Cuban Missile Crisis
A 1962 confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union over Soviet nuclear missiles deployed in Cuba, resolved through negotiation.
ExComm: The U.S. National Security Council Executive Committee, formed to advise President John F. Kennedy during the crisis. Its members debated whether to attack Cuba, invade, or impose a naval quarantine.
Cuban Revolution: The armed revolt that overthrew Fulgencio Batista’s government and brought Fidel Castro to power in Cuba in 1959. The new Cuban government’s alignment with the Soviet Union transformed U.S.–Cuban relations.
John F. Kennedy: The 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He chose a naval quarantine and negotiated the crisis settlement.
Partial Test Ban Treaty: A 1963 treaty prohibiting nuclear tests in the atmosphere, outer space, and underwater. The crisis helped create momentum for an early arms-control agreement between the superpowers.
Cuban Missile Crisis naval quarantine: The U.S. naval interception line around Cuba, officially called a quarantine, established during the crisis. It applied pressure while avoiding an immediate air strike or invasion.
Bay of Pigs Invasion: A failed 1961 invasion of Cuba by U.S.-trained Cuban exiles seeking to overthrow Fidel Castro. The invasion reinforced Cuban fears of another U.S. attack and strengthened Havana’s case for Soviet protection.
U-2 photographs of Cuba: Aerial reconnaissance images taken by U.S. U-2 aircraft that revealed Soviet missile installations in Cuba. Photographs taken on October 14, 1962, provided the evidence that triggered the confrontation.
Nuclear deterrence: A strategy that seeks to prevent attack by threatening unacceptable retaliation. The crisis exposed how deterrence can fail through miscalculation even when neither side seeks nuclear war.
Kennedy–Khrushchev correspondence: The public and private messages exchanged by John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev during the crisis. Their letters carried proposals that helped move the confrontation toward a settlement.
Operation Mongoose: A U.S. covert program launched in 1961 to undermine and destabilize Fidel Castro’s government in Cuba. Its pressure on Cuba deepened the threat perceptions behind Soviet missile deployment.