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The Organization of American States backs the quarantine and Kennedy signs the proclamation. The Aleksandrovsk, carrying nuclear warheads, slips into the port of La Isabela. Khrushchev orders some of the missile ships to turn back.

• The line is pulled in from 800 to 500 nautical miles to give Moscow more time.
• Low-level reconnaissance flights over Cuba begin.

The quarantine is signed (23 October 1962)

In a televised address at 7 pm, Kennedy reveals the missiles, announces the quarantine and warns that any missile launched from Cuba will be met with a full retaliatory response against the Soviet Union.

• US forces go to DEFCON 3.
• The Navy plans the quarantine line 800 nautical miles from Cuba.
• Families are evacuated from Guantánamo Bay.

Kennedy tells the world (22 October 1962)

The quarantine takes effect at 10 am. Soviet ships approaching the line stop dead in the water or turn around. Strategic Air Command goes to DEFCON 2, the only time in US history.

• Kimovsk and Yuri Gagarin, carrying missiles, turn back before reaching the line.
• Dean Rusk: "We're eyeball to eyeball, and I think the other fellow just blinked."

Eyeball to eyeball (24 October 1962)

A 13-day confrontation in October 1962 between the United States and the Soviet Union over Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba. The US answered with a naval quarantine of the island; the crisis ended when Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles in return for a US pledge not to invade Cuba and, secretly, the removal of US missiles from Turkey.

Sections

The quarantine is signed (23 October 1962)

Process details

Map

Impact summary