The Cuban Missile Crisis A 13 Day Standoff - 1726 Words

The Cuban Missile Crisis was a 13 day standoff in Cuba during the Cold War that struck fear into many American people. Joseph Roblat said, â€Å"The most terrifying moment in my life was October 1962, during the cuban missile crisis. I did not know all the facts - we have learned only recently how close we were to war - but I knew enough to make me tremble†. Missiles were in Cuba, in range of the U.S.. The world has never come so close to being in a full out Nuclear War. If the Soviets launched one of those missiles, then the U.S. would have retaliated back with the only thing as powerful as a nuclear missile, a nuclear missile. If the world were to have a nuclear war, it could wipe out civilization. The fact that the Soviet Union had the fate†¦show more content†¦and learn how to live with them. This guy would be working for Khrushchev, the leader of the soviets at the time. He would act as a double agent for the USSR and gain information for them on the U.S.. This i s so they could be prepared if anything were to happen. They didn’t realize that President Kennedy was way in front of them with his plan on how to end the crisis (Kennedy 59). At the time, the U.S. had an estimated 3,500 nuclear sites and the Soviet Union had somewhere between 300 and 500. On the island of Cuba on October 14, 1962 the Soviet Union was discovered to have missiles positioned in Cuba that could then reach the U.S. in minutes. This was discovered by a U-2 reconnaissance plane. Later, closer to the end of the crisis, a U-2 was shot down while trying to get more updated pictures of the missile sites (Kennedy 63). This is a plane that can take pictures from 12 miles in the sky. It flew over Cuba when there was a reason to believe that there were nuclear missiles placed in Cuba by the USSR. There were rumors that missiles could be in Cuba, but no one knew for sure until the U.S. got evidence. (Kennedy 19). The crisis technically started when President Kennedy was notified about what the plane found. This was 2 days later. The missiles were believed to be aimed at populated cities all over the U.S.. Any missile is estimated to be able to reach Wash ington D.C. in just 10 minutes. This caused people in the Oval