Original subtitles

- History is not an exact science.

It is never set in stone.

As time passes, knowledge of the past

is refined and evolves.

But by definition, perceived ideas have thick skins

and are hard to shift.

To understand the realities of the world, you sometimes

have to shake them up

and decipher the facts by looking at them another way.

The Cuban Missile Crisis left the world on the edge of a nuclear abyss.

Posterity has it that the worst was avoided thanks to the

power of the United States and

and its charismatic president, John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

And yet?

In the autumn of 1961, at its airbase near Izmir, Turkey, the

United States deployed

and a squadron equipped with 15 medium-range Jupiter missiles.

Jupiters could be armed with nuclear warheads almost 100 times

more powerful than the bomb

dropped on Hiroshima.

They were able to reach Moscow in barely 10 minutes and

could plunge the Soviet Union

into an endless nuclear winter.

For the USSR and its leader, Nikita Khrushchev,

this threat so close to its border

gave the Americans an unfair advantage.

The Soviets had to respond, and fast.

In 1961, the Cold War was dangerously close to boiling point.

In early June, the summit meeting in Vienna between the

experienced Nikita Khrushchev

and John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the recently elected U.S.

President, revived the tensions

that existed between the two blocs.

regarding Germany.

Khrushchev demanded that the Allies pull out of West Berlin.

This enclave of freedom surrounded by the communist world

presented an exit route for

millions of Germans fleeing from the German Democratic Republic.

Kennedy refused.

While Berlin was a thorn in the side of the communist bloc.

The island of Cuba had become the same thing for the Americans.

Fidel Castro had come to power two years earlier and had since

strengthened ties with the USSR.

Kennedy's biggest fear was seeing this government last and become

an example for its neighbors.

For him, anything was permitted to bring about the

downfall of the regime.

We do not intend to be lectured on intervention by those whose

character was stamped for all

time on the bloody streets of Budapest.

Cuba must not be abandoned to the communists, and we do not

intend to abandon it either.

In April 1961, an invasion in the Bay of Pigs led by the US and

anti-Castro Cuban exiles

turned into a fiasco.

In just a few days, 1,400 of the men involved in the CIA

-directed operation were killed,

wounded, or captured by Fidel Castro's forces.

Khrushchev reacted to the attack, solemnly warning the

Americans, "The USSR will provide

the Cuban people and their government the necessary aid to

repel any armed attack against

their island.

Kennedy didn't give up.

He asked CIA experts to formulate a top-secret plan to

destabilize Cuba's entire society.

Operation Mongoose was launched in late 1961.

From their headquarters in Miami, 400 agents ran a program that

cost 50 million dollars.

And there was no holding them back.

Mongoose financed economic sabotage and propaganda programs, and

worked on plans to assassinate

Cuban leaders.

Military men were also brought into Operation Mongoose to

formulate a number of scenarios

which could serve as pretexts for invading the island.

The staging of phony terrorist attacks in the United

States, for example.

Or the torpedoing of a ship filled with refugees on its way to

Florida, for which the Cubans

would be blamed.

The CIA even considered trying to inject Fidel Castro's cigars

with a drug that would cause

behavioural problems. Everything was justifiable if it brought

down the Cuban government.

as a center of conspiracy, interference in the affairs that

only compete with the Cuban people,

espionage and violation of the sovereignty of Cuba.

While Kennedy sought all kinds of ways to overthrow Castro's regime,

Khrushchev gave orders to the East German government to close

off access to West Berlin.

In August 1961, temporary barbed wire fences and barriers

went up along the borders of the occupied zones,

before eventually being replaced by an imposing wall.

This was the moment that Kennedy chose to strengthen NATO's position

by deploying the Jupiter missiles in Turkey, an action defended

by the United States Secretary

of Defense, Robert McNamara.

Actions were taken to increase both the nuclear and non-nuclear

strength of the armed forces.

These actions were inescapable in the face of the aggressive

atmosphere in the Far East.

Khrushchev was all the more put out by the fact that the US

was far ahead of the USSR.

The Americans had a total of 25,000 nuclear warheads,

compared to fewer than 3,000 for

the Soviets.

How could Khrushchev make up for such a disadvantage?

He suddenly had a flash of genius.

He confided in his Minister of Defense, "And what if we also

put one of our hedgehogs down

the Americans' pants.

The hedgehog in this case was nuclear missiles.

And the American pants was Cuba.

The Soviet leader hoped to kill two birds with one stone.

To secure the communist island while making Kennedy comprehend

that he could not install

nuclear missiles, a stone's throw from the USSR, with impunity.

Fidel Castro decided to go along with Khrushchev's plan.

But he still wanted to sign an official alliance treaty.

He was scared that international public opinion would turn

against him if nuclear warheads

were supplied to Cuba secretly.

In his eyes, Cuba was a sovereign state, with the legitimate

right to possess nuclear weapons

without having to hide them, especially as he continuously

denounced the violent aggression

by the US towards his country.

Khrushchev did not share this view.

He wanted to supply military aid, but with the utmost

secrecy, to keep the Americans

guessing.

In June 1962, Khrushchev managed to convince members of the

Soviet Presidium of his plan.

The Americans are planning to invade Cuba with their armed forces.

They need to understand that by attacking Cuba not only will

they face a tenacious country,

they will also face the nuclear power of the Soviet Union.

Operation Anadyr was launched.

Its objective to transport to Cuba more than 50,000 men, 60

short, medium and long-range

nuclear missiles, bombers, some of which could be equipped with

nuclear warheads, and a number

of military vehicles, all without being discovered.

To do this, merchant navy vessels were used.

The material was wrapped and loaded onto cargo ships, and the men

traveled on passenger liners.

To maintain secrecy, the generals filtered information.

The soldiers had no idea of their destination, nor did the

captains of the 85 cargo ships

chartered for the operation.

Some of the ships sailed from Baltic seaports, others from the Black Sea.

It was only once they were at sea that each captain opened an envelope

containing instructions for the rest of the voyage.

And finally, Foxtrot-class submarines discreetly

escorted the convoys.

But in spite of all the trickery, the Americans soon noticed this

suspicious transport, notably

thanks to one man, new CIA Director John McCone.

Appointed by Kennedy in July 1962 after the Bay of Pigs

disaster, he was the first to

have suspicions about the unusual arrival of 21 Soviet

cargo ships in Cuba.

In a report dated August the 10th, he raised the first alarm.

It could be deliveries of military equipment and

possibly nuclear weapons.

Especially as 17 more ships are expected during the

rest of this month.

His warning went unheeded by both the CIA and the White House.

Although Kennedy recognized the possibility of anti-aircraft

rockets on Cuba, he believed

they were purely defensive and not powerful enough to be of concern.

Spy planes were nonetheless rapidly sent out to reconnoiter

the Soviet ships, but they

were unable to identify their cargo.

As the nuclear warheads were arriving in Cuba by the dozen, in

early August the just married

head of the CIA left the United States for his honeymoon on

the French Riviera.

In France, Macron kept up to date with the situation in Cuba.

Although there was no definite proof of the freighters'

cargos, he was convinced they

were carrying nuclear missiles.

In early September, he cabled his deputy director.

It seems entirely plausible that they are hiding the

existence of offensive-capacity

nuclear weapons."

A few days later, McCone sent a second cable.

"We must closely study the possibility of the secret

deployment of a number of Soviet

nuclear missiles."

His agents didn't seem to share his concern.

This is proved by the fact that his warnings were classified

under the name "Honeymoon

Cables".

Even worse, his service simultaneously published a report

that contradicted him.

It is very unlikely that nuclear missiles have been

transported to the island.

Back in the US, the CIA director continued to express his concern.

His warnings had not been taken seriously, and

reconnaissance flights over Cuba had been

suspended.

On October 9th, McCone managed to convince President Kennedy

to urgently resume spying

missions.

It wasn't until October 14th that a Lockheed U-2 finally took

off from Tyndall Air Force

space in Florida.

Equipped with cameras, the plane was ordered to fly over Cuba and

gather a maximum of information.

Back at the base, the rolls of film were unloaded and sent to the

CIA's photographic laboratory.

Nine hundred and twenty-eight photos of Cuban terrain were

taken on that October 14, and

their analysis continued throughout the following day.

The result was irrevocable.

Five missile launch bases, capable of striking the United

States, were indeed installed on

Cuba.

Even worse, the missiles could be equipped with nuclear warheads.

US National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy waited until the

morning of October 16th before

informing the President.

Kennedy was shocked.

He didn't believe Khrushchev was capable of such a trick.

Meeting up with his brother and advisor Robert Kennedy, the

president flew into a rage against

the Soviet leader, branding him an immoral gangster and a fucking liar.

The CIA and American intel had failed.

Only John McCone had warned the White House, but in vain.

military equipment was in place and it was too late.

This shift didn't change the nuclear balance of power.

For the past few years, the USSR had already possessed

missiles capable of reaching the

US in a short space of time.

The Americans were nervous.

These weapons could permit Fidel Castro to attack them.

The operation could also be a sign of imminent Soviet action in Berlin.

The protection of West Berliners was only maintained by the

American nuclear threat.

If Kennedy didn't act firmly, it might give Khrushchev free

reign to invade the former

German capital.

The United States had to react as rapidly as possible.

On October 16, Kennedy called an emergency meeting of the

Executive Committee of the

National Security Council, EXCOMM.

He needed to find solutions fast to end the crisis.

Among the members were Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, Secretary

of Defense Robert McNamara,

and Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, next to Robert Kennedy.

President Kennedy had installed a secret tape recorder in the

room, which he activated himself.

Dean Rusk spoke first.

But we would expect that he would have to have, in the back of his

own mind, my recommendation

to take the possibility, if not the likelihood, of a Soviet

reaction somewhere else, running

all the way from Berlin right around to Korea, and the

possibility of a reaction against

the United States itself, that no one could surely foresee the outcome."

replied.

On the first day, opinions were almost unanimous.

The Soviet installations in Cuba had to be destroyed.

To do so, several plans of action were proposed.

The President was in favor of a surgical strike.

His Secretary of Defence suggested a wider-scale attack,

also targeting airbases.

Robert Kennedy saw it as a chance to undertake what the United

States had been dreaming of

for several years -to invade Cuba and depose Castro.

And yet, the discussions ended with no clear decision being taken.

For Kennedy, the Cuban Missile Crisis came at the worst

moment, right in the middle of

the campaign for the midterm elections.

The next day, a series of meetings was scheduled in Connecticut.

He couldn't pull out.

Any last minute changes would raise media suspicion.

While the Cuban problem was now his priority, he couldn't let it be known.

On October the 17th, it was less the president and more the

Democratic leader who landed

at Stratford, Connecticut.

The fact of the matter is that the great fight in 1962 is the

same fight that we waged in

1960 and must be waged in this decade, and that is to provide

employment for our people,

education for our children, and security for our older

citizens. And that job, in my opinion,

can only be done by the Democratic Party.

And meanwhile, as Kennedy flitted from rally to rally, over in

Russia, Nikita Khrushchev

was preparing another trick for him,

with the unwitting help of his Minister of Foreign Affairs,

Andrei Gromyko.

Gromyko arrived in Washington on October the 18th

for an official visit already planned well in advance.

The timing was perfect for Kennedy to enter into talks

with the USSR without alerting the American public.

Kennedy brought up the numerous Soviet cargo ships which had

berthed in Cuba in recent months.

But he didn't let on that the U.S. had discovered what the

ships were transporting.

And even Khrushchev hadn't informed Gromyko about the

delivery of the nuclear missiles.

The Soviet foreign minister swore blind.

Soviet aid was purely defensive.

Equipping Cuba with warheads capable of hitting the U.S. had

never been part of the plan.

Kennedy forced himself to remain calm in face of this blatant lie.

Khrushchev was delighted.

His plan was working better than he had ever hoped.

The delivery of nuclear weapons to Cuba continued smoothly,

while Soviet submarines took up

position close to the island.

The next day, October 19, the President summoned his

Joint Chiefs of Staff.

He wanted the opinion of his senior military men.

The US Army generals didn't think that a surgical strike

would guarantee the total

destruction of the missiles.

The only option was a full -scale attack and invasion.

Ongoing manoeuvres on the beaches of Florida proved the

crushing superiority of the US

forces, which, if the order was given, would solve the problem

within a matter of days.

For Kennedy, this plan was unacceptable.

How could he, the figurehead of the free world, justify

aggression towards a small island

nation when the world ignored its real threat?

To say nothing of probable Soviet reprisals.

Donald and May made one last remark to the president.

After the meeting, Kennedy confided to one of his advisors,

"If we listen to them and

do what they want us to do, none of us will be alive later to

tell them that they were

were wrong.

Two further EXCOMM meetings were held on October 20th and 21st.

Kennedy informed its members of his decision.

To prevent Soviet freighters from reaching Cuba, he would

order a naval blockade of the

island.

A week had gone by since reconnaissance photos had

established the presence of nuclear missiles

on Cuba. And life was going by without anybody realising the

mortal danger hanging over the

world.

But the secret wouldn't be kept for much longer. Kennedy

was preparing to share the

truth in a televised speech on October 22nd.

On the 21st, he dispatched Dean Acheson to Europe to inform

his NATO allies in person.

Faced with a fait accompli, European leaders were obliged to

give President Kennedy the

green light.

The international press was called on to announce the importance

of the President's speech.

Out of respect for the Soviets, at 6 p.m., Secretary of

State Dean Rusk received the

the Soviet ambassador, Anatoly Dobrynin, and gave him a

copy of the speech that Kennedy

would be making one hour later.

Dobrynin was stupefied.

He hadn't been informed of the deployment of the

offensive nuclear missiles.

The President of the United States.

Good evening, my fellow citizens. Within the past week,

unmistakable evidence has established

the fact that a series of offensive missile sites is now in

preparation on the island

of Cuba. The purpose of these bases can be none other than to

provide a nuclear strike

capability against the Western Hemisphere.

The truth was out. The nuclear threat hanging over the United

States was now known to all.

Kennedy demanded that the Soviets immediately cease all

ongoing operations, or the USSR

would be hit with terrible reprisals. Finally, he announced a

quarantine around Cuba. All

ships, whichever nation's flag they flew, would be

intercepted and forced to turn back

if they were carrying offensive weapons.

The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid

it. Our goal is not the victory

of might, but the vindication of right. Not peace at the

expense of freedom, but both

peace and freedom, here in this hemisphere, and we hope

around the world. God willing,

that goal will be achieved. Thank you, and good night.

His speech plunged the world into apocalyptic anguish.

were stormed by panicked shoppers. Nuclear fallout shelters sprang up.

From the Vatican, where worshippers were gathered to pray for

peace, Pope John XXIII launched

an urgent appeal.

On the morning of October the 23rd, Khrushchev replied to

Kennedy's speech in a brief letter.

He denounced the aggressive action of the so-called quarantine,

which violated the United

Nations Charter and the freedom of navigation.

He maintained that the weapons delivered to Cuba were

exclusively defensive, and hoped

that the Americans would renounce any action that could have

disastrous consequences for

peace. At the same time, he placed Eastern Bloc forces on

red alert. While in the US,

the machinery of war had started turning.

- I have taken the necessary steps to deploy our forces

to be positioned to make effective the quarantine

at 2 p.m. tomorrow Greenwich time.

That will be the equivalent of 10 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time.

The forces are ordered to interdict

delivery of offensive weapons

and associated material to Cuba.

Those are the instructions we've been given,

those are the instructions we will carry out.

Four aircraft carriers and 40 destroyers steamed

towards the Caribbean Sea.

At Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, an American enclave in the

south of Cuba, families were

urgently evacuated back to the United States.

While war was on everybody's minds, in Moscow, a performance at the

Bolshoi Theatre was drawing

to a close.

Khrushchev was peacefully watching.

What better way to reassure the public than attending a ballet in

the middle of a geopolitical

crisis.

At 10 o'clock on the morning of October 24, the quarantine

of Cuba officially began.

Within hours, the first Soviet freighters would reach the

blockades set in place by

by the American warships ordered to intercept them.

At the same time, U.S. Army Strategic Air

Command went to DEFCON 2,

the highest alert state before total war.

All American nuclear weapons across the globe were activated.

A large-scale conflict between the two nations seemed imminent.

"It was a grave hour," a tense Kennedy wondered.

What if the Soviet ships actually broke the blockade?

Did he really have to declare war?

Among the approaching Soviet ships, four of them were

transporting nuclear warheads.

But what Kennedy didn't know was that Khrushchev had already

ordered them to turn back.

The Soviet leader didn't want to take the risk of them

falling into American hands.

Plus, he estimated that there were already enough warheads in Cuba.

Khrushchev's order didn't concern every ship.

Other Soviet freighters continued on their way,

ready to break the blockade.

Like the Bucharest.

Spotted, it was chased by the US Navy.

An American destroyer approached it to call it into order.

Tension was at its peak.

When questioned via radio,

the Soviet captain claimed he was only transporting fuel.

After much consideration, the Americans decided to let the

ship through, believing that it

was not carrying military equipment.

The first day of quarantine ended without any major

incidents, to the great relief of

the members of EXCOMM.

But Kennedy knew the crisis was far from over.

Well, now, the quarantine itself won't remove the weapons, so

you've only got two ways of

removing the weapons.

One is to negotiate them out, in other words, trade them out, or

the other is to go in and

take them out.

I don't see any other way to get the weapons out.

At the United Nations on Thursday, the fourth day of crisis,

the conflict is carried on

among the diplomats of the world.

Here in this political forum, representatives of each of the

nations involved in the global

dispute are given the opportunity to hear and be heard,

nation against nation, face

to face in dramatic confrontation.

The Soviet ambassador to the UN, Valerian Zorin, began

hostilities by accusing the United

States of piracy, but the American ambassador, Adlai Stevenson, hit back.

Let me ask you one simple question.

Do you, Ambassador Zorin, deny that the USSR has placed and is

placing medium- and intermediate-range

missiles and sites in Cuba?

Yes or no?

Don't wait for the translation, yes or no?

I am not in an American courtroom, sir, and therefore I do

not wish to answer a question

that is put to me in the fashion in which a prosecutor does.

In due course, sir, you will have your reply.

I'm prepared to wait for my answer until hell freezes over,

if that's your decision.

Stevenson then displayed two photographs taken by

American reconnaissance planes.

Constructions can clearly be seen,

and an expert eye could easily recognise the infrastructures

required for launching missiles.

The photos managed to sway public opinion into thinking

that it was the USSR that had started the hostilities.

Khrushchev would make the first step

towards a diplomatic solution.

He wanted to bring to an end the vicious circle

where a single spark could result in an apocalypse.

On October the 25th, he summoned the Presidium

and offered to withdraw the nuclear missiles

installed on Cuba.

In return, he demanded that Kennedy promise that the US

would never try to bring down Fidel Castro

by invading the island.

This was Khrushchev's prime objective--

to sustain the spread of communism

into the heart of the West.

The first message, seemingly written by Khrushchev, arrived at the

White House the next evening.

Robert McNamara recalled the event.

"We received the most extraordinary diplomatic cable

that I have ever seen."

Eight pages long, the message was quite surprising.

After agreeing to withdraw the missiles in return for a

promise not to invade Cuba, Khrushchev

Khrushchev then embarked on a confused description of the drastic

effects of a possible nuclear

war.

But it convinced Kennedy of his counterpart's

willingness to negotiate.

On the evening of October 26, a second letter was written in

Moscow, this time in a more

formal style.

In it, Khrushchev played another gamble.

Beyond security for Cuba, he also demanded the withdrawal of

all American Jupiter missiles

from Turkey.

First broadcast by Radio Moscow, the contents of the letter soon

reached the ears of Western

journalists.

And on the morning of October 27th, an assistant brought the US

President the first reports.

Kennedy realized that another letter from Khrushchev was on

its way, containing this

new demand, and he wasn't completely hostile to the idea.

If the United States didn't want nuclear missiles in Cuba

for fear of being attacked,

it was only natural for the USSR not to want them in

Europe for the same reason.

The majority of EXCOMM members were against this new demand.

They believed that Kennedy should agree only to the exchange

requested by Khrushchev the

day before, the withdrawal of Soviet missiles from Cuba in return

for a promise not to invade

the island.

During the day on October 27, discussions continued while

the shadow of the apocalypse

stretched out.

Things could still go either way.

The same day, an American U-2 on a mission to collect air

samples from the Arctic Circle

lost its way.

the pilot flew off course right into Soviet airspace.

Picked up by Russian radar,

a fighter jet was sent up to intercept it.

At the same time, U.S. Air Command, realizing that one of

its aircraft was lost,

sent out fighters to retrieve it.

Only due to the Defcon 2 state of alert, the U.S. jets were

carrying nuclear rockets.

The U-2 was about to be intercepted by the Soviet MiG

when it finally managed to leave Russian airspace.

"When the event was reported to President Kennedy, he lost his cool.

There's always one son of a bitch who doesn't get the message."

Khrushchev was equally shocked.

"A lost American plane could make us take that fateful step."

A few hours after the incident, an American U-2 reconnaissance

aircraft on a mission over

Cuba was shot down by an anti-aircraft missile.

The order to fire the missile came from Soviet commanders

stationed on the island, despite

the opposing orders given by Moscow.

The pilot, Major Rudolf Andersen, was killed in the crash.

Del Castro was convinced that the Americans were about to bomb Cuba.

He urgently cabled Khrushchev to ask him to consider a nuclear strike.

Khrushchev was aghast.

Kennedy was against any reprisals.

At the White House and the Kremlin, the two leaders knew that

a single spark could ignite

the whole world.

Another dramatic episode would be proof of this.

Soviet submarines were still active in the blockade zone, and

were being systematically

tracked down by the Americans.

Two of them surfaced and were immediately spotted.

But submarine B-59 was still untraceable.

It had left its base three weeks earlier, and since

reaching the Sargasso Sea had been

unable to report back to Moscow.

All the radio operator could do was listen to news

broadcast by Radio Miami.

It spoke of an imminent American invasion of Cuba, which

plunged the crew into high

anxiety.

as on board the submarine, the air conditioning had broken down.

The US Navy finally traced the sub on October 27th.

To signal the vessel to surface, the Americans dropped blank

depth charges used for training

exercises.

The Russian captain thought he was under attack.

Thinking that war had been declared, he prepared to launch the 10

-kiloton nuclear missile his

submarine was carrying.

Fortunately, his second-in-command, Vasily Arkhipov, managed

to convince him at the last

instant to surface before committing the act of no return.

The worst was avoided in extremis.

After what was nicknamed "Black Saturday" by the White

House, Kennedy was determined

to reach a diplomatic solution.

EXCOMM composed a letter agreeing to abandon any invasion of Cuba

in return for the withdrawal

of Soviet nuclear missiles.

But Kennedy was convinced that Khrushchev would refuse

the proposal, since there was

no mention of withdrawing American Jupiter missiles from Turkey.

Kennedy was ready to withdraw the missiles, despite

opposition from his advisors.

But the problem was NATO.

How would his allies take the withdrawal of weapons that

protected them without consulting

with them first.

Kennedy summoned a small committee and informed them of his

decision to accept Khrushchev's

demand.

To avoid upsetting their NATO partners, it was Secretary

of State Dean Rusk who came

up with the answer.

To promise the Russians they would withdraw the missiles

from Turkey, but later, once

Once the current crisis was solved, Robert Kennedy was given

the task of informing the

Soviet ambassador, Anatoly Dobrynin.

In this way, Khrushchev would get what he wanted without

giving the impression that

the U.S. had handed him victory.

The president's brother reassured Dobrynin, "It will probably

take us four or five months

to withdraw our missiles from Turkey.

the minimum amount of time, given the procedures imposed by NATO.

And if the USSR wanted the proposal to come to term, the

strategy must remain strictly

confidential.

Robert Kennedy gave Dobrynin a direct number to the White

House, and asked him to call

the moment he had Khrushchev's reply.

The end of the crisis now depended on Moscow.

Robert Kennedy joined the president who was trying his best to

remain calm while awaiting

the Soviet reply.

When Khrushchev received the American proposal, he was pleasantly surprised.

He didn't think Kennedy would agree to the removal of the

Jupiters from Turkey, especially

as he had just decided to accept his previous offer.

The Soviet leader immediately cabled Dobrynin, telling him to

accept the American offer.

Khrushchev then recorded a speech that would be aired by Radio Moscow.

In it, he agreed to withdraw the missiles from Cuba in

return for the security of Fidel

Castro's government.

And as requested by his American counterpart, there was no

mention of the Jupiter missiles

in Turkey.

On the morning of October 28, Kennedy's cavalry came to an end.

The news reached Washington at 9 a.m. and the tension was finally relieved.

The members of EXCOMM congratulated the president, except for the

chiefs of staff, who had still

hoped for an attack against the Castro government.

Admiral Anderson even went so far as to say, "We've been had."

Kennedy was dismayed by the reaction of his top generals.

Throughout the West, Kennedy's victory was celebrated.

In the eyes of the world, he had forced the Soviet Union to retreat.

The potentially tragic crisis, which had lasted 13 long

days, was finally over.

Its peaceful resolution paved the way for a period of

de?tente between the USSR an -d

-the USA.

The Moscow-Washington hotline, the famous red telephone, was set

up, and several nonproliferation

of nuclear weapons treaties were signed.

And as proof of the easing of tensions, in 1963, Secretary

of State Dean Rusk and Nikita

Khrushchev met on the shores of the Black Sea.

Mr. Rusk said that they touched on many things in a relaxed

atmosphere, but reached no conclusions

on any further agreements.

Later the meeting adjourned to a recreation room, where Mr.

Khrushchev took on Mr. Rusk

at badminton.

Decked out in his Ukrainian blouse, the Russian leader defeated

the American, but that's the

life of a diplomat.

Yet Kennedy's so -called victory was relative.

Firstly, the crisis would never have happened without repeated

aggression by the U.S. towards Cuba.

Fidel Castro, at first furious at Khrushchev's decision,

repaired their falling out in 1963 by making an official visit to the USSR.

Khrushchev acted purely to safeguard the Red Island from

further American offensives.

And in this he triumphed.

The communist regime has lasted in Cuba until this very day.

As for the withdrawal of the American missiles from Turkey,

in February 1963, before a select committee of the

House of Representatives,

Secretary of Defense McNamara and Secretary of State Dean Rusk

swore that the withdrawal of Jupiters

were never part of the bargaining over Cuba.

A lie which would ensure the popularity

of a campaigning president

and feed the myth of American intransigence

in the face of communism.

But it wouldn't help Nikita Khrushchev

who was removed from power in October 1964.

It wasn't until 1969 that the secret agreement was revealed.

History is made in such a way that, in order to fully grasp it,

no event can be left out.