Quote: In 1962, the pirate-ridden Caribbean Sea was experiencing a nuclear crisis that shocked the world, which was the most intense confrontation between the two great powers of the Soviet Union and the United States during the Cold War, the conflict lasted for 13 days, the two sides hovered next to the nuclear button, and finally at the time of the first attack, the event ended in the mutual compromise between the Soviet Union and the United States, this crisis is known to many people, but this article is about 10 things about the Cuban missile crisis that you may not know,
Discover 10 surprising facts about the moment the Cold War became hot.
Key photographs taken by U-2 reconnaissance planes over Cuba were transported for analysis to a top-secret CIA facility in one of the most unlikely locations: a building above the Ford dealership in Washington, D.C. On October 15, 1962, downstairs, CIA analysts walked upstairs, working around the clock at the state-of-the-art National Center of Photography, searching for hundreds of grainy photographs for evidence of a Soviet ballistic missile base under construction.
Photographs taken by U2 U.S. reconnaissance aircraft
Beginning in the summer of 1962, the Soviet Union adopted an elaborate ruse, code-named Operation Anadyr, to transport thousands of combat troops to Cuba. Thousands of soldiers wore plaid shirts and posed as civilian agricultural advisers. Many more were distributed equipment for odor removal, assigned to a fleet of 85 ships, and then told to stay off deck for long voyages to avoid detection. When the CIA estimated 6,000 to 8,000 Soviet troops stationed in Cuba on October 20, 1962, the true number was more than 40,000.
U.S. President John F. Kennedy
To avoid causing public concern in the early days of the crisis, Kennedy tried to maintain his official schedule, including a seven-state campaign planned ahead of the midterm elections. However, on October 20, 1962, he suddenly flew back to Washington from Chicago. The president's doctor made up a story that Kennedy's voice the night before had been "hoarse" and that he was having a cold and a mild fever. While aides told the press kennedy would spend the rest of his day in bed, he held five hours of talks with advisers before deciding to impose a sea blockade on Cuba. Vice President Lyndon Johnson also accused the cold of shortening the trip to Honolulu to return to Washington.
Cuban Missile Crisis
On October 22, 1962, in a dramatic prime-time speech, Kennedy informed the nation of the sea blockade around Cuba. However, in the case of the president opting for a military strike, an alternative speech with very different information had been drafted a few days earlier. "This morning, I reluctantly ordered the armed forces to attack and destroy Cuba's nuclear facilities," Kennedy began with a never-before-said speech.
Colonel Oleg Penkovsky
Colonel Oleg Penkovsky, a Soviet military intelligence officer, forwarded important espionage activities related to Soviet missile systems, including technical manuals, to the CIA and British intelligence officials. This information proved to be very valuable to CIA agents who analyzed aerial photographs taken in Cuba. On October 22, 1962, KGB officials arrested Penkovsky in Moscow, and he is believed to have been convicted of espionage and executed in 1963.
Cuban leader Castro and Khrushchev in a group photo
On October 27, 1962, a Surface-to-Air Missile supplied by the Soviet Union shot down an American U-2 aircraft, killing its pilot, Major Rudolf Anderson Jr. President Kennedy posthumously awarded him the Distinguished Service Medal. Four days before Anderson's death, a C-135 Air Force transport aircraft carrying supplies to the Guantanamo Naval Air Station in Cuba crashed on landing, killing seven crew members on board.
Khrushchev and Kennedy negotiated
U.S. Secretary of State Dean Lasker said of the Cuban Missile Crisis: "We watched with our eyes open, and I think the other man just blinked. This assessment is too one-sided. On October 28, 1962, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev ordered the withdrawal of Soviet nuclear missiles from Cuba, but this was not a unilateral move. The Americans also secretly promised to withdraw medium-range nuclear missiles from Turkey and not to invade Cuba.
Members of the National Security Council Executive Committee left the White House on October 29, 1962. (John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.)
After Kennedy declared the blockade of Cuba, the United States and the Soviet Union communicated regularly. The October 28 agreement was finalized the night before at a secret meeting between Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin. The minister's diplomatic activities and proposals to withdraw missiles from Turkey were so secret that only a handful of presidential advisers knew about it at the time.
Yes, 13 days have passed since Bundy showed Kennedy the U-2 photo to radio Moscow announcing Khrushchev's decision to dismantle the missile, and that number has gone into the historical picture of the same name with Robert Kennedy's posthumous memoir "Thirteen Days" and the 2000 bill. But although the whole world breathed a sigh of relief after the news of the thirteenth day, the tension did not suddenly ease. The U.S. military maintained a three-week maximum alert for another three weeks while monitoring the withdrawal of missiles.
U.S. ships blockade the Caribbean Sea
Satisfied with soviet assurances that all nuclear weapons had been dismantled, President Kennedy lifted the blockade against Cuba on November 20, 1962. However, recently exposed Soviet documents show that while Khrushchev dismantled what Kennedy knew was during the medium- and medium-range missile administration, he left behind about 100 tactical nuclear weapons — weapons unknown to the Americans — that could have been used to repel any invading U.S. forces. Khrushchev intends to train the Cubans and transfer the missiles to them, as long as they keep their presence secret. However, the Soviets feared whether Castro could be trusted, and the Soviets eventually removed the last nuclear warhead from Cuba on December 1, 1962.