August Heats Up

Follow the events of August 1962, as Cold War tensions continue to unfold in the run-up to the Cuban missile crisis.

BY RACHEL DOBBS | AUGUST 2, 2012

Aug. 8, 1962

Meeting in Washington, the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, shown above, discuss possible pretexts for a military invasion of Cuba. Attorney General Robert Kennedy suggests they "sink the Maine again or something," referring to the destruction of the American battleship in Havana Harbor in 1898, an event that led to the Spanish-American War.

United States Naval Heritage Center

 

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