How the Cuban Missile Crisis Began

This week in history: A U-2 mission, one man’s suspicion, and the start of a 13-day standoff

Aerial view taken in October 1962 of one of the Cuban medium-range missile bases, during the Cuban missiles crisis. Ho/AFP via Getty Images

Almost immediately after the hottest war in human history had concluded, a cold war began between the world’s two greatest powers. America and the Soviet Union began a standoff along what Winston Churchill termed “an Iron Curtain.” Never would this metaphorical Iron Curtain be so physically visible than when the communists of East Germany, part of the Soviet Bloc, began construction of the Berlin Wall in August 1961. It was a definitive and unmistakable line drawn between the West and the East—between democracy and communism.

What was transpiring behind the Iron Curtain? The Americans wished to know. If there was to be a World War III, the United States needed to be prepared in no uncertain terms.

President John F. Kennedy and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara in an Executive Committee of the National Security Council meeting, Oct. 29, 1962. Cecil Stoughton. Public Domain

Eight years before the wall went up, and seven years after Churchill’s 1946 Iron Curtain speech was delivered, Soviet Premier Georgy Malenkov announced that America no longer had a “monopoly in the production of the hydrogen bomb.” The Soviets had long demonstrated they possessed nuclear weapons technology, successfully detonating their atomic bomb (RDS-1) in 1949. The question was: could their bombs reach the United States?

With the development of the Soviet bomber Myasishchev M-4 in 1953, which possessed a range of nearly 3,500 miles, the answer was, possibly. When Alaska was made a state in 1959, the answer changed to, most definitely.

A Myasishchev 3M in 1968. Public Domain

The Atlantic Rather Than the Pacific

The Soviet bloc of Eastern Europe, the Myasishchev M-4, and even the close neighboring of the USSR and the United States with the addition of Alaska were not the concerns. The concern turned away from the Pacific Ocean and toward the Atlantic Ocean where Soviet ships were sailing into the Caribbean. Their destination? Cuba.

Cuba had become a satellite ally of the Soviet Union when its revolutionary leader Fidel Castro proclaimed to be a Marxist-Leninist. Castro was belligerent to the United States, especially after the Bay of Pigs invasion in April 1961, when the United States attempted to overthrow Castro by means of Cuban exiles. The invasion was Dwight D. Eisenhower’s brainchild; it had been coordinated by the CIA, but it was John F. Kennedy who was left with the decision to go through with it. His indecisive commitment to the mission proved fateful for several reasons. The exiles were either killed in battle or imprisoned, and the communist world looked upon the young president as an upstart, unprepared for the uncertainties of the modern nuclear world.

If there was ever a time to inch closer to America, the Soviets, led now by Nikita Khrushchev, believed it was at a time when a true believer in the communist cause was only miles from a seemingly irresolute president.

U2 Aerial Reports

In summer 1955, the first flight test of the U-2 spy plane was conducted. Designed for photoreconnaissance at very high altitudes, the U-2 conducted its first mission over the Soviet Union in the summer 1956. The Soviets were able to track the plane via radar, but could do nothing else. The U-2 has been used ever since for peacetime and wartime photoreconnaissance. It was invaluable in the effort to gauge the situation in Cuba.

U-2 spy plane testing aboard the USS America. U.S. Navy. Public Domain

In July 1962, U-2 reconnaissance photos showed Soviet naval traffic entering and exiting Cuba. The images suggested that the ships were carrying military equipment, specifically missiles, due to the ships riding high in the water, a sign that the cargo was considerably light. The CIA also received intelligence that Cuba had received new MiG-21 fighters and Il-28 bombers.

CIA Director John McCone told Kennedy on Aug. 10 that he believed the Soviets were in the process of delivering missiles to the Cubans. During this week in history on Aug. 29, 1962, images from a U-2 flight over Cuba all but confirmed McCone’s belief that the Cubans were preparing offensive missile launch sites. The images showed surface-to-air missile sites (SAMs) at eight different locations scattered across the island nation. For McCone and the intelligence community, the constant traffic of Soviet naval vessels, the upgraded aircraft, and the numerous SAMs strongly suggested the Cubans were protecting something of importance. McCone’s intuition was right.

John McCone, the sixth director of Central Intelligence. Public Domain

After a six-week pause in U-2 flights, Maj. Richard Heyser flew over Cuba. When CIA analysts viewed the images the next day, they found that the SAMs were protecting SS-4 medium-range ballistic missiles aimed at America. President Kennedy was briefed on the situation the following morning of Oct. 16, which began the 13-day saga known as the Cuban Missile Crisis.