JFK and "Soviet Showdown" over Cuban Missile Crisis, reported by New York Times, sixty years ago:

[mahatmakanejeeves]

JFK and "Soviet Showdown" over Cuban Missile Crisis, reported by New York Times, sixty years ago:

Link to tweet

[Ocelot II]

1. Scary times.

[electric_blue68]

2. Hoooo, boy...

That was damn Scary!!!!!

I was 9.
I knew in general ways how bad nukes were! I knew we'd (NYC) be a prime target.

Even though I usually didn't watch the Nightly News with my patents yet - I remember seeing the Navel ships heading to Cuba on TV.
______________________________________
And around 27 years Later- I had a momentary
semi-PTSD attack related to it!

I was on a public bus. Nice day. A route I frequently took at the time.
Suddenly my eye caught a (new to me) restaurant I hadn't seen before. A Sports Bar (or themed restaurant):

Two Minute Warning

I bolted up in my seat, physically feeling weird (?stiffish, yet a bit Shakey), franticly looking around!
Then I snapped out of it, and settled down again. Phew.

Of course - Sports.....
But that was a phrase (or three minute) warning you heard back then if nuclear missiles had been launched. GAH!

[canetoad]

3. What you said

I was eight, living in the midlands, England.

One night there was a blinding flash and a loud hissing noise. Everyone ran into the street, convinced that the nukes had started. A power line had iced up and came down in the cold. Crisis over but jeez it was scary.

[electric_blue68]

4. Oh! Scary!

[mahatmakanejeeves]

5. On this date, 22 October, 1962, a sobering thought.

Tue Oct 22, 2019: On this date, 22 October, 1962, a sobering thought.

It was on this date that President Kennedy announced that he was ordering a naval “quarantine” of Cuba to prevent Soviet ships from transporting any more offensive weapons to the island and explained that the United States would not tolerate the existence of the missile sites currently in place. The president made it clear that America would not stop short of military action to end what he called a “clandestine, reckless, and provocative threat to world peace.
Not enough people can fully grasp how serious this moment in time was and how close to the brink we really were, and the true danger that the Soviet Union possessed.
That time in history, set aside to today. It gives me pause to remember what president Kennedy did for our country, safety and security, as to what we have now.
From my Dad, speaking of that time, while preparing to separate from the USAF, SAC, saying that no one took what the President said as anything but deadly serious.
Looking at what we have now, just imagine should an event of even half the magnitude that needed such leadership and directive should occur. What would that outcome look like, now.