S91E3 - Ep 91: Soviet Union (Part 2)

The Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest the United States and the Soviet Union ever came to nuclear war—a thirteen-day period where decisions made in real time carried unimaginable consequences. In this episode, we break down how the crisis developed, why Khrushchev chose to place nuclear missiles in Cuba, and how American intelligence and leadership responded as the situation escalated. Inside the Kennedy administration, there was no consensus. Military leaders urged immediate force, while Kennedy weighed options that might avoid triggering a nuclear exchange. 

As the pressure intensified, miscommunications, near-misses, and rogue actions on both sides pus...