Watch one (or more) of these Cuban Missiles Crisis programmes. Cuba & Bay Of Pigs. Cuban Missile Crisis. The Cuban Missile Crisis - more detailed; grades 7-8. Khrushchev Kennedy and Cuba. 50 Years Ago: The Cuban Missile Crisis. On October 15, 1962, a group of CIA analysts assigned to review aerial photographs of Cuba identified several newly established Soviet medium-range ballistic missile installations -- bases within 100 miles of the United States.
The State Department was notified that night, and President John F. Kennedy was briefed the next morning, setting in motion a crisis that brought the world frighteningly close to nuclear war. The U.S. considered options, deployed troops and weapons to Florida, confronted the Soviets at the UN, and shortly set up a naval blockade of Cuba. For 13 tense days, the crisis deepened and people around the world feared the very real possibility of a new, horrific worldwide conflict.