Stuff That Presidents Have to Deal With

October 15, 1962 -- 46 years ago yesterday -- an American U-2 reconnaissance plane photographed evidence of Soviet missiles being installed on the island of Cuba, and the Cuban Missle Crisis began.

On October 22, President Kennedy gave his fist public speech on the issue. Tough times called for tough words -- that were serious (things that we would be wise to remember a couple of weeks from now):

It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union. To halt this offensive buildup, a strict quarantine on all offensive military equipment under shipment to Cuba is being initiated. All ships of any kind bound for Cuba from whatever nation and port will, if found to contain cargoes of offensive weapons, be turned back. This quarantine will be extended, if needed, to other types of cargo and carriers. We are not at this time, however, denying the necessities of life as the Soviets attempted to do in their Berlin blockade of 1948.

This documentary does a better job of telling the story than I can. It's in two parts. Take the time to watch both: