History Map Key Stories Photo Gallery Slideshow Web Links

In a show of military strength, Cuba parades military hardware around Havana's Plaza de Revolucion on the 5th anniversary of the revolution. (AP Photo)

Cuban leader Fidel Castro meets with Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev (left) and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev at Khrushchev's estate near Moscow April 30, 1963. (AP)

By Aileen S. Yoo
Washingtonpost.com Staff
Updated December 1998

A spy mission that uncovered evidence of Soviet missiles in Cuba triggered a set of events in October 1962 that would bring two superpowers to the brink of nuclear war.

Fearing another U.S. invasion after the Bay of Pigs in 1961, Fidel Castro allowed the Soviets to perch intermediate-range missiles capable of reaching the United States on bases throughout Cuba, like the one near San Cristobal. To Castro the buildup would protect Cuba from another U.S. attack; to Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev the missiles in Cuba expanded the U.S.S.R.'s sphere of influence in the Americas.

A U-2 spy plane discovered the missiles in the summer of 1962, resulting in a six-day standoff between Washington and Moscow. On Oct. 22, President John F. Kennedy announced that the presence of the missiles was perceived as "aggressive conduct," ordered a military blockade around the island to prevent further arms shipments and appealed to Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev to remove the weapons. The Kremlin condemned the blockade and claimed the weapons were defensive. By Oct. 26, Khrushchev agreed in a letter to Washington to remove the missiles in exchange for a guarantee that the United States would not strike Cuba.

Following the grim news that a U-2 spy plane was shot down over Cuba on Oct. 27, a second letter from the Kremlin arrived, asking Kennedy to order Jupiter missiles out of Turkey. Publicly, Kennedy accepted Khrushchev's first proposal of not striking Cuba, while secretly agreeing to remove missiles from Turkey once the crisis ended. The White House stressed that an attack was imminent on Oct. 30 if the Kremlin didn't respond in 24 hours. Khrushchev agreed Oct. 28 to dismantle the installations and return the missiles to the Soviet Union.

The worst international crisis since World War II was barely averted, with the United States calling the Soviet's bluff. While some thought Kennedy should have gone further, the crisis restored some of the president's credibility lost during the Bay of Pigs. Castro, furious at the Kremlin for backing down, criticized Khrushchev for his lack of resolve.

Cuba-Soviet relations temporarily deteriorated during the 1960s. Economic policies based on the Soviet model failed, pushing Cuba to lean toward Chinese socialism, which had inspired revolutionary leader Che Guevara. Cuba used Guevara's socialist ideals as a framework to inspire the people to work for moral rather than material incentives and to incite revolution in Latin American countries. By the end of the decade, however, Cuba had tilted back toward the U.S.S.R. Faced with a crumbling economy and the failure of exporting revolution abroad, Castro strengthened his ties with Moscow and soon became dependent on Soviet aid.

In 1972 Cuba joined the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, the Soviet-led trading bloc association, making the U.S.S.R and the communist countries of Eastern Europe Cuba's primary trading partner. By the mid-1980s the communist bloc made up 85 percent of Cuba's trade. Sweeping reforms initiated by Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev in 1991 signaled the dissolution of the Soviet Union. As a result, Cuba lost its primary source of aid, crippling its economy and leaving the island nation to stand on its own.