I have been fascinated with the past all my life. Although time travel is not possible (at least, as far as I know), we can still experience it through what I call "relics of the fourth dimension." Namely, as the old saying goes, "time marches on." We can't travel in the fourth dimension, except going forward in the present, but we can follow the trail of the fourth dimension. Along the way, people lose or discard items from their being. These relics are unintentional time capsules that give us as glimpse into their lives. Here on The Time Searchers blog, I will show some relics of the past that I have run across in our present. Sometimes when I am out on a relic hunt with the Colonial Relic Hunter, we know that we are not alone. There is more than just relics at these historical sites. Indeed, it could be said that there is a portal to the past, perhaps to another dimension, where that which once was, still is. A place where the real consorts with the shadows; the present fuses with the past, on Time Searchers: Ghost Relics.

Friday, October 16, 2015

This Day in History: The Beginning of the Cuban Missile Crisis - October 16, 1962

We here at the Time Searcher's Blog understand the importance of not just the relics we find in the field, but the remembrance of historical past events.  We decided to start our new series titled "This Day in History," and take a look back at some of the more major events of the past.  The Time Searcher usually has something laying around that he found on  hunt that correlates to the topic at hand!

 
On October 16, 1962, a thirteen day confrontation between the United States and the then Soviet Union over Soviet ballistic missiles began in Cuba.  In response to the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion, Cuba requested placement of nuclear missiles to deter future harassment of the County.  Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev agreed to terms during a secret meeting with Fidel Castro in July and a that summer a number of missile launch facilities were constructed.  The whole ordeal played out publicly on national television, and became the closest moment the Cold War came to escalating into a full nuclear war. 

While an election was underway in the States, the White House denied charges set forth by Republicans that it was ignoring the problem of Soviet missiles some 90 miles off the coast of Florida.  Despite the increasing evidence of a military build-up in Cuba, no U-2 flights were made from September 5th until October 14th, but when the Air Force sent a U-2 spy plane over Cuba, it returned with photographic evidence of both medium range and intermediate range ballistic facilities.  On October 19th, EXCOMM formed separate groups to examine the options of an air strike and blockade and ultimately settled on the blockade option.  At 7 p.m. on October 22, President John F. Kennedy delivered a nationwide televised address on the discovery of the missiles, and during this speech a directive went out to all U.S. forces worldwide placing them on DEFCON 3; the United States established a military blockade of Cuba, preventing any more missiles from the Soviet Union to enter the Country.  The U.S. demanded that they would not permit any offensive weapons to be delivered to Cuba, and those already there needed to be dismantled and returned to the USSR. 

On the evening of October 25th, William Clements announced that the missiles were still actively being worked on, which was later verified by a CIA report suggesting there had been no slow down at all.  President Kennedy responded with the issue of the Security Action Memorandum 199, which authorized the loading of nuclear weapons onto aircraft under the command of SACEUR.  The Soviets responded to the blockade by turning back 14 ships, all of which were presumably carrying offensive weapons.  The next morning, Kennedy informed EXCOMM that he believed an invasion was the only way to remove the missiles, but was persuaded to give it time and continue with both military and diplomatic pressures.  In agreement, he ordered the low-level fights over Cuba to be increased from twice a day to once every two hours.  It was at this point the crisis was ostensibly at a stalemate.  The Soviet Union showed no indication of any retreat and made several comments to the contrary.  The United States had no reason to believe otherwise and was in the early stages of preparing for an invasion, which included a nuclear strike on the USSR in case it responded with force, which was already assumed. 

That same day, Castro was convinced an invasion of Cuba by U.S. forces was imminent, and he sent a telegram to Khrushchev that appeared to call for a preemptive strike on the United States.  In a 2010 interview, however, Castro said only of his recommendation of a Soviet attack on American before they made any move against Cuba. 

October 27th, promptly at 6 a.m., the CIA delivered a memo reporting that three of the four missile sites at San Cristobal and two sites at Sagua la Grande appeared to be fully operational.  They noted that the Cuban military continued to organize for action, even though they were under no order to initiate action unless attacked.  That same day, a U-2A, which was modified for air-to-air refueling and piloted by USAF Major Rudolf Anderson, was hit by a S-75 Dvina SAM missile launched from Cuba.  After, the stress negotiations between the USSR and the U.S. intensified and it was later learned that the decision to fire the missile was made on site by an Soviet commander acting on his own authority.  However, later that day several U.S. RF-8A Crusader aircraft on low-key photo reconnaissance missions were fired on as well. 

After much deliberation between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, Kennedy agreed to remove all missiles set in southern Italy and Turkey which boarder on the USSR, and in exchange of this, Khrushchev would remove all remaining missiles in Cuba. 

For the next 24 days the U.S. continued their blockade of Cuba.  On November 20, 1962, effective at 6:45 pm, the blockade was lifted. 

While the scars of the Cuban Missile Crisis ran deep, it was the closest the two powers came to nuclear war.  The Cold War officially ended in 1991 with the dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.



October 16, 2015 marks the anniversary of the beginning of the Cuban Missile Crises on 1962.  
This was the height of the Cold War when people feared the world would be destroyed at the push of a button.  Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed and the Kennedy Administration and the Soviet Union reached an agreement where the Russian Missiles based in Cuba were removed.  In exchange, the U.S. agreed to quietly remove it's missiles from Italy and Turkey.  The picture and video above are of a fallout shelter sign that was a common sight in the U.S. during the Cuban Missile Crisis.  Another relic from the past.

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