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Thirteen Most Dangerous Days Research Paper

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The Thirteen Most Dangerous Days According to historians, in October of 1962, “The most dangerous 13 days in the history of mankind,” took place. This was known as the Cuban Missile Crisis, a time of tensions during the Cold War between Cuba, the United States, and the Soviet Union. This period of time was so dangerous that there was enough nuclear power to destroy humanity (Cullough). John F. Kennedy, the President of the United States, was elected in 1960. Considering the fact that he was elected at 43 years old, he was the youngest President in the United States. The Premier of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev, came to rule in 1958. Another leader that was greatly involved, was Fidel Castro, the leader of Cuba who came to power in …show more content…

“Do everything in such a way that the U.S. public opinion will not be aware of this until November 4th or after November 4th…The Americans are going to have to swallow this the same way we have had to swallow the pill of missiles in Turkey,” stated Premier Nikita Khrushchev. He wanted to keep this a secret until the missiles would be operational. The Soviet Union eventually brought 45,000 troops, 80 missiles, some bombers, and several SAM sites to Cuba by sea, which were meant to shoot down U-2 planes that routinely flew over Cuba, so they would not discover the offensive missiles (Eubank 20-24). On October 15, a U-2 plane discovered offensive missiles and this was reported to President Kennedy the next morning at 9:00 AM. Kennedy didn’t seem too shocked. He simply discussed plans with his advisors, also known as the ExComm, about solutions including an invasion, air strikes, withdrawing missiles from Turkey, and blockades (Eubank 36-41). Kennedy finally came to a decision and decided to reveal it to the public through a speech on television. Kennedy’s speech on October 22, 1962 addressed the fact that he wanted Khrushchev to remove the missiles from Cuba and that Khrushchev claimed that there were no offensive missiles in Cuba. Kennedy further explained the fact that there was evidence from photographs that U-2 spy planes took over the island of Cuba. Additionally, Kennedy announced that a naval quarantine or blockade would take place on Cuba to stop ships from bringing in any offensive weapons (“Presidents Grave”). Everyone rushed to the supermarkets and stocked up on food in panic (Cullough). Soviet ships continued towards Cuba even after the speech. One of the members in the ExComm, McCone, stated, “Mr. President, we have a preliminary report which seems to indicate that some of the

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