Cuban Missile Crisis - HISTORY

Get the story of the dramatic face-off that nearly ended in nuclear war, as told by musician and artist Jeffrey Lewis.

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In a secretly recorded meeting on October 19, 1962, President John F. Kennedy discusses the Cuban missile crisis with his military advisors. After criticizing Kennedy’s call to blockade the island as too weak a response, Gen. Curtis LeMay, Air Force chief of staff, tells the president that his refusal to invade Cuba would encourage the Soviets to move on Berlin.

On October 18, 1962, President Kennedy met with nine of his advisers to discuss what to do about the Soviet missiles that U.S. aerial surveillance discovered in Cuba on October 16. After the meeting, President Kennedy went to the White House Oval Office and recorded his recollections of the meeting.

In this "This Day in History" video clip learn about different events that have occurred on October 22nd. Some of the events include the first case of the Spanish flu is reported and the first photo copy is made. Also, the FDA bans red dye 4 and the Cuban Missile Crisis is announced.

On February 15, 1961, U.S. Ambassador Adlai Stevenson addresses the United Nations General Assembly on the Congo crisis, pledges American support for the U.N.'s peacekeeping efforts and warns against Cold War politics in the civil war.

In an address to the U.N. Security Council on October 31, 1956, Great Britain's Sir Pierson Dixon discusses French and English military operations in response to Egypt's nationalization of the Suez Canal.

Joe Trippi, aide to Walter Mondale's 1984 Campaign, tells the story of the outrageous adventure two campaign staffers made to gift Mondale a box of Cuban Cigars.