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.

Albert Bacon Fall (November 26, 1861 – November 30, 1944)

During the Teapot Dome scandal of the 1920s, Albert B. Fall,
who served as secretary of the interior in President Warren G.
Harding’s cabinet, was found guilty of accepting a bribe while
in office.

Fall was the first individual to be convicted of a crime committed
while a presidential cabinet member.

Senate committee investigating the Teapot Dome oil leases, 1924.

Warren Gamaliel Harding
(November 2, 1865 – August 2, 1923)

In a televised speech of extraordinary gravity, President John F.
Kennedy announced on October 22, 1962 that U.S. spy planes
had discovered Soviet missile bases in Cuba. These missile
sites—under construction but nearing completion—housed
medium-range missiles capable of striking a number of major
cities in the United States, including Washington, D.C.

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.”

What is known as the Cuban Missile Crisis actually began on
October 14, 1962—the day that U.S. intelligence personnel
analyzing U-2 spy plane data discovered that the Soviets were
building medium-range missile sites in Cuba.

Jessica McClure Morales (born March 26, 1986; widely
known as "Baby Jessica" in 1987) fell into a well in her
aunt’s backyard in Midland, Texas, on October 14, 1987,
at the age of 18 months.

Jessica Morales, now age 36, lives with her husband,
Danny, and two kids, Simon and Sheyenne three miles
from the well that made her famous.

On the morning of Friday, October 12, 1962—Columbus Day—a
massive storm hit the coast of northern California. The storm had originated several days earlier in the Pacific Ocean, about five
hundred miles north of Wake Island. 

Re-energized by a combination of unusual meteorological
conditions, the storm moved north with the gathering force
of a Category 3 hurricane. Originally named Typhoon Freda by meteorologists and called the Big Blow by many, it may have
been the most powerful extratropical cyclone ever to hit the
western United States.

Oregon experienced the full brunt of the typhoon and suffered
more damage than any other state. In addition to substantial
damage to thousands of buildings— residential, commercial,
and civic—and to miles of power lines, the severe winds
toppled countless trees in western Oregon’s forests.

The storm outranks all other natural disasters in the state in
terms of destruction and cost, including the 1903 Heppner
Flood. 

The intense winds left over a million people in Oregon without
electrical power, some of them for weeks.