Khrushchev Retreats: Soviet Missiles Leave Cuba

Radio Moscow broadcast a message from Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev at 9:00 a.m. Washington time on October 28, 1962, announcing that he had ordered the dismantling and removal of all Soviet missiles from Cuba. The announcement ended thirteen days of nuclear brinkmanship that had brought the United States and Soviet Union to the brink of war and left the rest of the world holding its breath. The resolution came through a deal negotiated partly through official channels and partly through a back-channel exchange between Attorney General Robert Kennedy and Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin. The terms were straightforward: the Soviet Union would withdraw its nuclear missiles from Cuba under United Nations inspection, and the United States would publicly pledge not to invade Cuba. In a secret addendum that would not become public for decades, Washington also agreed to remove its own Jupiter intermediate-range ballistic missiles from Turkey within six months. Khrushchev chose to broadcast his acceptance over public radio rather than through diplomatic cables because speed was essential. Black Saturday, the previous day, had nearly spiraled out of control. A U-2 reconnaissance plane had been shot down over Cuba by a Soviet anti-aircraft missile fired without authorization from Moscow. American military leaders were pressing hard for an immediate retaliatory strike. Kennedy had resisted but could not hold the line indefinitely. The aftermath reshaped the Cold War's architecture. Both sides, sobered by how close they had come to catastrophe through miscommunication and unauthorized military action, established a direct communications link between Washington and Moscow, the so-called "hot line," in June 1963. The crisis also accelerated negotiations on the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, signed in August 1963, the first arms control agreement of the nuclear age. Khrushchev's retreat cost him politically at home. Hardliners within the Soviet leadership viewed the withdrawal as a humiliation, and it contributed to his removal from power in October 1964. Kennedy emerged with enhanced prestige, though historians later revealed that the crisis was resolved through mutual concession rather than American toughness alone. Cuba remained a Soviet ally, heavily armed with conventional weapons, for the next three decades. Fidel Castro, who had urged Khrushchev to launch a nuclear first strike rather than back down, was furious at being excluded from the negotiations and never fully forgave Moscow.