John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev reached an agreement about the Cuban Missile Crisis on October 28, but the crisis wouldn’t end there. Fidel Castro, angered by Nikita Khrushchev’s decision, threatened a serious setback in the negotiations to remove all offensive weapons - including tactical nuclear weapons - from his country.
Featuring interviews and archive audio with Sid Davis, Michael Dobbs, Mary Dudziak, Alice L. George, Barry Goldwater, Max Hastings, Marvin Kalb, Nina Khrushcheva, Fredrik Logevall, John McCone, Robert McNamara, Tom Nichols, Serhii Plokhy, Sander Vanocur.
View the transcript from this episode.
From the JFK Library Archives
View documents and photographs referenced in this episode.
Telephone Recordings: Dictation Belt 41.2. End of Cuban Missile Crisis, October 28, 1962
Radio and Television Remarks on the Dismantling of Soviet Missile Bases in Cuba, November 2, 1962 (transcript)
Press Conference, November 20, 1962 (transcript)
"Blockade Lifted: President Reveals Red Plane Pullout." (Universal Newsreel) IFP:88D, November 20, 1962
Oral History interview with Barry Goldwater, January 24, 1965
From the JFK Library
JFK Library Forum: Thirteen Days: An Insider's Perspective, October 1, 2002 (via C-SPAN)
JFK Library Forum: The Cuban Missile Crisis and the Media, October 28, 2002 (via GBH Forum Network)
Additional Material
Office of the Historian: Letter From Chairman Khrushchev to President Kennedy, October 28, 1962
Office of the Historian: Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in the Soviet Union, October 28, 1962, 5:03 pm
Miller Center: 12th ExComm Meeting, October 29, 1962
Miller Center: 13th ExComm Meeting, October 30, 1962
Miller Center: 16th ExComm Meeting, November 1, 1962
National Security Archive: Record of Conversation between A.I. Mikoyan and F. Castro, November 22, 1962
Open Vault from WGBH: Interview with Robert McNamara (1), February 20, 1986
Open Vault from WGBH: Interview with John McCone (2), March 4, 1986
Open Vault from WGBH: Interview with A. I. (Aleksandr Ivanovich) Alekseev, April 7, 1986
See full source list for this series.
Credits
Hosts and producers: Matt Porter and Jamie Richardson
Co-producer: Rick King
Supervisory Producer: Valerie Linson
Research Assistants: Sara Laroussi and Megan McKee
Independent Fact Checker: Ben Schafer
Thank you to The Miller Center at the University of Virginia for providing the White House tapes used in this series.
Thank you to JFK Library archives staff for assistance with researching and digitizing additional material.
Special thank you to Ambassador Caroline Kennedy for permission to use the audio from Jacqueline Kennedy’s 1964 oral history interview.
Podcast Art: Brian Kang
Music: Premium Beat by Shutterstock