By: HISTORY.com Editors

1962

Soviet missiles photographed in Cuba

Published: November 13, 2009Last Updated: January 31, 2025

The Cuban Missile Crisis begins on October 14, 1962, bringing the United States and the Soviet Union to the brink of nuclear conflict. Photographs taken by a high-altitude U-2 spy plane offered incontrovertible evidence that Soviet-made medium-range missiles in Cuba—capable of carrying nuclear warheads—were now stationed 90 miles off the American coastline.

Tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union over Cuba had been steadily increasing since the failed April 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, in which Cuban refugees, armed and trained by the United States, landed in Cuba and attempted to overthrow the government of Fidel Castro. Though the invasion did not succeed, Castro was convinced that the United States would try again, and set out to get more military assistance from the Soviet Union. During the next year, the number of Soviet advisors in Cuba rose to more than 20,000.

Rumors began that Russia was also moving missiles and strategic bombers onto the island. Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev may have decided to so dramatically up the stakes in the Cold War for several reasons. He may have believed that the United States was indeed going to invade Cuba and provided the weapons as a deterrent. Facing criticism at home from more hard-line members of the Soviet communist hierarchy, he may have thought a tough stand might win him support. Khrushchev also had always resented that U.S. nuclear missiles were stationed near the Soviet Union (in Turkey, for example), and putting missiles in Cuba might have been his way of redressing the imbalance. Two days after the pictures were taken, after being developed and analyzed by intelligence officers, they were presented to President Kennedy. During the next two weeks, the United States and the Soviet Union would come as close to nuclear war as they ever had, and a fearful world awaited the outcome.

Key Moments in the Cuban Missile Crisis

These are the steps that brought the United States and Soviet Union to the brink of nuclear war in 1962.

By: Patrick J. Kiger

Timeline

Also on This Day in History

Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on October 14th

1066

The Battle of Hastings

King Harold II of England is defeated by the Norman forces of William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings, fought on Senlac Hill, seven miles from Hastings, England. At the end of the bloody, all-day battle, Harold was killed—shot in the eye with an arrow, according to legend—and his forces were destroyed. He was […]

1890

Dwight D. Eisenhower is born

Future president Dwight D. Eisenhower is born in Denison, Texas on October 14, 1890. After graduating from West Point in 1915, Eisenhower embarked on a stellar military career—he would eventually become the supreme commander of Allied forces in Europe during World War II and the leader of the invasion of Normandy in June 1944. Following the […]

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1892

“The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” published

On October 14, 1892, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle, is published. The book was the first collection of Holmes stories, which Conan Doyle had been publishing in magazines since 1887. Conan Doyle was born in Scotland and studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, where he met Dr. Joseph Bell, a teacher […]

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1912

Theodore Roosevelt shot in Milwaukee

Before a campaign speech in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, presidential candidate Theodore Roosevelt is shot at close range by saloonkeeper John Schrank while greeting the public in front of the Gilpatrick Hotel. Schrank’s .32-caliber bullet, aimed directly at Roosevelt’s heart, failed to mortally wound the former president because its force was slowed by a glasses case and a bundle […]

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1918

Adolf Hitler wounded in British gas attack

Among the German wounded in the Ypres Salient in Belgium on October 14, 1918, is Corporal Adolf Hitler, temporarily blinded by a British gas shell and evacuated to a German military hospital at Pasewalk, in Pomerania. The young Hitler was drafted for Austrian military service but turned down due to lack of fitness; while living […]

1926

‘Winnie-the-Pooh’ first published

On October 14, 1926, British author A.A. Milne publishes ‘Winnie-the-Pooh,’ a children’s book about a bear and his friends who live in the Hundred Acre Wood. The story becomes a global classic.

1944

German General Erwin Rommel—aka “The Desert Fox”—dies by suicide

On October 14, 1944, German Gen. Erwin Rommel, nicknamed “the Desert Fox,” is given the option of facing a public trial for treason, as a co-conspirator in the plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, or taking cyanide. He chooses the latter. Rommel was born in 1891 in Wurttenberg, Germany, the son of a teacher. Although not […]

1947

Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier

U.S. Air Force Captain Chuck Yeager becomes the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound.

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1957

“Wake Up Little Susie” becomes the Everly Brothers’ first No. 1 hit

On October 14, 1957, the Everly Brothers, one of the most important and influential groups in the history of rock ’n’ roll, have their first No. 1 song: “Wake Up Little Susie.”

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1964

Martin Luther King Jr. wins Nobel Peace Prize

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1964

Nikita Khrushchev ousted as premier of Soviet Union

In the midst of the conflict in Vietnam, Nikita Khrushchev is ousted as both premier of the Soviet Union and chief of the Communist Party after 10 years in power. He left office the next day, October 15, 1964. He was succeeded as head of the Communist Party by his former protégé Leonid Brezhnev, who would […]

1968

Military announces it will send U.S. servicemen to Vietnam for second tours

U.S. Defense Department officials announce that the Army and Marines will be sending about 24,000 men back to Vietnam for involuntary second tours because of the length of the war, high turnover of personnel resulting from the one year of duty, and the tight supply of experienced soldiers. This decision had an extremely negative impact […]

1975

Trial begins in Amityville murders

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1977

Anti-gay crusader Anita Bryant is hit in the face with a pie

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1994

“Pulp Fiction” opens in theaters

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Cold War

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