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Definition: Cuban missile crisis from The Macquarie Dictionary
1.

an international crisis occurring in October 1962, when the US demanded the removal of Soviet rockets installed in Cuba.

Cuban Missile Crisis

From Encyclopedia of American Studies
In October 1962, the United States and the Soviet Union were at the brink of war because the Soviets had placed nuclear missiles in Cuba. Events of the preceding three years had led directly to the crisis. In 1959, the pro-U.S. Cuban government of Fulgencio Batista, which had granted major concessions to the United States in sugar, mining, and public utilities enterprises, was overthrown by Fidel Castro. Castro nationalized American companies, canceled elections, and began to promote anti-U.S. revolutions in the rest of Latin America. When Castro signed a trade agreement with the Soviet Union, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, in March of 1960, directed the Central Intelligence Agency to conduct a covert operation to remove Castro from power and cut off trade to Cuba. When Castro increased his dependence on the Soviet Union, Eisenhower ended diplomatic relations with Cuba. Upon taking office as Eisenhower's successor, President John F. Kennedy ordered the implementation of Eisenhower's…
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Full text Article Cuban Missile Crisis

From Encyclopedia of Intelligence & Counterintelligence
One of the reconnaissance photos of a...
The cuban missile crisis of October 1962 has entered the history books as the intelligence conflict of the Cold War when the two main contenders, the United States and the Soviet Union, actually reached the brink of mutual thermonuclear destruction. As with so many disasters and near-disasters, the…
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Full text Article Cuban Missile Crisis

From The Great American History Fact-Finder
A confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union regarding Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev's placement of missiles in Cuba. The United States found evidence of missile bases capable of launching nuclear attacks on American cities and protested to the United Nations. President John F. …
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Full text Article Cuban missile crisis

From Encyclopedia of American Foreign Policy
On October 14, 1962, a U-2 reconnaissance plane...
1962 In reflecting on the Cuban missile crisis Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev observed that “the smell of burning hung in the air.” More so than any other single event during the cold war , it was the Cuban missile crisis that brought the two superpowers to the brink of war. In a sense the crisis…
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Full text Article Cuban missile crisis

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Confrontation in international relations in October 1962 when Soviet rockets were installed in Cuba and US president John F Kennedy compelled Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev , by military threats and negotiation, to remove them. This event prompted an unsuccessful drive by the USSR to match the USA…
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Full text Article Cuban missile crisis

From Encyclopedia of the American Presidency
The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 was the...
The Cuban missile crisis of 1962 was significant for U.S. foreign policy and the Kennedy administration for a number of reasons. It was President John F. Kennedy most serious foreign policy encounter, and its successful conclusion proved to be a turning point in his presidency after such events as…
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Full text Article Cuban Missile Crisis

From The Oxford Companion to International Relations
On 15 October 1962, American intelligence discovered the first of six Soviet nuclear missile bases under construction in Cuba. After a week of deliberation with a group of close advisers that would later become known as the Executive Committee of the National Security Council, or “ExComm,” President…
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Full text Article Cuban missile crisis

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
(1962) Major confrontation between the U.S. and the Soviet Union over the presence of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba. In October 1962 a U.S. spy plane detected a ballistic missile on a launching site in Cuba. Pres. John F. Kennedy placed a naval blockade around the island, and for several days the…
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Full text Article Cuban Missile Crisis

From Encyclopedia of American Studies
Cuban Launch Site. 1962. United States Air Force.
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1962 In what many experts consider the closest the world has yet come to nuclear war, for 13 days in October 1962 the United States and the Soviet Union faced off over the Soviet placement of nuclear missiles in Cuba. In the end, the Soviet Union backed down, agreed to remove the missiles in…
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Full text Article Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)

From Dictionary of American Government and Politics
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a major confrontation between the superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, during the era of Cold War. The crisis came about when the Kennedy administration received intelligence gathered by U-2 spy planes flying over Cuba of the installation of…
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