July in Focus

The events leading up to the Cuban missile crisis as the Soviet military buildup in Cuba gathered momentum exactly half a century ago.

BY RACHEL DOBBS | JULY 17, 2012


July 25, 1962

In Washington, Brig. Gen. Edward Landsdale, shown above, reports to Robert Kennedy and other members of the Special Group Augmented (SGA). He gives an assessment of Operation Mongoose, a covert program aimed at overthrowing the Castro regime through propaganda, psychological warfare, and sabotage. Landsdale reports that the program has had some limited success, such as the infiltration of 11 guerrilla CIA teams into Cuba. However he warns that "time is running out for the U.S. to make a free decision on Cuba."

National Security Archive

 

Rachel Dobbs is a research assistant with the Cuban Missile Crisis +50 project. You can follow the project on Twitter at @missilecrisis62.