JFK SHOWN U-2 PHOTOS OF SOVIET MISSILE SITES IN CUBA
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On October 16, 1962, Arthur Lundahl*, CIA chief photo interpreter, "revealed a secret that would bring the world to the edge of nuclear war."
Mr. Lundahl showed President John F. Kennedy photographs taken from a U-2 overflight of Cuba with captions he had added such as ERECTOR LAUNCHER EQUIPMENT, MISSILE TRAILERS, and TENT AREAS.
The President, as he beheld clear evidence of Soviet nuclear missile** sites in Cuba, asked...
"Are these missiles ready to be fired?"
So began Day 1 of the 13 day long "Cuban Missile Crisis."
*Arthur Charles Lundahl (1915-1992) was born in Chicago, IL & studied geology at the University of Chicago, BS (1939), MS (1942). ACL served in the US Navy in WWII & became the Chief Engineer at NPIC.
**SS-4 medium-range ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads capable of hitting targets in the continental United States.
SOURCE
"One Minute To Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War," by Michael Dobbs, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2008.
