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The '''Cuban Missile Crisis''' of October, 1962 was a critical point in the [[Cold War]]. American spy planes discovered the Soviets had installed missiles with nuclear warheads in Cuba with enough range and power to destroy much of the southeastern U.S. President [[John F. Kennedy]] was advised to send in the military to take out the missiles, but instead demanded that Soviet leader [[Nikita Khrushchev]] (1894-1971) remove them. A naval blockade around Cuba guaranteed no more missiles would enter. After a few tense days a compromise was reached. The Soviets publicly removed all the missiles, the U.S. promised never to invade Cuba, and (secretly) the U.S. removed similar American missiles that had recently been installed in Turkey, near the Soviet border.

The '''Cuban Missile Crisis''' of October 1962 was a critical point in the [[Cold War]]. American spy planes discovered the Soviets had installed missiles with nuclear warheads in Cuba with enough range and power to destroy much of the southeastern U.S. President [[John F. Kennedy]] was advised to send in the military to take out the missiles, but instead demanded that Soviet leader [[Nikita Khrushchev]] (1894-1971) remove them. A naval blockade around Cuba guaranteed no more missiles would enter. After a few tense days a compromise was reached. The Soviets publicly removed all the missiles, the U.S. promised never to invade Cuba, and (secretly) the U.S. removed similar American missiles that had recently been installed in Turkey, near the Soviet border.

 

The declassification and release in the 1980s of secret communications during the Cuban Missile Crisis shows that President Kennedy was willing to "blink" by trading the removal of U.S. missiles from Turkey if the Soviets removed their missiles from Cuba.<ref>http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/cuba_mis_cri/annals.htm</ref>  That deal remained a secret from most Americans, however, and contributed to the myth of Kennedy being a strong president who stood up for the United States.

[[Image:Kennedygryomykont8.jpg|right|thumb|325px|President Kennedy meeting with Soviet Ambassador Andrei Gromyko at the White House.]]

[[Image:Kennedygryomykont8.jpg|right|thumb|325px|President Kennedy meeting with Soviet Ambassador Andrei Gromyko at the White House.]]