The Cuban Missile Crisis
During the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, President Kennedy meets with U.S. Army officials. Over two tense weeks, the world watched as the United States and the Soviet Union went to the brink of war when it became known that Soviet military officials had begun to construct nuclear weapons bases in Cuba, a mere 90 miles from the southern tip of Florida. Kennedy’s threat to intercept Soviet missile shipments with American naval vessels forced the Cold War adversary to back down. © Corbis.