13 Days of the Cuban Missile Crisis

14th October 1962

US U-2 spy plane photographs missile site in Cuba

16th October 1962

Kennedy informed of missiles, sets up ExComm to consider options and consequences

22nd October 1962

Kennedy’s televised address to USA announces naval quarantine on Cuba

23rd October 1962

UN security council meeting is called, condemns the soviet deployment of weapons to Cuba

24th October 1962

The first soviet ships to reach the quarantine line stop or turn around

26th October 1962

Khrushchev offers to remove soviet missiles fromCuba if US promise not to invade.

27th October 1962

Kennedy publicly accepts Khrushchev’s first offer. Secretly promises to remove missiles from Turkey at a later date.

28th October 1962

Khrushchev agrees to remove Soviet missiles from Cuba. Castro is incensed and refuses to allow UN inspections of the missile sites.