U.S. Army anti-aircraft rockets, mounted on launchers and pointed out over the Florida Straits in Key West, Florida, on October 27, 1962. The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 was a direct and dangerous confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War and was the moment when the two superpowers came closest to nuclear conflict.
President John F. Kennedy meets with Air Force Maj. Richard Heyser, left, and Air Force
Chief of Staff, Gen. Curtis LeMay, center, at the White House in Washington
to discuss U-2 spy plane flights over Cuba.
There are more photos of the Missile Crisis here.
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And that was the last time any American saw any semblance of an air defense system in the United States.
ReplyDeleteRecommended viewing - "Mant" starring John Goodman. It takes place in South FL at the time of the missle crisis. Goodman plays a hokey movie producer that has a ditsy girlfriend. He's in town to premiere the film, which is about a man who's been exposed to radiation and is slowly turning into an ant. He hires teenagers in town to assist setting up vibrating seats in the theatre, so there are two interlocking storylines. His answer to one of the kids about life is worth admission.
ReplyDeleteHad never seen that before.
ReplyDelete"....the moment when the two superpowers came closest to nuclear conflict." Until now.
ReplyDeleteOh, horsepucky. I was around then. My father was an Air Force officer, intel spook, and fighter pilot. He disappeared for over a week to do we did not know what, we did not know where. Daily, even hourly updates on the news were on-going. Newspapers had large maps of troop, aircraft, and ship movements reminiscent of WWII editions. The U.S. Navy blockaded and quarantined Cuba with a Soviet fleet on the way. U.S. troops were loading and readying an invasion that would put Soviet forces in Cuba in grave danger. They shot down a U-2, killing Air Force Maj. Rudolf Andrson. A real confrontation was coming together on the seas, in the air, and on Cuba. The missiles were being readies
DeleteMy mom and my teachers were scared to death but put on a good show since we lived in the D.C. area, Target One, you might say. Duck and cover drills took on a new meaning. The end was nigh, until we were eyeball to eyeball, and the other guy blinked.
So, tell us, nony mouse, how is now like then in any way. Lay it out, son, I say, lay it out!
horsepucky? nony mouse? wow... Hi Rick.
DeleteWe were living in Pinellas Park , Fl then. There was a constant stream of aircraft heading to McDill AFB going over our house. What was really fun were the constant drills at school- hide in the hall, use your desk as a shelter. But, the most fun was learning how easy it was to give everyone in school chiggers - practice hiding in the woods.
ReplyDeleteI can just imagine the advice of Curtis LeMay and it's probably good, with hindsight perhaps, that it was not taken.
ReplyDeleteWe practiced our duck-and-cover in elementary school in Pensacola. The teachers looked very scared. They offered to sell us kids metal dog tags telling us this was so our parents could identify our burned up bodies. Of course, Eglin AFB was nearby with BOMARCs and their 10 kT warheads but the concern was the IRBMs that we discovered in Cuba.
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