Table of Contents Introduction 6 Chapter One A Future President 10 Chapter Two The Soviet Union and Vietnam 20 Chapter Three A Divided Germany 32 Chapter Four Relations with Cuba 40 Chapter Five The Space Race 50 Chapter Six A New Frontier 58 Chapter Seven Civil Rights 70 Chapter Eight Loss and Legacy 78 Timeline 91 Source Notes 92 Glossary 97 Selected Bibliography 98 Further Information 99 Index 101
Introduction The crisis began in late 1962 when the United States made an alarming discovery not far from its southeastern shores President John F Kennedy learned on October 16 that the small island nation of Cuba was building missile bases A US pilot had snapped photographs of the construction while flying high overhead The revelation was cause for concern because Cuba lay less than 100 miles 161 kilometers from A nuclear warhead bunker was under construction in San CristÓbal Cuba in October 1962 6
US soil And its leader Fidel Castro was a Communist dictator and an ally of the Soviet Union fifteen republics that included Russia a major enemy of the United States Kennedy had little doubt that the Soviet Union was providing nuclear missiles and other weapons to Cuba The missile bases under construction in Cuba were evidence of a Soviet plan that threatened the lives of Americans and ultimately everyone on the planet Fidel Castro became the dictator of Cuba in 1959 The photographs revealed a variety of Soviet weapons at the Cuban facilities Soviet supplies included parts to create bomber aircraft too which had the flying capability to reach cities in Florida including Miami and Jacksonville But the Soviet Union supplied Cuba with more than weaponry and aircraft more than forty thousand Soviet troops were stationed on the island as well The superpower was ready to fight the United States from Cuba Kennedy and his staff debated how best to respond To avoid alarming Americans unnecessarily the president initially chose not to publicly share information about the Cuban missiles When he met with Soviet diplomat Andrei Gromyko on October 18 to discuss Soviet aid to Cuba Kennedy kept his knowledge about the missiles to himself though he did remind Gromyko 7
