War · 1962
Cuban Missile Crisis
Havana, Cuba
On 14 October 1962 a US U-2 spy plane photographed Soviet nuclear missile sites being built in Cuba, and President John F. Kennedy imposed a naval 'quarantine' of the island on 22 October.
After 13 days of confrontation, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev announced on 28 October that the missiles would be removed, in return for a US pledge not to invade Cuba and a secret US promise to withdraw its Jupiter missiles from Turkey.
Why it mattered
Widely considered the closest the Cold War came to full-scale nuclear war, the crisis led to a Moscow–Washington hotline and a treaty banning atmospheric nuclear tests.
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