Nikita Khrushchev: Excerpt From Communique to Kennedy Accepting End to Missle Crisis
Excerpt from "Communiqué to President Kennedy Accepting an End to the Missile Crisis, October 28, 1962"
Originally published in The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962: National Security Archive Documents Reader, 1992
"I very well understand your anxiety and the anxiety of the United States people in connection with the fact that the weapons which you describe as "offensive" are, in fact, grim weapons. Both you and I understand what kind of weapon they are."
On Wednesday, October 24, 1962, the first day of the U.S. naval quarantine, or blockade, designed to prevent Soviet ships carrying military equipment from reaching the island of Cuba, the U.S. military was at alert level DEFCON 2 (DEFense CONdition 2). DEFCON 2 is the last level before DEFCON 1, which means a nuclear war is imminent or has begun. At no other time in U.S. history had the level been at DEFCON 2. Then...
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