Today marks the 46th anniversary of one of the finest moments in American history: Khrushchev's decision to withdraw the Soviet missiles from Cuba. To commemorate it, here is a link to one of the formerly classified documents I found during recent research that sends chills down my spine: the official action schedule in advance of President Kennedy's speech announcing the discovery of the missiles.
Here are some of the plans, with "P" being the time of the speech:
"P hour minus 24: Instructions to all military commands to go on DEFCON 3 as appropriate, effective at P hour."
"P hour minus 24: Instructions to CINCARIB to prepare for furnishing military riot control support to selected Latin American countries."
"P hour minus 12: UK"
"P minus 6: Complete reinforcement of Guantanamo."
"P hour minus 4: France"
"P hour minus 2: Germany, Canada, Italy, Turkey"
"P hour: Evacuate dependents from Guantanamo."
"P hour plus 24: Imposition of blockade quarantine."
(Thank you, National Security Archive.)
