Topic Summary

The date is October 14th, 1962. 

Exclusive messages sent to John F. Kennedy confirmed something that the administration had been fearing for months; Cuba was storing Russian arms. Photos taken from photoreconnaissance air crafts and exclusive intelligence confirmed that the island nation had a stockpile of Russian arms, from hand held weapons to bomber planes. This news came after a warning from President JFK on September 4th, 1962 to Russia to not arm Cuba further. 

Yet, the cat was out of the bag, and thus, the United States was fully plunged into the Cuban Missile Crisis, a period of only 13 days where we came within a hair's width to mutually assured destruction. 

To navigate this period, President Kennedy put together a cabinet of his most trusted advisors, and dubbed them the Executive Committee of the National Security Council, or EXCOMM. For these 13 days, EXCOMM met nearly around the clock. Not a single phone was allowed in the room, and only one recording exists of these meetings; a tape Kennedy himself managed without telling the other members of the cabinet. 

As the country faces this moment of uncertainty, it is up to you, as one of President John F. Kennedy's most trusted advisors to decide the future of America. Will you go to war with Russia and Cuba? Will you try to make peace? What will you tell the general public? All that is yet to be seen in 90 Seconds ‘Til Midnight: The EXCOMM Meetings of 1962.

This is a standard crisis committee.