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Article: Peace on the brink of war: after home bunkers and duck-and-cover drills, Americans were braced for war in the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. (times past).
- Article from:
- New York Times Upfront
- Article date:
- November 26, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Scholastic, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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STUDY YOUR TRIGONOMETRY. FURNISH your family's bomb shelter. Scan the sky for enemy warplanes. Those were homework assignments for a generation of high school students. The big test came in 1962.
That October, U.S. spy planes spotted about 40 nuclear missiles being installed by the Soviet Union in Cuba, the Caribbean island 90 miles south of Key West, Florida. With a range of about 2,000 miles, the missiles could have hit much of the U.S. Already engaged in the Cold War with the Soviets, America was now on the brink of nuclear war.
The Soviets chose to base the missiles in Cuba, their ally, to counter the U.S.'s dominant arsenal. The U.S. had already ...