MIKE GRACIA

CIA reference photograph of a Soviet medium-range ballistic missile in Red Square, Moscow.

The Cuban Missile Crisis was a 13-day confrontation between
the United States and the Soviet Union, when American
deployments of nuclear missiles in Italy and Turkey were
matched by Soviet deployments of nuclear missiles in Cuba.

The crisis lasted from October 16 to October 28, 1962. The
confrontation is widely considered the closest the
the Cold War came to escalating into full-scale nuclear
war.

Cuban Missile Crisis, map of immediate-threat areas.

Complicated and tension-filled negotiations between the United
States and the Soviet Union finally result in a plan to end the two-
week-old Cuban Missile Crisis. A frightening period in which
nuclear holocaust seemed imminent began to come to an end.

Since President John F. Kennedy’s October 22 address warning
the Soviets to cease their reckless program to put nuclear weapons
in Cuba and announcing a naval “quarantine” against additional weapons shipments into Cuba, the world held its breath waiting to
see whether the two superpowers would come to blows. With no apparent end to the crisis in sight, U.S. forces were placed at
DEFCON 2—meaning war involving the Strategic Air Command
was imminent. On October 24, millions waited to see whether
Soviet ships bound for Cuba carrying additional missiles would
try to break the U.S. naval blockade around the island. At the last
minute, the vessels turned around and returned to the Soviet Union.

CAMILLE BOHANNON

Robert Plant is best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the
English rock band Led Zeppelin for all of its existence from 1968
until 1980, when the band broke up following the death of John
Bonham, the band’s drummer. He was inducted with the band
into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995.

In 2008, Rolling Stone editors ranked him number 15 on their
list of the 100 best singers of all time. In 2011, Rolling Stone
readers ranked Plant the greatest of all lead singers. In 2006,
Hit Parader magazine named Plant the "Greatest Metal Vocalist
of All Time".           

In 2009, Plant was voted "the greatest voice in rock" in a poll
conducted by Planet Rock. Plant is 74 years old today.

CAMILLE BOHANNON

Singer Robert Anthony Plant is 73 today.

Plant is best known as the lead singer and lyricist
of the English rock band Led Zeppelin.