Quiz of the Day
The Cuban Missile Crisis & the Cold War
Thursday, 22 October 2026
Marking JFK's address on the missile crisis (Oct 22, 1962), covering superpower standoffs, espionage, and Cold War flashpoints.
1. On October 22, 1962, President Kennedy addressed the nation to reveal the presence of Soviet nuclear missiles in which country?
- Vietnam
- Cuba
- Turkey
- Nicaragua
In his televised address on the evening of October 22, 1962, Kennedy informed Americans that reconnaissance had confirmed offensive Soviet missile sites on Cuba, less than 100 miles from Florida. The speech put the nation on notice that the U.S. would treat any missile launched from Cuba as an attack by the Soviet Union. It marked the public start of the tensest phase of the crisis.
2. Which superpower had secretly installed the nuclear missiles discovered in Cuba?
- United Kingdom
- Soviet Union
- France
- China
The Soviet Union deployed the missiles partly to deter another U.S.-backed invasion of Cuba and partly to offset the American nuclear advantage. Moscow attempted to install the weapons covertly, but American U-2 spy planes photographed the sites before they were operational. The discovery triggered a thirteen-day confrontation between the two nuclear powers.
3. Who was the Soviet premier during the Cuban Missile Crisis?
- Mikhail Gorbachev
- Leonid Brezhnev
- Nikita Khrushchev
- Joseph Stalin
Nikita Khrushchev led the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and personally corresponded with Kennedy during the crisis. His decision to withdraw the missiles was seen by Communist hardliners as a humiliating retreat. This perception contributed to his removal from power just two years later, in 1964.
4. Who was the Communist leader of Cuba during the crisis?
- Che Guevara
- Raúl Castro
- Fidel Castro
- Fulgencio Batista
Fidel Castro had seized power in 1959 after overthrowing the U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista. During the crisis, Castro urged Khrushchev to consider a nuclear first strike if the U.S. invaded, a message that alarmed the Soviet leadership. Castro was reportedly furious that the missiles were removed without Cuba being consulted.
5. The Cuban Missile Crisis is famously said to have lasted how many days?
- 7 days
- 40 days
- 13 days
- 21 days
The crisis is traditionally counted as thirteen days, from October 16, 1962, when Kennedy was first shown the U-2 photographs, to October 28, when Khrushchev announced the missiles would be dismantled. Robert Kennedy later titled his memoir of the events 'Thirteen Days.' The book was adapted into a 2000 film of the same name.
6. The Berlin Wall, an enduring symbol of Cold War division, was first erected in what year?
- 1961
- 1972
- 1955
- 1949
East Germany began building the Berlin Wall in August 1961 to stop the flood of citizens escaping to the West. The barrier divided the city for 28 years until it was opened in November 1989. Its construction came just over a year before the Cuban Missile Crisis, during a period of especially sharp superpower tension over Berlin.
7. What term did the Kennedy administration use for its naval blockade of Cuba, deliberately avoiding the word 'blockade'?
- Embargo
- Cordon
- Interdiction
- Quarantine
The administration chose 'quarantine' because a blockade is legally an act of war under international law. The quarantine line was set up to stop Soviet ships carrying military equipment from reaching Cuba. U.S. Navy vessels enforced the line while the world watched to see whether Soviet ships would try to cross it.
8. The failed 1961 CIA-backed invasion of Cuba by exiles was known as the invasion at what location?
- Havana Harbor
- Bay of Pigs
- Guantánamo Bay
- Cienfuegos Bay
In April 1961, roughly 1,400 CIA-trained Cuban exiles landed at the Bay of Pigs in an attempt to overthrow Castro, but the operation collapsed within days. The fiasco embarrassed the new Kennedy administration and pushed Castro closer to the Soviet Union. It also helped convince Khrushchev that the U.S. might invade Cuba again, a factor in the missile deployment.
9. As part of the settlement, the U.S. secretly agreed to withdraw its Jupiter missiles from which NATO country that bordered the Soviet Union?
- Italy
- Turkey
- Greece
- West Germany
The U.S. had stationed Jupiter intermediate-range missiles in Turkey, on the Soviet Union's southern border, which Moscow viewed much as Washington viewed missiles in Cuba. In a private assurance, the Kennedy administration agreed to remove them, and the Jupiters were quietly withdrawn by 1963. The secret nature of the deal allowed the U.S. to appear to have made no concessions publicly.
10. After the crisis, a direct communication link was established between Washington and Moscow. It became popularly known as the what?
- Direct Wire
- Red Line
- Hotline
- Kremlin Cable
The Moscow–Washington hotline was established in 1963 after leaders realized that slow diplomatic communication had nearly proved catastrophic. Contrary to the movie cliché, the original link was not a red telephone but a teletype system. It was intended to let the superpowers communicate directly and quickly during future crises.
11. In a 1946 speech in Fulton, Missouri, Winston Churchill declared that what had descended across Europe?
- An Iron Curtain
- A Cold Front
- A Steel Wall
- A Red Veil
Churchill's 'Iron Curtain' speech, delivered in March 1946, warned that Soviet influence had sealed off Eastern Europe from the West. The vivid phrase became one of the defining metaphors of the Cold War. Though Churchill was out of office as prime minister at the time, the address helped crystallize Western attitudes toward the Soviet bloc.
12. The only combat fatality of the Cuban Missile Crisis was a U-2 pilot shot down over Cuba on October 27, 1962. Who was he?
- Curtis LeMay
- Charles Maultsby
- Rudolf Anderson
- Francis Gary Powers
Major Rudolf Anderson's U-2 was shot down by a Soviet surface-to-air missile over Cuba, killing him instantly. His death on 'Black Saturday' sharply escalated fears that the confrontation was spiraling toward war. Anderson was posthumously awarded the first-ever Air Force Cross for his actions.
13. Who served as U.S. Secretary of Defense during the Cuban Missile Crisis?
- McGeorge Bundy
- Dean Acheson
- Robert McNamara
- Dean Rusk
Robert McNamara, a former Ford Motor Company executive, was a central figure in the crisis discussions and helped shape the quarantine strategy. Dean Rusk served as Secretary of State during the same period, and McGeorge Bundy was national security adviser. McNamara would remain Defense Secretary through much of the Vietnam War.
14. A Soviet naval officer aboard submarine B-59 refused to authorize a nuclear torpedo launch at the height of the crisis, helping avert catastrophe. What was his name?
- Valentin Savitsky
- Oleg Penkovsky
- Vasili Arkhipov
- Anatoly Dobrynin
On October 27, 1962, U.S. destroyers dropped practice depth charges on submarine B-59, whose crew, out of radio contact, believed war might have begun. Launching the nuclear torpedo required the agreement of three senior officers aboard, and Vasili Arkhipov refused to consent. His decision is widely credited with preventing a possible nuclear exchange.
15. Kennedy convened a small group of top advisers to manage the crisis, known by what acronym?
- NORAD
- JCS
- SALT
- EXCOMM
EXCOMM stood for the Executive Committee of the National Security Council, an informal body Kennedy assembled to debate options during the thirteen days. Its members ranged from hawks favoring air strikes to those urging diplomacy and the quarantine. Some of their deliberations were secretly tape-recorded and have since become valuable historical documents.