Aug. 21, 1962
In private,McCone implores Kennedy to act in Cuba, using "sufficient armed forces to occupy the country, destroy the regime, free the people." In photograph above, U.S. marines are on patrol at Guantanamo naval base.
Aug. 22, 1962
The Soviet government abolishes the post of Soviet commandant in Berlin, temporarily diverting the Kennedy administration's focus from Cuba. Kennedy advisors fear that Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev plans to carry out his threat to a sign a peace treaty with the East Germans, undermining the post-war occupation regime.
A CIA agent stationed in Cuba reports a Soviet surface-to-air missile site near Santa Lucia, Pinar del Rio.
National Archives
