38 FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | OCTOBER 2022
Four Seasons Veterans Park
The two superpowers plunged into one of their biggest Cold War
confrontations after the pilot of an American U-2 spy plane, making a
high-altitude pass over Cuba on Oct. 14, 1962, photographed a Soviet
SS-4 medium-range ballistic missile being assembled for installation.
In a television broadcast on Oct. 22, 1962, the president notified
Americans about the presence of the missiles, explained his decision
to enact the blockade, and made it clear that the U.S. was prepared to
use military force if necessary to neutralize this perceived threat to
national security.
The tense standoff between the superpowers continued through
the week, and on Oct. 27, an American reconnaissance plane was shot
down over Cuba, and a U.S. invasion force was readied in Florida. The
35-year-old pilot of the downed plane, Major Rudolf Anderson, is
considered the sole U.S. combat casualty of the Cuban missile crisis.
During the crisis, the Americans and Soviets exchanged letters and
other communications, and on Oct. 26, Khrushchev sent a message
to Kennedy in which he offered to remove the Cuban missiles in
exchange for a promise by U.S. leaders not to invade Cuba. The
following day, the Soviet leader sent a letter proposing that the USSR
would dismantle its missiles in Cuba if the Americans removed their
missile installations in Turkey. The war was over. ~ Len Tavernetti,
ltavernetti@hotmail.com
Memorial to Major
Rudolph Anderson
features his RF-86
that he flew in
Korea; a U-2 was
not available
