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 16, 1962

The Soviet passenger ship Admiral Nakhimov, seen above, departs from Odessa with U.S. intelligence estimating that there are 1,540 passengers are on board. The Soviet government later (on July 25) declares that the passengers are agricultural specialists and students.

File photo

 

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