The Cuban Missile Crisis   On Oct. 15, 1962, U.S. intelligence
workers analyzing photos taken by a U-2 spy plane discovered
that the Soviet Union was building medium-range missile sites in
Cuba. Seven days later, President John F. Kennedy gave a
televised address to announce the discovery to Americans and to
proclaim that he was ordering a naval “quarantine” of Cuba to
prevent Soviet ships from transporting offensive weapons to the
islands. The President made it clear that America would not stop
short of military action to end what he called a “clandestine,
reckless, and provocative threat to world peace.”  For the next
13 days, Americans believed that nuclear war with the Soviet
Union–a war that would leave major U.S. cities like Washington,
D.C., New York and Los Angeles incinerated–was about to break
out any second.  The discovery of missile sites was actually the
culmination of a dance that had been taking place for some time
between the Soviets–who apparently had been itching to get the
U.S. to “discover