It was on October 22, 1962, that President John F. Kennedy announced to the nation that the U.S. government had photographic evidence of missiles on Cuba pointed towards South Florida. An American U-2 spy plane had flown over Cuba earlier that month and, utilizing state of the art technology, snapped several black and white pictures of the missiles. At the time, the U.S. was involved in the “Cold War” with the Soviet Union, and the Kennedy Administration believed the Soviets had installed the missiles on Cuba. He had already met several times with his advisors before addressing the nation. It led to a 13-day standoff between the two nations, after which the Soviets agreed to pull the missiles, and the U.S. agreed not to invade Cuba. This is the complete 18-minute speech.
Chief Writing Wolf 