What was the Cuban Missile Crisis?
Answer
A 1962 confrontation over nuclear missiles
Explanation
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a thirteen-day confrontation in October 1962 between the United States and the Soviet Union over the secret deployment of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba, the closest the Cold War ever came to nuclear war. After the failed American-backed Bay of Pigs invasion in April 1961 and the deployment of American Jupiter missiles in Turkey, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and Cuban leader Fidel Castro agreed to install medium-range and intermediate-range nuclear missiles on the island, which sits only 90 miles from the Florida coast.
American U-2 reconnaissance flights photographed the missile sites under construction on October 14, 1962. The photographs were shown to President John F. Kennedy on October 16, beginning the crisis. Kennedy convened a special advisory group called ExComm, the Executive Committee of the National Security Council, which debated options ranging from doing nothing to a full-scale invasion of Cuba. Hawks led by Air Force General Curtis LeMay urged immediate air strikes. Doves including Attorney General Robert Kennedy worried that any attack could trigger nuclear war. Kennedy chose a middle path.
On October 22, 1962, he announced the discovery of the missiles in a televised address and ordered a naval quarantine, calling it a quarantine rather than a blockade because a blockade is technically an act of war, to stop further Soviet weapons from reaching Cuba. American forces went to DEFCON 2 for the first and only time in history, the highest readiness short of nuclear war. Soviet ships approached the quarantine line on October 24 and turned back.
Tensions rose further on October 27, called Black Saturday. A Soviet surface-to-air missile shot down a U-2 over Cuba, killing pilot Major Rudolf Anderson. Soviet submarine B-59 nearly fired a nuclear torpedo at American destroyers off Cuba, prevented only because officer Vasili Arkhipov refused to authorize the launch. Khrushchev sent two letters, one conciliatory and one demanding the removal of American missiles from Turkey. Kennedy publicly accepted the first offer to remove the Cuban missiles in exchange for a pledge not to invade Cuba, while secretly agreeing to remove the Turkish Jupiter missiles within months.
Khrushchev announced the withdrawal of Soviet missiles on October 28, 1962. The crisis led to the Moscow-Washington hotline in 1963 and the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty later that year.
Why this matters for your test
USCIS asks about the Cuban Missile Crisis because it is the most famous example of nuclear brinkmanship during the Cold War and remains the standard case study for crisis management. Knowing the basic events helps applicants understand modern American concerns about nuclear proliferation.
Source: USCIS 128 Civics Questions (2025)
