Cuban Missile Crisis - This Day In History

Oct. 22, 1962 - In a televised speech of extraordinary gravity, President John F. Kennedy announces that U.S. spy planes have discovered Soviet missile bases in Cuba.  These missile sites, under construction  but nearing completion, housed medium range missles 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 United States 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 "clandestine, reckless, and provocative threat to world peace."