America has been in its share of conflicts throughout history, but none have been as close to disaster as the Cuban missile crisis. The United States was on the verge of invading Cuba where the Soviet Union was ready to defend themselves with nuclear weapons. The United States was well ahead of the Soviet Union in warfare in the early 1960s. While the Soviets could only strike Europe with its missiles, the US could go overseas with ours. Premier Nikita Khrushchev then decided to put short-range nuclear weapons in Cuba. This move allowed the Soviets to double their potential in warfare and made it tougher for the United States to have an advantage in war. With Fidel Castro looking for a way to defend its self against the United States, it was an easy fit to have the Soviets come in. On October 15, 1962, it was shown on reconnaissance photos that the missiles had been put into place. President John F. Kennedy then put together a group called EXCOMM. The group was comprised of twelve advisors that were sent to handle the crisis. The next seven days were spent trying to decide what to do with this group and the higher up officials in the government. The group then decided to put a naval quarantine around Cuba. The quarantine was to prevent any more weapons of mass destruction from entering the country. Kennedy then made a public address and said that any attack from Cuba would be a direct attack on the United States by the Soviet Union. Kennedy added that the United States was against any new arrivals of weapons into Cuba. The Soviets had forty-two medium or MRBM missiles, 24 intermediate or IRBM missiles, and twenty-two thousand soldiers in Cuba when the Central Intelligence Agency was able to discover them. While the main reason for the missiles was to even the playing field with the United States, many believe the Soviets had other motives for them. Some of these include cold war politics, credibility in the world, and bargaining barte...