Russian President Vladimir Putin alluded he could revert to nuclear weapons in its war in Ukraine..There's a lesson to be learned from the last time the nuclear threat was this high — the Cuban Missile Crisis 60 years ago this month..On Oct. 22, 1962, President John F. Kennedy told Americans in a televised speech there was unmistakable evidence the Soviet Union was building bases in Cuba with ballistic missiles, with nuclear capability, and the ability to reach almost every major American city..Kennedy announced the US would prevent Russian ships carrying weapons to reach Cuba and demanded the Soviets withdraw their missiles..In the days leading up to his speech, CIA analysts poured over hundreds of photographs taken by a US U-2 spy plane over Cuba..The photos revealed launchers, missiles and transport trucks, leading JFK to meet with advisers..The president is presented with three options: diplomacy with Cuban leader Fidel Castro and Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev; a naval quarantine of Cuba, and; an air attack to destroy the missile sites, which would kill Soviet personnel and trigger a Soviet counterattack on a target such as Berlin.. KhrushchevKhrushchev .Kennedy chooses a quarantine to buy time to negotiate. JFK and his advisers are careful to call it a quarantine because a blockade is considered an act of war..In Moscow, the US ambassador to the Soviet Union delivers a letter from JFK to Khrushchev, writing, “... the one thing that has most concerned me has been the possibility that your government would not correctly understand the will and determination of the United States in any given situation, since I have not assumed that you or any other sane man would, in this nuclear age, deliberately plunge the world into war which, it is crystal clear, no country could win and which could only result in catastrophic consequences to the whole world, including the aggressor.”.The day after JFK’s speech, the Soviet leader writes to him, rebuffing his demand the Soviets remove the missiles, which the Soviet leader insists “... are intended solely for defensive purposes.”.JFK follows up with another letter, bluntly reminding Khrushchev he started the crisis by secretly sending missiles to Cuba..US ships then move into position around Cuba. Soviet submarines then move in, poised as if to try to break a blockade..However, Soviet freighters transporting military supplies headed for Cuba stopped in their tracks..Khrushchev says in a letter to JFK the US is threatening the Soviet Union, “You are no longer appealing to reason, but wish to intimidate us,” he writes..The next day, the Soviet arms freighters turn back, but the oil tanker Bucharest approaches the US quarantine zone. American warships prepare to intercept it, which could have led to war.. Russian missiles in CubaRussian missiles in Cuba .Instead, Kennedy lets the Bucharest through the quarantine, because it isn’t carrying any contraband..On Oct. 26, Fidel Castro, in a letter to Khrushchev, urges him to launch a nuclear first strike against the US, but Khrushchev ignores him and instead sends a letter to Kennedy, appealing to the president to work with him to de-escalate the conflict and ensure that they didn’t "doom the world to the catastrophe of thermonuclear war.".The letter was a significant moment in the crisis, involving political risk on both sides: for Khrushchev to make an emotional appeal, risking the appearance of weakness, and; for Kennedy to accept the Soviet premier's sentiment as genuine, risking the appearance of naïveté..The chance of war escalates on Oct. 26 when a US U-2 is shot down over Cuba. Assistant Secretary of Defense Paul Nitze says to Kennedy, “They’ve fired the first shot,” who replied, “We are now in an entirely new ball game.”.However, JFK believed Khrushchev had not given the order to shoot down the plane. The incident prompts both leaders to realize the situation is spiraling dangerously out of control..In a high-stakes bluff game, Khrushchev demands the US withdraw missiles from Turkey as part of any deal. JFK offers to promise not to attack Cuba after the Russians withdraw..JFK’s brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, meets with Soviet ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin, saying the US already planned to remove its missiles from Turkey, but could not say so publicly..This has been seen as the moment that both nations stepped back from the brink of war..On Oct. 28, Khrushchev concedes in an open letter to JFK, saying the Soviet missiles would be dismantled and removed from Cuba..The lesson to be learned comes from JFK’s remarks, but this time to Putin: “I have not assumed that you or any other sane man would, in this nuclear age, deliberately plunge the world into war which, it is crystal clear, no country could win and which could only result in catastrophic consequences to the whole world, including the aggressor.”. Radius of nuclear blast.Radius of nuclear blast.
