The climactic Cold War confrontation came in October 1962. Kennedy revealed that U.S. reconnaissance planes had spotted Soviet-built bases for intermediate range ballistic missiles in Cuba. He announced that the United States would impose a “quarantine on all offensive military equipment” (Kennedy 1962) on its way to Cuba. The world watched as the United States and the Soviet Union went to the brink of war when it became known that Soviet military officials had begun to construct nuclear weapons bases in Cuba. However, ships carrying Soviet missiles turned back. Kennedy’s threat to intercept Soviet missile shipments with American naval vessels forced the Cold War adversary to back down. Both sides made concessions: Kennedy pledged not to invade Cuba, and Khrushchev promised to dismantle the missile bases. Kennedy also promised to remove the U.S. missiles form Turkey. The risk of nuclear war, greater during the Cuban missile crisis than at any other time in the Cold War, prompted a slight thaw in U.S. and Soviet relation.
