The Cuban Missile Crisis brought the world closer to nuclear war than ever before, forcing President Kennedy to navigate an almost impossible situation with pressure coming from every direction. In this episode, we break down how the crisis unfolded, why the Soviets placed missiles in Cuba, and how a series of tense decisions, miscommunications, and backchannel conversations shaped the outcome. At the center of it all was a growing conflict inside the U.S. government, as Kennedy resisted intense pressure from the Joint Chiefs to launch a full scale attack, choosing instead a path that risked appearing weak to some but may have prevented catastrophe.
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