Existing comment:
"Eyeball to Eyeball," October 24, 1962:
This map illustrates the reversal of the 2 Soviet ships, the Kimovsk and the Yuri Gagarin, which had been targeted for interception by the aircraft carrier USS Essex on the first day of the quarantine.
When the Ex Comm learned that the Soviet ships had reversed course, Secretary of State Dean Rusk turned to National Security Adviser McGeorge Bundy and said, "We're eyeball to eyeball, and the other fellow just blinked." In fact, the Kimovsk had turned around the previous day, but the Ex Comm did not receive that information until Wednesday morning.
Illustration by David Lindroth, published in One Minute to Midnight by Michael Dobbs |