The Cuban Missile Crisis
- Grades
- Grades 9-12
- Time
- About two 50-minute class periods
- Includes
- 11 ready-to-teach files
- Format
- Word (.docx) · PowerPoint (.pptx)
- Slide deck
- Guided notes
- Guided notes teacher key
- Activity + answer key
- Quiz + answer key
- Exit ticket + answer key
- Teacher guide
- Teacher presentation notes
What students do
- Analyze President Kennedy's October 22, 1962 address to the nation as a primary source
- Compare the options ExComm debated before Kennedy chose a naval quarantine over an airstrike
- Examine the U-2 reconnaissance photograph that uncovered the missile sites on October 14
What it covers
- How Cuba became a Soviet ally and why the Soviets placed missiles there in the first place
- The naval quarantine and the standoff at the "line at sea"
- The secret deal that ended the crisis on October 28, and what neither government announced at the time
Learning targets
- Explain why the Soviet Union secretly placed nuclear missiles in Cuba in 1962.
- Describe how a U-2 reconnaissance flight uncovered the missile sites on October 14, 1962.
- Compare the options ExComm debated and explain why Kennedy chose a naval quarantine.
- Analyze President Kennedy's October 22, 1962 address to the nation as a primary source.
- Explain how the crisis was settled on October 28 and what the two governments changed afterward.
Peek inside
1959: Fidel Castro's revolution took power 90 miles from Florida
1961: The Bay of Pigs invasion by U.S.-backed exiles failed badly
After that failure Castro turned to the Soviet Union for weapons
Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev promised to defend Cuba
Fact: Cuba sits about 90 miles from the Florida coast.
A Revolution 90 Miles Away
Fidel Castro's revolution took power in Cuba in , only about 90 miles from Florida.
The failed 1961 invasion by U.S.-backed Cuban exiles pushed Cuba toward the Soviet Union.
After that failure Castro turned to the Union for weapons and protection.
Soviet leader Nikita promised to defend Cuba against another invasion.
1. Kennedy's order was that any ship found carrying offensive weapons would be turned back, while ships carrying oil or food could pass. That selective naval line was called a .
Why this matters
A single U-2 photograph, taken October 14, 1962, turned Cuba from a policy question into a countdown. Before it, the missiles were a rumor officials could debate. After it, they were a documented fact, and that fact forced every decision over the next two weeks.
I spend real time on the options ExComm debated before Kennedy chose a naval quarantine over an airstrike, since the eventual choice looks obvious only once you know it avoided war. The secret deal that ended the crisis on October 28 makes the same point twice: neither government announced its full terms at the time.
From one teacher to another
Every class I've taught this to asks the same thing once they get the stakes: why didn't anyone just back down sooner. That question is the whole lesson, built to get students sitting inside the decision-making instead of just knowing the crisis ended without a war. It's part of the Cold War unit, but built to work as a stand-alone crisis study even for a class that hasn't covered the earlier lessons.
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Related resources
Decolonization in Africa
Decolonization in Asia
Globalization and the Modern World
Origins of the Cold War
The Berlin Wall
The Korean War
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