Cuban Missle Crisis

Cuban Missile Crisis John F. Kennedy's greatest triumph as President of the United States came in 1962, as the world's two largest superpowers, the Soviet Union and the United States, edged closer and closer to nuclear war. The Soviet premier of Russia was caught arming Fidel Castro with nuclear weapons. The confrontation left the world in fear for thirteen long days, with the life of the world on the line. In 1962, Nikita Khrushchev, Premier of the Soviet Union, employed a daring gambit. He secretly ordered the placement of Soviet nuclear weapons in Cuba. Earlier the Soviet premier had promised Soviet protection to Cuba . This was the first time any such weapons had been placed outside of Eurasia . Several explanations for his actions have been offered by historians. One factor in Khrushchev’s decision was a strategic one . A year earlier, the United States had placed several medium-range nuclear missiles in Turkey . The missiles were just across the Black Sea from the Soviet Union,...