Introduction

The closest the world has come to nuclear war was the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962. The Soviets had installed nuclear missiles in Cuba, just 90 miles off the coast of the United States. U.S. armed forces were at their highest state of readiness. Soviet field commanders in Cuba were authorized to use tactical nuclear weapons if invaded by the U.S. The fate of millions literally hinged upon the ability of two men, President John F. Kennedy and Premier Nikita Khrushchev, to reach a compromise.

This site provides an in-depth account and analysis of the Crisis. To start, head either to the Crisis Center and read a short summary of the events or go to the Briefing Room for a RealAudio narration and ten minute account of the Crisis. If you want to know everything about the Crisis, however, go to the Crisis Center where the tension begins. The site is also filled with tons of other goodies including the Recon Room, dossiers on the Major Players, and a Situation Room. Before leaving the site be sure to stop by the Debriefing Room to post your thoughts and questions on the message board and take a quiz to test youre knowledge on the events of October 1962.

On of our good friends has just recently launched a website, Parents-Advantage, catering to the needs of parents and families in the San Francisco Bay Area. Feel free to check out this great resource. Between March 12, 1998 and May 12, 1998 we logged over 20,000 hits! That is over 10,000 hits per month! We have added a new interactive bulliten board to this site! The Debriefing Board is a great area for student and teachers from around the world to discuss the Crisis. Come, take a look and donate what ever you can to the running discussions in the following areas: your memories of the Crisis, student and teacher questions, and a "what if" discussion. Please help us make this a sucessful learning area! We are looking for your memories of the Cuban Missile Crisis to archive on the site. Yes, this event occured 36 years ago this month! So go ahead and email any stories or memories about the time period right this way You can now download a full text Microsoft Word file of the Crisis Center or a well-designed PDF formated file with text and pictures. We ask that students who download this file respect our copyright and cite the material properly if quoted. Educators please feel free to make copies and distribute them to your class. You can find more details here. We now have an authors page and a site history page! Check em' they're hot. The site recieved more than 250,000 hits in its first year. Two revisions later it is three years old! We are always looking for your comments, suggestions, and feedback about this site's content, layout, and design. Keep those emails coming right in to cmc-webmaster@stolaf.edu. In the future we would like to expand this site further (i.e. more Javascripts, glossary, FAQ sheet, ect.). Finally, after much thought we have decided to add a section for awards. This site was a semi-finalist in the 1997 ThinkQuest Internet Contest. It was also judged a distinguished entry in the Wisconsin Web Fair. In addition, this site was the Cool Site Central website of the day (11/2/97)!!! The site was also named the Flug Site of the Month for November!!

Everything you've ever wanted to know about the Crisis but were afraid to ask. This is the main path through the site. Go here to find an in-depth account and analysis of the Crisis.

A 10 minute RealAudio narration and a condensed version of the main path. If you go to just one room in the site, this should be it.

Actual letters from Kennedy and Khrushchev plus sound clips from an EX-COMM meeting, Kennedy's October 22 speech, and a copy of a cable from Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin to Khrushchev.

From Robert Kennedy and McGeorge Bundy to Anatoly Dobrynin and Fidel Castro -- research the big Players! You'll find biographical information on all the important decision makers.

Calling all recon buffs! This area is loaded with great pictures, specs, details on Crisis era planes, missiles, and launch sites. Check out the REAL recon photos that Kennedy and his advisors saw!

Click here to access our message board and leave your thoughts on the Crisis. Also test your knowledge of the event with an interactive quiz and compare results with other users.

[Crisis Center] [Briefing] [Situation Room] [The Players] [Recon Room] [Debriefing]

Questions, comments, suggestions? E-mail: cmc-webmaster@stolaf.edu

This page and graphics copyright 1997 ThinkQuest Team 11046.
For picture copyright information see site references.