Cuban missile crisis History, Facts, & Significance

Plans were drawn up for air strikes on the missile sites as well as other economic targets, notably petroleum storage. He went on to claim that an invasion was only hours away, and Fomin stated that a response to the US message was expected from Khrushchev shortly and urged Scali to tell the State Department that no treachery was intended. Rusk added one proviso that no part of the language of the deal would mention Turkey, but there would be an understanding that the missiles would be removed “voluntarily” in the immediate aftermath. We believed that if the U-2 was shot down that—the Cubans didn’t have capabilities to shoot it down, the Soviets did—we believed if it was shot down, it would be shot down by a Soviet surface-to-air-missile unit, and that it would represent a decision by the Soviets to escalate the conflict. We had to send a U-2 over to gain reconnaissance information on whether the Soviet missiles were becoming operational.

Kennedy Weighs the Options

Under Castro, Cuba grew dependent on the Soviets for military and economic aid. History from countries and communities across the globe, including the world’s major wars. Soviet freighter Kasimov at sea, with 15 IL-28 Beagle prabhu casino bombers on deck, 11 in crates which were opened by the Soviet crew for U.S. air inspection, 2 December 1962.