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Aerial photography by CIA analysts revealed spot launchers, missiles and transport trucks, hinting at the construction of  missile sites.

President Kennedy was informed and meets with advisors.

Three options presented by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara:
1. Diplomacy with Fidel Castro and Khrushchev
2. Naval Quarantine of Cuba
3. Bombing of missile site

JFK maintained his official schedule and only periodically met with advisors to discuss situation of Cuba

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President Kennedy is visited by Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko, who asserts that Soviet aid to Cuba is purely defensive and does not represent a threat to the United States.

Kennedy, without revealing what he knows of the existence of the missiles, reads to Gromyko his public warning of September 4 that the "gravest consequences" would follow if significant Soviet offensive weapons were introduced into Cuba.

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President Kennedy meet with advisors to start planning for naval blockade and speech

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President meets with General Walter Sweeney of the Tactical Air Command who tells him that an air strike could not guarantee 100% destruction of the missiles.

This is important since it meant that an operation similar to the Bay of Pigs could not remove the missile threats from Cuba and hence they had to resort to diplomacy

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JFK televised an announcement of 'unmistakable evidence' of the Cuban missile threat and demands for their removal.

He also announces the establishment of a naval quarantine around the island until the Soviet Union agrees to dismantle the missile sites and to make certain that no additional missiles are shipped to Cuba.

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JFK'S "CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS" SPEECH (10/22/62) (COMPLETE AND UNCUT)

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This high-quality version of President Kennedy's 10/22/62 Cuban Missile Crisis speech is somewhat rare, because it is complete and unedited. Usually only small bits and pieces of the speech are presented on television and in documentaries. But this is the entire 18-minute address from start to finish.

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Naval blockade is officially set up and complete. President Kennedy warns Krushchev to halt any Soviet ships heading towards Cuba. If a Soviet ship did not comply, a US navy vessel would be forced to fire upon it and ignite an actual war between the two powers

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Premier Khrushchev replies to President Kennedy, accusing him of threatening the Soviet Union:

"You, Mr. President, are not declaring a quarantine, but rather are setting forth an ultimatum and threatening that if we do not give in to your demands you will use force. You are no longer appealing to reason, but wish to intimidate us."

The significance of this is that this letter represented the Soviets stance on the blockade and wanted US to remove it, which the US obviously wouldn't

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Kennedy writes another letter to Krushchev urging him to change the course. Soviet freighters turrn and head back to Europe. Only one ship, The Bucharest was allowed through the quarantine line since it only carried petroleum

US raised readiness state to DEFCON 2, which was the first time it ever has (the second time being Persian Gulf War)

During the debate in the Security Council, the normally courteous U.S. Ambassador Adlai Stevenson aggressively confronted his Soviet U.N. counterpart Valerian Zorin with photographic evidence of the missiles in Cuba.

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Photographic evidence shows accelerated construction of the missile sites and the uncrating of Soviet IL-28 bombers at Cuban airfields.

Significance of this was that these constructions urged US to move even quicker to stop the prescence of the missiles

In a private letter, Fidel Castro urges Khrushchev to initiate a nuclear first strike against the United States in the event of an American invasion of Cuba. However, this letter was disregarded and Khrushchev instead wrote a letter to appeal to Kennedy to de-escalate the conflict

This was a display of how Castro was willing to go to war with USA if it had to. On the other hand, this also showed how even Soviet was not willing to go to total thermonucleur war with USA

Khrushchev Kennedy makes an offer: removal of the missiles in exchange for lifting the quarantine and a pledge that the U.S. will not invade Cuba.

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Black Saturday - shooting down of US reconnaissance plane

Another close call. Soviet Patrol Submarine B-59, which contained Nucleur Payload was in water around US. US drop depth charges to signal them to come up. B-59 thought it was an attack and nearly fired nucleur torpedo, if only for the intervention of Vasily Arkhipov who refused to launch the torpedoes.

Moscow sent another letter, demanding removal of missiles form Turkey.

Robert Kennedy meets secretly with Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin. They reach a basic understanding: the Soviet Union will withdraw the missiles from Cuba under United Nations supervision in exchange for an American pledge not to invade Cuba. In an additional secret understanding, the United States agrees to eventually remove the Jupiter missiles from Turkey.

This agreement signalled the end of the Cuban Missile Crisis

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Public announcement made of the agreement between US and Soviet. Marked the end of the crisis