247. Editorial Note
On the morning of October 14, 1962, a U-2 aircraft flying a reconnaissance mission over the western part of Cuba produced the first verified evidence of the existence of Soviet offensive missile sites in Cuba. Two further U-2 missions on October 15 revealed additional ballistic missile sites. McGeorge Bundy notified President Kennedy the morning of October 16, and the President immediately called a meeting of his principal advisers, during which they began to formulate a policy to respond to the Soviet threat. These deliberations marked the beginning of Cuban missile crisis, the most dangerous U.S.-Soviet confrontation during the cold war.
Extensive documentation on the missile crisis and its aftermath, including the subsequent, lesser known “Soviet bomber crisis,” the U.S.-Soviet failure to negotiate a post-crisis resolution, and the ongoing problem of Soviet military forces in Cuba, is in Foreign Relations, 1961–1963, volume XI, Cuban Missile Crisis and Aftermath, and the microfiche supplement. Given the documentation in volume XI, material on this aspect of U.S.-Soviet relations from mid-October through the end of 1962 will not be cross-referenced through Editorial Notes in this volume. For Soviet Ambassador Dobryninʼs recollections of the missile crisis, see his In Confidence, pages 71-95.