This program covers the events that began with the Bay of Pigs invasion and ended with a blinking contest between John Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev, with nuclear war an apparently real alternative. The program follows the events, from the failed invasion, to the discovery through aerial photography of missile emplacements in Cuba, to the American blockade of Cuba; from speeches and marches and demonstrations on both sides, to Marine reenforcements arriving at Guantánamo, until the Soviets agreed to remove their missiles and the United States to lift its blockade. The political victory was John Kennedy’s, the telephone hotline between Moscow and Washington was installed, and a new era of superpower relationships had begun. (16 minutes)