New exhibit explores Cuban Missile Crisis 50 years later

Fifty years ago this month, the United States and Soviet Union became locked in a conflict that could have ended in nuclear disaster. The behind-the-scenes dramas that played out during 13 tense days in October 1962 are the subject of an exhibit opening today at the National Archives.

To the Brink: JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis, runs through Feb. 4 in Washington. It will reopen April 12-Nov. 11, 2013 at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston.

In 1962, U.S. intelligence sources discovered that Soviet-built missile bases were under construction in Cuba, just 90 miles offshore of the USA. The eventual resolution of the confrontation is seen as one of President Kennedy's key achievements.

Included in the exhibit: clips of Kennedy's Oct. 22 address alerting the nation to the situation; CIA-prepared personality studies of Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev and Fidel Castro; and secret correspondence between Kennedy and Khrushchev.