Existing comment:
Stepping Back from the Brink:
"Remove them. As quickly as possible. Before something terrible happens."
-- Nikita S. Khrushchev, October 28, 1962
The final and most critical stages of these negotiations between Kennedy and Khrushchev took place on the open airwaves, simply because it was the fastest means of communication. With the world on the edge of nuclear war, speed trumped secrecy.
On Sunday, October 28, Khrushchev and his advisers assembled at a dacha outside Moscow. With events escalating, the Soviet Premier was anxious to end the crisis as soon as possible; he started to dictate a letter to President Kennedy informing him that the missile sites in Cuba would be removed. When Khrushchev learned that the United States had made a secret offer to remove its missiles from Turkey, he readily agreed to keep that part of the agreement secret. To end the crisis as soon as possible, couriers rushed Khrushchev's message to the Moscow radio station where it was broadcast at approximately 4pm, 9am in Washington.
President Kennedy learned of Khrushchev's decision to remove the missiles from Cuba when it was broadcast on the American airwaves. He replied later that day, welcoming the message as "an important contribution to peace," as he looked toward the future, stressing the importance of the two nations working together toward disarmament.
Dismantling of the sites in Cuba began at 5pm that afternoon.
Although the most acute phase of the confrontation ended that Sunday, the United States Strategic Air Command remained at DEFCON-2, and the quarantine remained in effect through November 20, when there was an agreement that all "offensive weapons" would be returned to the Soviet Union. |