The Cuban missile crisis was ultimately resolved by negotiations with Kennedy agreeing to pull nukes and missiles out of Turkey and halt NATO's march to the east. This lead to a thawing in the cold war, and Kennedy and Kruchev became mutually respected statesmen. Kruchev even touring the USA.
Seems likely hardliners would have got their nuclear war had not Kennedy and Kruchev resorted to diplomacy.
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That was after the 'showdown on the high seas'. It was at that point where still being in reserves and having my
MOS, I figured I would be called back, so I re-upped after being out for 5 years.
I shipped to Ft Jackson, where i met the so-called "Cuban freedom fighters", the ones JFK abandoned at the Bay of Pigs.... Some of them were good guys..some bummers...
As it turned out, I didn't fight any Cubans in Cuba...but we did have a big old brawl with them at Ft Jackson.
Seems it took all the MPs in post, to clear that rumble on top of tank hill !...
I rather think that Khruhschev eventually made nice with Kennedy, just to retain his position at home. He had been thoroughly humiliated by his 'cut & run' on the high seas..
I found this from the time..
https://www.cfr.org/blog/twe-remembers-eyeball-eyeball-and-other-fellow-just-blinked-cuban-missile-crisis-day-nine You will notice three things from the article..
1) The Soviet ships turned at just about 500 miles from Cuba.
2) Despite the turn around and by the next day, the Soviet leader lying to JFK, saying he was defying the US, and
coming on anyway...even though his whole fleet was by then headed back to the USSR.
3) In the situation room RFK warned his brother JFK, that if he did not hold firm, he would likely be impeached..
#3 sure is a far cry from what happened just months ago in Afghanistan... The Dems sure have slidden into the
pit since then...