| | August 31: Senator Kenneth Keating tells the Senate that there is evidence of Soviet missile installations in Cuba
September 11: Soviet Foreign Minister, Andrei Gromyko, warns that an American attack on Cuba could mean war with the Soviet Union
October 14 : A U-2 flying over western Cuba obtains photographs of missile sites
October 14 - 17: The Joint Chiefs of Staff strongly advise Kennedy to make an air strike ( the discussions are referred to as the EX-COMM's )
October 18: Gromyko assures Kennedy that Soviet Cuban aid has been only for the "defensive capabilities of Cuba."
October 22: Congressional leaders are shown the photographic evidence of the Soviet missile Cuban installations and the President addresses the nation regarding the Cuban crisis
October 22: U.S. military forces go to DEFCON 3
October 23: Kennedy receives a letter from Khrushchev in which Khrushchev states that there is a, "serious threat to peace and security of peoples." Robert Kennedy speaks with Ambassador DobryninOctober 24: Soviet ships, en route to Cuba, reverse their course except for one. US Military forces go to DEFCON 2
October 25: JFK sends a letter to Khrushchev placing the responsibility for the crisis on the Soviet Union
October 26: Khrushchev sends a letter to President Kennedy proposing to remove his missiles if Kennedy publicly announces never to invade Cuba
October 27: An American U-2 is shot down over Cuba killing the pilot, Major Rudolf Anderson
October 27: A U-2 strays into Soviet airspace, near Alaska, and is nearly intercepted by Soviet fighters
October 27: Kennedy sends Khrushchev a letter stating that he will make a statement that the U.S. will not invade Cuba if Khrushchev removes the missiles from Cuba
October 28: Khrushchev announces over Radio Moscow that he has agreed to remove the missiles from Cuba
In return the US agrees to the withdrawal of US nuclear missiles from Turkey ending the Cuban Missile Crisis |
