50 Fun Facts About Cuban Missile Crisis

How many days did the Cuban Missile Crisis last, from 16 to 28 October 1962?

Robert Kennedy's posthumous memoir of the crisis was titled Thirteen Days, and Cubans call it the October Crisis.

What name do Russians use for the October 1962 confrontation?

Cubans call it the October Crisis; the Soviet leadership later saw the outcome as 'a blow to its prestige bordering on humiliation'.

Which American missiles had been placed in Italy and Turkey in 1961, within range of Moscow?

Thor missiles had gone to England in 1959 under Project Emily; the Jupiters became the secret half of the eventual deal.

What was the Soviet code name for the secret deployment of missiles to Cuba?

Plans were written out in longhand and approved by Marshal Malinovsky on 4 July and Khrushchev on 7 July 1962.

How were Soviet troops bound for Cuba misdirected about their destination?

The tropical climate then wrecked much of their equipment, with fuse failures, corrosion and generator blackouts.

How many Soviet troops were ultimately brought into Cuba for the deployment?

The head of the Soviet Rocket Forces assured Khrushchev the missiles could be hidden under palm trees.

Which Cuban leader went to the USSR on 30 August 1962 to sign the final missile agreement, arguing it should be public?

Khrushchev insisted on total secrecy and promised support if the Americans found out.

On what date in October 1962 did a U-2 flight first photograph the Soviet missile sites in Cuba?

Major Richard Heyser took 928 pictures of what turned out to be an SS-4 site at San Cristóbal in western Cuba.

Near which town in western Cuba was the first missile construction site photographed?

It was in Pinar del Río Province, now part of Artemisa Province.

What was the NATO designation of the Soviet R-12 medium-range missile installed in Cuba?

Six R-12 sites and three R-14 (SS-5) sites were being built; the R-12 could carry a megaton-class warhead about 2,000 km.

What was the name of the group of advisers Kennedy convened to handle the crisis?

The Executive Committee of the National Security Council was named after the fact by National Security Action Memorandum 196 on 22 October.

Which senator warned on 31 August 1962 that the Soviets were 'in all probability' building a missile base in Cuba?

He may have got the tip from former ambassador Clare Boothe Luce, who heard it from Cuban exiles.

Why did Kennedy call the naval blockade a 'quarantine'?

He said the US was not denying Cubans the necessities of life 'as the Soviets attempted to do in their Berlin blockade of 1948'.

At what time on 22 October 1962 did Kennedy deliver his televised address announcing the missiles?

Speechwriter Ted Sorensen later called it 'Kennedy's most important speech historically, in terms of its impact on our planet'.

To what readiness level was Strategic Air Command raised on 26 October, the only confirmed time it has happened?

B-52 bombers went on continuous airborne alert and B-47s were dispersed to civilian airfields ready to take off in 15 minutes.

At the UN on 25 October, which US ambassador demanded Soviet ambassador Zorin admit the missiles existed?

Zorin refused to answer, and Stevenson famously said he was prepared to wait 'until hell freezes over'.

Which Lebanese freighter was boarded at the blockade line by the destroyer USS Joseph P. Kennedy Jr.?

It was cleared through after its cargo was checked; the Soviet tanker Bucharest had been allowed past unboarded the day before.

Which ABC News correspondent met the KGB's Washington station chief on 26 October?

'Aleksandr Fomin' was the cover name of Alexander Feklisov, who opened by saying 'War seems about to break out'.

How did Khrushchev's second message on 27 October, read on Soviet radio, differ from the previous night's letter?

EXCOMM guessed the shift reflected an internal Kremlin argument, and Kennedy chose to answer the first letter instead.

Which US Air Force pilot was killed when his U-2 was shot down over Cuba on 27 October 1962?

Two Soviet generals ordered the SA-2 launch over Banes on their own authority; Robert Kennedy told Dobrynin, 'You have drawn first blood'.

What did the White House later call 27 October 1962, the day of the U-2 shootdown?

That evening the Navy dropped practice depth charges on a Soviet submarine without knowing it carried a nuclear torpedo.

Which officer aboard Soviet submarine B-59 is credited with refusing to fire its nuclear torpedo?

Launch needed all three senior officers to agree; the National Security Archive's director said in 2002, 'A guy called Vasily Arkhipov saved the world.'

What was the intended target of B-59's nuclear torpedo?

Captain Savitsky had assumed from the depth charges that war had begun; the sub was too deep to pick up radio traffic.

Where in Washington did emissaries of Kennedy and Khrushchev meet on the evening of 27 October?

It was in Cleveland Park; the same day Robert Kennedy was quietly meeting Ambassador Dobrynin.

To whom did Robert Kennedy secretly promise the US missiles in Turkey would go 'within a short time'?

The Kennedy-Khrushchev Pact was known to only nine US officials and first officially acknowledged in Moscow in 1989.

How did Khrushchev deliver his acceptance of Kennedy's terms on the morning of 28 October?

He drafted it at his dacha without consulting the Politburo, believing the Americans would hear it fastest that way.

How many Soviet missiles were loaded onto ships and removed from Cuba after the crisis?

They went out on eight ships between 5 and 9 November; the Il-28 bombers took another month of haggling.

On what date was the naval quarantine formally ended?

By then all offensive missiles and bombers had left, and US forces went back from DEFCON 3 to DEFCON 4.

What was the code name for the removal of the US missiles from Italy and Turkey in April 1963?

It began on 1 April and was complete by 24 April, keeping the secret half of the deal quiet.

Which general told Kennedy that the peaceful resolution was 'the greatest defeat in our history'?

He had wanted an immediate invasion and still favoured one after the missiles were gone; 25 years later he had not changed his mind.

What direct communications link between the superpowers was created as a result of the crisis?

The two sides also agreed the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, ending atmospheric tests.

How many years after the crisis did Khrushchev fall from power, partly over the Politburo's embarrassment about it?

Because the Jupiter trade was secret, the Soviets appeared to be retreating from a situation they had started.

According to Wikipedia, how many nuclear warheads did the US have compared with the Soviet Union in 1962?

The 'missile gap' Kennedy campaigned on in 1960 ran the other way: the US had about 170 ICBMs to a few dozen Soviet ones.

How did Khrushchev boast about Soviet missile production, exaggerating the 'missile gap'?

In 1961 the Soviets had only four R-7 ICBMs; the US already had eight Polaris submarines with 16 missiles each.

What was the US sabotage campaign against Cuba begun in late 1961, timetabled by Edward Lansdale, called?

Its planners hoped for 'open revolt and overthrow of the Communist regime' in the first two weeks of October 1962.

Which failed April 1961 invasion led Eisenhower to warn Kennedy it would 'embolden the Soviets'?

Khrushchev concluded from it that Kennedy was 'too intelligent and too weak' and would 'make a fuss ... and then agree'.

Which goal involving a divided German city was a second reason for Khrushchev's missile gamble?

He calculated that a Cuba-for-Berlin trade would be a win, since Berlin mattered more; Kennedy recognised the same logic.

Who was the Soviet ambassador in Havana who warned that Castro would not accept the missiles?

Khrushchev overruled him in May 1962; the Soviets then had only about 20 ICBMs able to reach the US from home soil.

Which CIA director wrote to Kennedy on 10 August 1962 guessing the Soviets would put missiles in Cuba?

He reasoned that sending SA-2 anti-aircraft missiles made sense only to shield a ballistic missile base.

On what date did the first consignment of Soviet R-12 missiles arrive in Cuba?

A second shipment followed on 16 September, and Moscow warned on 11 September that a US attack on Cuba would mean war.

Which Soviet leader agreed with Castro in July 1962 to place nuclear missiles in Cuba?

Both men believed a US invasion of Cuba was imminent; Khrushchev said he wanted to confront the Americans 'with more than words'.

Which US Defense Secretary argued that Soviet missiles in Cuba barely changed the strategic balance?

The Joint Chiefs disagreed; forty years later McNamara admitted nuclear war had come much closer than anyone thought.

Which Eastern Bloc leader wrote to Kennedy during the crisis distancing himself from Moscow?

It convinced Washington that Bucharest was trying to detach itself from Moscow.

At which 2002 gathering was the danger of the B-59 submarine incident first widely recognised?

It was sponsored by the private National Security Archive and attended by McNamara.

Which Soviet envoy talked Castro out of keeping 100 tactical nuclear weapons in November 1962?

He invented a non-existent Soviet law forbidding the transfer; the weapons were crated and shipped home in December 1962.

Which pope published the encyclical Pacem in terris in April 1963 in response to the crisis?

It was the first encyclical addressed to 'all men of good will' rather than only to Catholics, and it endorsed nuclear nonproliferation.

Which French newspaper initially doubted the authenticity of the CIA's missile-site photographs?

It accepted the photos two days later after a visit from a senior CIA agent; Raymond Aron backed the US response in Le Figaro.

Which war coincided with the Cuban Missile Crisis, with China launching a surprise Himalayan attack?

Beijing later condemned Khrushchev's 'capitulationism', and he in turn blasted China's aggression against India.

What newly created decoration was U-2 pilot Rudolf Anderson the first person to receive?

He was the only combatant killed, but 11 RB-47 crew and seven C-135 crew also died in crashes during the period.

Which British ambassador, a close Kennedy family friend, sat in on White House crisis discussions?

Prime Minister Harold Macmillan backed Kennedy's response, while the RAF kept 59 Thor missiles ready under US warhead supervision.