For a period of thirteen days in October of 1962 the United States held its breath in fear of nuclear war. The Cuban missile crisis is considered by most to be the closest two countries came to nuclear war, apart from the nuclear bombing of Japan. The Cuban missile crisis was a major confrontation between the Soviet Union, the United States, Cuba, and partly Turkey. The U.S. and Turkey initiated the crisis with the placing of nuclear weapons in Turkey. In response to this action the Soviet Union supplied nuclear weapons and supplies for building nuclear bases, to Cuba. On October 14, 1962 the first nuclear missiles in Cuba where spotted by U.S. spy planes. On October 16 President John F. Kennedy was shown pictures of nuclear bomb bases being built in Cuba. On October 26 Premier Nikita Khrushchev (the leader of the Soviet Union at the time) sent a message to President Kennedy saying he would like to resolve the crisis peacefully. On the 27 of October Cuba shot down a U-2!
             spy plane which caused extreme tension to grow between the countries. Finally on October 18 the crisis came to a conclusion that avoided nuclear war. This was a very scary time for people of both countries even though the final outcome was a peaceful one.
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