' Skip To Content
Join the Conversation
Funded by
Support Provided by: Learn More
JFK | Primary Source

End of the Cuban Naval Quarantine, 1962

Kennedy lifts the quarantine after the Soviets agree to remove their bombers.

Statement Announcing the End of the Cuban Naval Quarantine
November 20, 1962

[The first three sentences of a statement to be made by President Kennedy at his Press Conference at 6:00 p.m. on November 20, 1962.]

I have today been informed by Chairman Khrushchev that all of the IL-28 bombers now in Cuba will be withdrawn within 30 days. He also agrees that these planes can be observed and counted as they leave. Inasmuch as this goes a long way toward reducing the danger which faced this Hemisphere four weeks ago, I have this afternoon instructed the Secretary of Defense to lift our naval quarantine.

Support Provided by: Learn More

Now Streaming

  • The Harvest: Integrating Mississippi's Schools poster image

    The Harvest: Integrating Mississippi's Schools

    Explore what happened when the small Mississippi town of Leland integrated its public schools in 1970. Told through the remembrances of students, teachers and parents, the film shows how the town – and America – were transformed.

  • The Harvest: Integrating Mississippi's Schools (español) poster image

    The Harvest: Integrating Mississippi's Schools (español)

    Explore lo que sucedió cuando la pequeña ciudad de Leland en Misisipi integró sus escuelas públicas en 1970. Contada a través de los recuerdos de estudiantes, maestros y padres de familia, la película muestra cómo se transformaron la ciudad y el país.

  • The Busing Battleground poster image

    The Busing Battleground

    The Busing Battleground viscerally captures the class tensions and racial violence that ensued when Black and white students in Boston were bused for the first time between neighborhoods to comply with a federal desegregation order.

Related Features