Cuban Missile Crisis

Martin Sherwin's "Gambling with Armageddon" Strips away the Myths of Nuclear Deterrence

by Lawrence Wittner

As Sherwin points out, “the real lesson of the Cuban missile crisis . . . is that nuclear armaments create the perils they are deployed to prevent, but are of little use in resolving them.”

Newly Translated Documents Give Fuller Picture of Nuclear Danger During Cuban Missile Crisis

The National Security Archive has released an English translation of the account of a Soviet submarine officer of events in October 1962 tells the story of how his vessel's commander nearly launched nuclear weapons against US Navy ships enforcing the quarantine of Cuba.  

Nuclear Fears 60 Years After the Cuban Crisis

From the actions of Soviet naval officers to the real-time recommendations of Robert F. Kennedy, the official story of the 1962 crisis is due for some updates according to historians who've published recent work on the subject. 

What the Cuban Missile Crisis Teaches Us about Ending the Ukraine War

by Walter G. Moss

Many people have invoked JFK's handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis as a reminder of the need for toughness in international confrontation. The equally vital but less popular lesson is that creative leadership is just as important. 

What the Cuban Missile Crisis Tells Us About Putin's Possible Intentions

by Michael Dobbs

The danger of nuclear brinksmanship is not that any one leader is irrational or intransigent, but that even rational leaders can't always control events they set in motion. 

We Need to Talk About Cuba

by Joseph J. González

U.S. policymakers should understand that Putin may observe the sixtieth anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis by provoking another one. 

Even With the Challenge of a Nuclear Crisis, 1962 Was a Year of Hope

by Walter G. Moss

For HNN Contributing Editor Walter Moss, 1962 was a year when it seemed the US was capable of overcoming the gravest challenges with positive results (it was a good year for him personally, too). 

Popular Histories Have Influenced World Leaders, Sometimes For the Better

by Robert Brent Toplin

Although the popular history genre is often maligned, historians should reflect on the role of Barbara Tuchman's 1962 "The Guns of August" in guiding JFK away from the brink of nuclear war and recognize the power of a story clearly told.

The Book That Stopped an Outbreak of Nuclear War

Serhii Plokhy adds new insight to the Cuban Missile Crisis by examining the domestic political context of the Soviet Union and the political incentives toward nuclear brinksmanship. 

Reflections on Fredrik Logevall's "JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956"

by Sheldon M. Stern

Fredrik Logevall's new JFK biography is one of the first by a historian who did not personally experience the Kennedy years. Longtime JFK Library historian says this is all to the good, as Logevall makes extensive use of available primary sources to place Kennedy's political and diplomatic views in the context of his formative experiences in wartime. 

"The Silent Guns of Two Octobers" Reviewing a New History of the Cuban Missile Crisis

by Sheldon M. Stern

Longtime JFK Library historian Sheldon Stern offers a review of a new book on the diplomatic resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis. 

The Cuban Missile Crisis: Once More Unto the Breach

by Sheldon M. Stern

As the anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis approaches, longtime JFK Library historian Sheldon Stern reviews Theodore Voorhees Jr.'s new book, which argues that Kennedy and Kruschev each assumed personal control of negotiations in a way that rendered threats of war from hawkish subordinates all bark and no bite.

The Day Nuclear War Almost Broke Out

"There should, it seems, be a useful lesson to be learned from that frantic afternoon. But what, in God’s name, is it?"

The Cuban Missile Crisis and the Trollope Ploy Myth

by Sheldon M. Stern

What we often get wrong about the Cuban Missile Crisis. 

No, we're not reliving the 1960s, says Harvard historian Arne Westad

Re: Cuban Missile Crisis: "There are no indications whatsoever that we are moving toward that kind of extremely dangerous era of the Cold War."

The Man Who Prevented the Outbreak of World War III

by Douglas Gilbert

His name was Vasili Arkhipov. During the Cuban Missile Crisis he refused to go along with an order to fire a nuclear missile.

War Was Avoided During the Cuban Missile Crisis, but One Man Died

by Casey Sherman and Michael J. Tougias

It’s worth remembering his story, too, to show us the danger of superpower conflict.

New book lays out for the first time the full story of Cuba's Cuban Missile Crisis

James G. Blight and janet M. Lang lay out the story in "Dark Beyond Darkness."

The Other Terrifying Lesson of the Cuban Missile Crisis

by George Perkovich

Historians have focused on how John F. Kennedy’s wisdom narrowly averted a nuclear catastrophe. They’ve paid less attention to how little we knew about the Soviets’ true intentions.

The Cuban Missile Crisis at 55

by James G. Blight and Janet M. Lang

“The bullshitter…does not reject the authority of the truth, as the liar does, and oppose himself to it. He pays no attention to it at all. By virtue of this, bullshit is a greater enemy of the truth than lies are.” —Harry G. Frankfurt, "On Bullshit"