Range of the Soviet rockets installed on the island of Cuba in 1962 in relation to the United States and Latin America.

‘What do you mean, a threat? Surely it’s all right to go fishing, isn’t it?’ On 30 September 1962, the German cartoonist Herbert Kolfhaus illustrates the diplomatic and political trial of strength between Nikita Khrushchev, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and the US President John F. Kennedy over the strategic importance of the island of Cuba. Following the signing of an agreement in late September 1962 between Cuba and the USSR for the construction of a port in the Bay of Havana, which according to Cuban leader Fidel Castro will serve as a base for the Soviet fishing fleet in the Atlantic, the cartoonist paints an ironic picture of Moscow’s real plans on the island of Cuba.

On 14 October 1962, United States U2 reconnaissance aircraft spot launchpads for Soviet missiles under construction on Cuban soil.

On 14 October 1962, photographs taken by US aircraft prove that Soviet missiles have been stationed on Cuban territory, sparking off the Cuban missile crisis.

On 26 October 1962, French Ambassador to the United States, Hervé Alphand, informs French Foreign Minister, Maurice Couve de Murville, of an acceleration in the construction of Soviet military bases in Cuba.

On 29 October 1962, the Cuban Communist leader, Fidel Castro, gives an address to the nation on the Soviet missile crisis which sets the country against the United States.

In October 1962, the cartoonist Behrendt illustrates the seriousness of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the attitude of the United States and the Soviet Union, who are preparing for the worst ‘just in case …’