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Cuban missile crisis: Quick Facts

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Today in History: October 22 • Oct. 22, 2026, 9:06 AM ET (CTV News)

Facts

Date October 22, 1962 - November 20, 1962 (Anniversary in 7 days)
Participants Cuba • Soviet Union • United States
Context Cold War

Did You Know?

  • One Russian submarine heading toward Cuba mistook signals from U.S. ships to rise to the surface as an attack, and a nuclear torpedo was nearly fired at the U.S. ships.
  • John F. Kennedy stated in meetings that the presence of the Cuban missiles did not pose an increased military threat so much as a political one.
  • A direct communication line between Washington and Moscow was implemented after the crisis to help resolve future situations.

Photos and Videos

Kennedy announces U.S. naval blockade of Cuba
Black and white map showing locations of Soviet missile and military sites across Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis, with Florida visible to the north.
Cuban missile crisis
Cuban missile crisis: The world on the brink of war
See All Videos, Images and Audio →

Related Topics and References

Topics
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Timeline

President Harry S. Truman and Prime Minister Winston Churchill stand side by side on the steps of the Little White House during the Potsdam Conference.
Iron Curtain speech
March 5, 1946
Harry Truman's presidency: World War II, the atomic bomb, and the Cold War
Truman Doctrine
March 12, 1947
George C. Marshall
Marshall Plan
April 1948 - December 1951
Berlin blockade and airlift
Berlin blockade
June 24, 1948 - May 12, 1949
Map of Europe in 1960 during the Cold War, showing countries color-coded by political alignment: NATO members in green across Western Europe, Warsaw Pact countries in orange in Eastern Europe, and non-aligned nations in beige. The Soviet Union and its allies are grouped to the east, while Western European countries are aligned with the United States.
Warsaw Pact
May 14, 1955 - July 1, 1991
Francis Gary Powers
U-2 Incident
May 5, 1960 - May 17, 1960
Black-and-white photo of armed soldiers escorting captured men with hands bound in front, during the Bay of Pigs invasion, 1961. Other soldiers follow in the background.
Bay of Pigs invasion
April 17, 1961
The Brandenburg Gate is seen through coils of barbed wire, with a sign reading in German that you are leaving West Berlin, during the early Berlin Wall era, circa 1962.
Berlin crisis of 1961
August 1961
Kennedy announces U.S. naval blockade of Cuba
Cuban missile crisis
October 22, 1962 - November 20, 1962
John F. Kennedy: Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty
Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty
August 5, 1963
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
1969 - 1979
default image
Mutual and Balanced Force Reductions
October 1973 - February 9, 1989
default image
Korean Air Lines flight 007
September 1, 1983
Ronald Reagan (left) and Mikhail Gorbachev, 1986
Reykjavík summit of 1986
October 11, 1986 - October 12, 1986
Boris Yeltsin and the collapse of the Soviet Union
collapse of the Soviet Union
August 18, 1991 - December 31, 1991

Key People

John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
president of United States
Nikita Khrushchev smiling and wearing a suit with medals on the lapel, shown from the chest up in a black and white photograph.
Nikita Khrushchev
premier of Soviet Union
Fidel Castro stands at a row of microphones, wearing a military jacket and looking at the camera during his 1959 visit to Washington, DC.
Fidel Castro
political leader of Cuba

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