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JFK's Address on Cuban Missile Crisis (October 22, 1962)
October 22, 1962

Moment 38: JFK's Address on Cuban Missile Crisis

On October 22, 1962, President John F. Kennedy announced on the radio and television that U.S. spy planes discovered Soviet missile bases in Cuba. These missile sites were capable of striking a number of major cities in the United States, including Washington, D.C. Kennedy announced that he was ordering a naval “quarantine” of Cuba to prevent Soviet ships from transporting any more offensive weapons to the island and explained that the U.S. would not tolerate the existence of the missile sites currently in place. The president made it clear that America would not stop short of military action to end what he called a “clandestine, reckless and provocative threat to world peace.”


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John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum: Radio and Television Address to the American People on the Soviet Arms Build-up in Cuba, 22 October 1962






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