Khrushchev, Castro, and Kennedy, 1958-1964. By Aleksandr Fursenko and Timothy Naftali. The handsome young president John F. Kennedy steps before television cameras and speaks to America. He announces that Soviet atomic-tipped missiles are in Fidel Castro's Cuba, that ships loaded with more weapons are en route to that communist island, and that he is ordering the Navy to stop those Soviet ships on the high seas. Shortly thereafter, Marines begin assembling in Florida for a possible invasion of Cuba.
Citizens rush to grocery stores in a frenzy.
Kennedy meets with congressional leaders. Indeed, the Cuban Missile Crisis was not only a gamble but also the only time during 40 years of Cold War when the world was on the edge of atomic Armageddon. While U.S. documents dealing with this event have been open for some time, scholars still speculate about Soviet intentions in October 1962. Russian scholar Aleksandr Fursenko and American historian Timothy Naftali, who were allowed to inspect recently opened Soviet files, generally confirm what historians already know from U.S. sources, but with some new twists. The documents show that in 1959 the Soviets were remarkably ignorant of Castro and the Cuban revolution and were surprised when the revolutionaries informed Moscow they were communists.