"It shall be the policy of this Nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union." — John F. Kennedy, Address on the Cuban Missile Crisis, October 22, 1962
Historians have argued the crisis ended not solely through Kennedy's firmness but also because of:
- Acheck_circle
A secret agreement to remove U.S. Jupiter missiles from Turkey
- B
Direct UN Security Council military action
- C
A Soviet coup against Khrushchev in October 1962
- D
The collapse of the Cuban economy
Explanation
Robert Kennedy's back-channel meetings with Soviet Ambassador Dobrynin produced a quiet pledge to withdraw obsolete Jupiter missiles from Turkey, a concession concealed at the time to preserve Kennedy's image of resolve.