Closing February 3! To The Brink: JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis:
A look back at one of the most dangerous two weeks in modern history, this exhibit closes this weekend at the National Archives before moving on to the JFK Library in Boston.
Can’t make it to DC in time? Check out the “To the Brink” iPad App!
November 20, 1962 — President Kennedy is all smiles
This is one of our favorite pictures of President Kennedy. Wonder why he looks so happy?
Though the Cuban Missile Crisis came to a peaceful end in October of 1962, as of November, nuclear missiles remained in Cuba and the U.S. naval blockade was still in place. On November 20, 1962 – the day this photo was taken – President Kennedy announced at a press conference that Chairman Khrushchev had agreed to withdraw all of the bombers in Cuba within 30 days, and that the U.S. would lift the blockade. Now that’s something to smile about.
(source: jfklibrary.org)
Missiles Missiles Missiles
Doodles Annotated with the Words Missiles, Missiles, Missiles, 10/25/1962
Series: John F. Kennedy Personal Papers: Doodles, 1952 - 11/22/1963
Notes scribbled by President John F. Kennedy during a Security Council meeting on October 25, 1962, in the midst of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
(via DocsTeach)
The National Archives’ latest exhibit: “To the Brink: JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis” covers the 13 days when the world teetered on the brink of thermonuclear war.
“I must say frankly that measures indicated in your statement constitute a serious threat to peace and to the security of nations. The United States has openly taken the path of grossly violating the United Nations Charter, path of violating international norms of freedom of navigation on the high seas, the path of aggressive actions both against Cuba and against the Soviet Union.”
- Nikita Khrushchev, letter to President Kennedy re: quarantine, 10/23/62
Pictured: Khrushchev’s official letter to President Kennedy. Read the translation here.
The National Archives’ latest exhibit: “To the Brink: JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis” covers the 13 days when the world teetered on the brink of thermonuclear war.
Pages 3 and 4 of Proclamation 3504, authorizing the naval quarantine of Cuba, signed 50 years ago today, October 23, 1962. See the other pages here.
(source: jfklibrary.org)
The National Archives’ latest exhibit: “To the Brink: JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis” covers the 13 days when the world teetered on the brink of thermonuclear war.
October 23, 1962 — Day 8 of the Cuban Missile Crisis
President Kennedy signs Proclamation 3504, authorizing the naval quarantine of Cuba. The four-page proclamation included this forceful statement in the second paragraph:
“The United States is determined to prevent by whatever means may be necessary, including the use of arms, the Marxist-Leninist regime in Cuba from extending, by force or the threat of force, its aggressive or subversive activities to any part of this hemisphere, and to prevent in Cuba the creation or use of an externally supported military capability endangering the security of the United States;”
Read the full text of Proclamation 3504 here.
(source: jfklibrary.org)
The National Archives’ latest exhibit: “To the Brink: JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis” covers the 13 days when the world teetered on the brink of thermonuclear war.
October 22, 1962 — Day 7 of the Cuban Missile Crisis
At 7:00 p.m. President Kennedy makes a televised address, revealing the evidence of Soviet missiles in Cuba and calling for their removal. He also announces the establishment of a naval quarantine around the island until the Soviet Union agrees to dismantle the missile sites and to make certain that no additional missiles are shipped to Cuba. Near the conclusion of his speech, JFK says this:
“My fellow citizens: let no one doubt that this is a difficult and dangerous effort on which we have set out. No one can see precisely what course it will take or what costs or casualties will be incurred. Many months of sacrifice and self-discipline lie ahead—months in which our patience and our will will be tested—months in which many threats and denunciations will keep us aware of our dangers. But the greatest danger of all would be to do nothing.”
Listen to JFK’s address and read the full transcript here. Watch a video of JFK’s address here.
(source: jfklibrary.org)
The National Archives’ latest exhibit: “To the Brink: JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis” covers the 13 days when the world teetered on the brink of thermonuclear war.
October 22, 1962 — Day 7 of the Cuban Missile Crisis
President Kennedy writes a letter to Nikita Khrushchev, Premier of the Soviet Union, prior to addressing the American public on live television. In it, he writes:
“I have not assumed that you or any other sane man would, in this nuclear age, deliberately plunge the world into war which it is crystal clear no country could win and which could only result in catastrophic consequences to the whole world, including the aggressor.”
See the rest of Kennedy’s letter to Khrushchev here.
(source: jfklibrary.org)
The National Archives’ latest exhibit: “To the Brink: JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis” covers the 13 days when the world teetered on the brink of thermonuclear war.
October 21, 1962 — Day 6 of the Cuban Missile Crisis
JFK’s doodles during a meeting regarding US missiles in Turkey. Can you decipher JFK’s writing? Reblog or reply with as many words as you can make out before checking Presidential Secretary Evelyn Lincoln’s official translation.
The National Archives’ latest exhibit: “To the Brink: JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis” covers the 13 days when the world teetered on the brink of thermonuclear war.
October 20, 1962 — Day 5 of the Cuban Missile Crisis
President Kennedy, in Chicago campaigning for congressional candidates, decides to return to the White House as the crisis reaches a new urgency. To avoid public suspicion the president consults his physician and together they fabricate the diagnosis of a cold, allowing JFK to return to Washington without arousing panic. A quick glance at Presidential Secretary Evelyn Lincoln’s day planner proves Kennedy was quite busy during his supposed sick days.
(source: jfklibrary.org)
The National Archives’ latest exhibit: “To the Brink: JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis” covers the 13 days when the world teetered on the brink of thermonuclear war.
October 18, 1962 — Day Three of the Cuban Missile Crisis
President Kennedy meets with Soviet Ambassador Andrei Gromyko in the Oval Office. The memorandum of the meeting notes the Ambassador’s desire to be open with the United States:
“Mr. Gromyko said he knew that the President appreciated frankness. Mr. Khrushchev’s conversation with the President at Vienna had been frank and therefore, with the President’s permission, he himself wished to be frank, too.”
Despite this promise of openness, Gromyko did not speak about the Soviet missiles in Cuba, unaware that President Kennedy already knew of their existence, but had also chosen not to discuss them.
(source: jfklibrary.org)
The National Archives’ latest exhibit: “To the Brink: JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis” covers the 13 days when the world teetered on the brink of thermonuclear war.
October 18, 1962 — Day 3 of the Cuban Missile Crisis
Memorandum written by Ted Sorensen following an ExComm meeting in which President Kennedy and his advisers have narrowed their options regarding Cuba to only two: Blockade or invade.
(source: jfklibrary.org)
The National Archives’ latest exhibit: “To the Brink: JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis” covers the 13 days when the world teetered on the brink of thermonuclear war.
October 17, 1962 — Day Two of the Cuban Missile Crisis
“To start or risk starting a nuclear war is bound to be divisive at best, and the judgments of history seldom coincide with the tempers of the moment…blackmail and intimidation NEVER, negotiation and sanity ALWAYS.” - US Ambassador to the United Nations Adlai Stevenson in a confidential memo to President Kennedy re: Cuba, 10/17/62
See the second page of Stevenson’s declassified letter here
(source: jfklibrary.org)
The National Archives’ latest exhibit: “To the Brink: JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis” covers the 13 days when the world teetered on the brink of thermonuclear war.
October 17, 1962 — Day Two: Maps of the Cuban Missile Crisis
President Kennedy scribbled handwritten notes on the first map during early meetings on the Cuban Missile Crisis, marking each missile site with a black X. The second, more detailed map was used by senior military officials and political advisers to catalog the many pieces of Soviet military equipment already on Cuba, including helicopters, transports, and missiles of varying size and range capabilities.
(sources: jfklibrary.org, The Atlantic/Reuters)
The National Archives’ latest exhibit: “To the Brink: JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis” covers the 13 days when the world teetered on the brink of thermonuclear war.
October 16, 1962 - Day One of the Cuban Missile Crisis
A declassified map of the Western hemisphere showing the full range of the nuclear missiles under construction in Cuba, used during the secret meetings on the Cuban crisis.
(source: jfklibrary.org)
