded

15. The Aftermath
 The compromise was seen as an
embarrassment for Khrushchev and
the Soviet Union
 Removal of U.S. missiles from
Turkey was not made public
 It was a secret deal between Kennedy
and Khrushchev
 The Cuban Missile Crisis spurred the
creation of the Moscow-Washington
hot line
 Direct communications link between
Moscow and Washington, D.C.
 Leaders of the two Cold War
countries could communicate directly
to solve a future crisis