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Follow a reference from any page, or find a document below. Every title links to the archive, museum or publication that holds it.
Sources and references
A letter written in 1962, a participant’s later recollection and a modern historical study offer different kinds of evidence. The groups below help you recognise what you are opening. Repeated references to the same record are combined.
No matching sources. Try a shorter phrase or select all groups.
British and wider historical references
John F. Kennedy Library
JFK Library: The Bay of Pigs
Archive or reference webpage
John F. Kennedy Library
Khrushchev to Kennedy, 26 October 1962
Archive or reference webpage
John F. Kennedy Library
Khrushchev to Kennedy, 27 October 1962
Archive or reference webpage
archives.gov
National Archives: Limited Test Ban Treaty, 1963
Archive or reference webpage
harringtonmuseum.org.uk
Harrington Museum: Thor deployment, launch crew, countdown and propellant handling
Archive or reference webpage
archives.gov
National Archives: San Cristóbal reconnaissance photograph, 14 October 1962, PX1966-020-007
Archive or reference webpage
The National Archives, UK
The National Archives: Cold War on File, including Kennedy–Macmillan telephone record, PREM 11/3689
Archive or reference webpage
Royal Air Force
RAF Air Power Review: Selected Chronology of the RAF and the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis
Archive or reference webpage
RAF Museum
RAF Historical Society Journal 32: Thor range, deployment and station table, pp. 74–81
PDF document
Royal Air Force
RAF Air Historical Branch: The Bomber Role, 1945–1970
Archive or reference webpage
Historic England
Historic England: Thor missile site at former RAF North Luffenham
Archive or reference webpage
Historic England
Historic England: RAF Polebrook Thor missile site
Archive or reference webpage
United Nations
United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld Library: The Cuban Missile Crisis tests the UN
Archive or reference webpage
US Air Force Historical Support Division
US Air Force Historical Support Division: 1962 — Cuban Missile Crisis
Archive or reference webpage
John F. Kennedy Library
JFK Library: Life of John F. Kennedy
Archive or reference webpage
justice.gov
US Department of Justice: Robert F. Kennedy
Archive or reference webpage
gov.uk
UK Government: Harold Macmillan
Archive or reference webpage
gov.uk
UK Government: Sir Alec Douglas-Home
Archive or reference webpage
worldbank.org
World Bank Archives: Robert S. McNamara
Archive or reference webpage
John F. Kennedy Library
JFK Library: McGeorge Bundy oral history, March 1964
PDF document
cia.gov
CIA: John Alex McCone, biographical record
Archive or reference webpage
jcs.mil
Joint Chiefs of Staff: General Maxwell Davenport Taylor
Archive or reference webpage
af.mil
US Air Force: General Curtis Emerson LeMay
Archive or reference webpage
stevensoncenter.org
Illinois State University: Adlai E. Stevenson II
Archive or reference webpage
1997-2001.state.gov
US Department of State: Chiefs of Mission to Russia
Archive or reference webpage
carnegieendowment.org
Carnegie Endowment: Anatoly Dobrynin’s diplomatic career
Archive or reference webpage
api.parliament.uk
UK Parliament: Peter Thorneycroft, offices and parliamentary service
Archive or reference webpage
John F. Kennedy Library
JFK Library: Lord Harlech (David Ormsby-Gore) oral history
PDF document
United Nations
United Nations: U Thant, former Secretary-General
Archive or reference webpage
Historic England
Historic England: RAF Harrington Thor missile site, list entry 1400809
Archive or reference webpage
Royal Air Force
RAF Air Power Review, volume 20, number 2: British forces and the crisis, p. 148
Archive or reference webpage
airuniversity.af.edu
US Air University Press: Assured Access, history of the space launch enterprise
PDF document
rutland.gov.uk
Rutland County Council: St George’s Barracks statement of historic significance, 2018
PDF document
difesa.it
Italian Ministry of Defence military-history proceedings: 36th Air Brigade, Gioia del Colle and thirty Jupiters, p. 1077
PDF document
incirlik.af.mil
US Air Force, Incirlik history: Çiğli near İzmir and five three-missile Jupiter sites
Archive or reference webpage
ssfl.msfc.nasa.gov
NASA: Santa Susana programme history — Jupiter engines and propellants
Archive or reference webpage
National Museum of the US Air Force
US Air Force Museum: RF-101C Voodoo, aircraft 56-166 and technical notes
Archive or reference webpage
Letters, meetings and official records
US Office of the Historian
FRUS XI, document 10: Operation Mongoose, 8 October 1962
Archive or reference webpage
US Office of the Historian
FRUS XI, document 18: White House meeting, 16 October
Archive or reference webpage
US Office of the Historian
FRUS XI, document 29: Kennedy–Gromyko conversation, 18 October
Archive or reference webpage
John F. Kennedy Library
Proclamation 3504: Interdiction of offensive weapons, 23 October
Archive or reference webpage
US Office of the Historian
FRUS XI, document 86: Discussions with U Thant, 26 October
Archive or reference webpage
John F. Kennedy Library
Fidel Castro's letter to Khrushchev
Archive or reference webpage
US Office of the Historian
FRUS XI, document 96: Robert Kennedy's memorandum of the 27 October meeting
Archive or reference webpage
US Office of the Historian
FRUS VI, document 70: Khrushchev's private letter, 28 October
Archive or reference webpage
US Office of the Historian
Office of the Historian: The Cuban Missile Crisis, October 1962
Archive or reference webpage
US Office of the Historian
FRUS supplement, document 342: joint evaluation of the Soviet missile threat, 19 October 1962
Archive or reference webpage
US Office of the Historian
FRUS XI, document 214: CIA assessment of deployment areas and construction, 28 November 1962
Archive or reference webpage
US Office of the Historian
FRUS, 1961–1963, Volume XI: List of Persons
Archive or reference webpage
US Office of the Historian
FRUS document 28: McCone’s record of the 18 October discussions
Archive or reference webpage
US Office of the Historian
FRUS document 31: Record of meeting, 19 October 1962
Archive or reference webpage
US Office of the Historian
FRUS document 94: Eighth ExComm meeting, 27 October 1962
Archive or reference webpage
John F. Kennedy Library
JFK Library: Kennedy–Khrushchev correspondence during the crisis
Archive or reference webpage
millercenter.org
Miller Center: Kennedy and the Joint Chiefs, recording of 19 October 1962
Archive or reference webpage
United Nations
UN press release SG/1359: U Thant–Castro correspondence, 27 October 1962
PDF document
National Security Archive
Record of conversation between Mikoyan and Castro, 22 November 1962
Archive or reference webpage
US Office of the Historian
FRUS, Volume V, document 262: Rusk–Ormsby-Gore discussion of Lord Home’s communication, 9 November
Archive or reference webpage
US Office of the Historian
Office of the Historian: Dean Rusk
Archive or reference webpage
US Office of the Historian
FRUS XIX, document 105: Jupiter programme and 1,500-nautical-mile range, 11 January 1957
Archive or reference webpage
US Office of the Historian
FRUS XI, document 75: allied consultation and the Jupiter missiles, 25 October 1962
Archive or reference webpage
Document collections and research
National Security Archive
National Security Archive: The Underwater Cuban Missile Crisis at 60
Archive or reference webpage
National Security Archive
National Security Archive: The Most Dangerous Day
Archive or reference webpage
National Security Archive
National Security Archive: Nuclear Crisis Lasted 59 Days, Not Just 13
Archive or reference webpage
National Security Archive
National Security Archive: Castro, Mikoyan and the Missiles of November
Archive or reference webpage
National Security Archive
National Security Archive: Last Nuclear Weapons Left Cuba in December 1962
Archive or reference webpage
National Security Archive
USAF historical study: Strategic Air Command Operations in the Cuban Crisis of 1962
PDF document
National Security Archive
National Security Archive, reconnaissance photographs 15–24: original briefing boards, 14–23 October 1962
Archive or reference webpage
National Security Archive
National Security Archive: Getting to Know the Cubans — Khrushchev Meets the Castro Brothers
Archive or reference webpage
National Security Archive
Cold War International History Project Bulletin 17/18: Cuban Missile Crisis documents
PDF document
National Security Archive
National Security Archive: Missing Over the Soviet Union — Maultsby’s flight and archival map
Archive or reference webpage
National Security Archive
USS Beale deck log, 27–28 October 1962: submarine contact and surfacing (transcription)
Archive or reference webpage
Day-by-day archive collections
John F. Kennedy Library
JFK Library: 16 October 1962, chronology and documents
Archive or reference webpage
John F. Kennedy Library
JFK Library: 17 October 1962, chronology and documents
Archive or reference webpage
John F. Kennedy Library
JFK Library: 18 October 1962, chronology and documents
Archive or reference webpage
John F. Kennedy Library
JFK Library: 19 October 1962, chronology and documents
Archive or reference webpage
John F. Kennedy Library
JFK Library: 20 October 1962, chronology and documents
Archive or reference webpage
John F. Kennedy Library
JFK Library: 21 October 1962, chronology and documents
Archive or reference webpage
John F. Kennedy Library
JFK Library: 22 October 1962, chronology and documents
Archive or reference webpage
John F. Kennedy Library
JFK Library: 23 October 1962, chronology and documents
Archive or reference webpage
John F. Kennedy Library
JFK Library: 24 October 1962, chronology and documents
Archive or reference webpage
John F. Kennedy Library
JFK Library: 25 October 1962, chronology and documents
Archive or reference webpage
John F. Kennedy Library
JFK Library: 26 October 1962, chronology and documents
Archive or reference webpage
John F. Kennedy Library
JFK Library: 27 October 1962, chronology and documents
Archive or reference webpage
John F. Kennedy Library
JFK Library: 28 October 1962, chronology and documents
Archive or reference webpage
John F. Kennedy Library
NSC minutes, 20 October 1962: quarantine, air strike and invasion alternatives
Archive or reference webpage
John F. Kennedy Library
NSC discussion, 21 October 1962: the speech, allied consultation and military preparations
Archive or reference webpage
John F. Kennedy Library
Kennedy–Macmillan telephone memorandum, 22 October 1962
Archive or reference webpage
Equipment and operational histories
National Museum of the US Air Force
US Air Force Museum: reconnaissance during the Cuban Missile Crisis
Archive or reference webpage
National Security Archive
National Security Archive: invasion planning and the R-14 deployment that did not arrive
Archive or reference webpage
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum: Jupiter missile
Archive or reference webpage
National Museum of the US Air Force
US Air Force Museum: Douglas Thor missile
Archive or reference webpage
RAF Museum
RAF Museum: Avro Vulcan and Britain’s V-bomber force
Archive or reference webpage
John F. Kennedy Library
JFK Library: Light Photographic Squadron 62 and the RF-8A
Archive or reference webpage
Defence Intelligence Agency
Defence Intelligence Agency: photographic intelligence and the Il-28 issue
Archive or reference webpage
US Naval History and Heritage Command
Naval History and Heritage Command: USS Beale service history
Archive or reference webpage
US Naval History and Heritage Command
Naval History and Heritage Command: USS Essex
Archive or reference webpage
US Naval History and Heritage Command
Naval History and Heritage Command: USS Enterprise, 1961–1965
Archive or reference webpage
US Naval History and Heritage Command
US Navy photograph record: boarding Marucla, 26 October 1962
Archive or reference webpage
US Naval History and Heritage Command
US Navy operational history: quarantine, 22–26 October
Archive or reference webpage
Film and broadcast records
WABE
WABE / public broadcasting: Three Men Go to War, 2012
Archive or reference webpage
PBS
PBS Secrets of the Dead: The Man Who Saved the World
Archive or reference webpage
Sony Pictures
Sony Pictures: The Fog of War
Archive or reference webpage
British Film Institute
BFI catalogue: Thirteen Days (2000)
Archive or reference webpage
PBS
PBS NewsHour: discussion of Thirteen Days and historical interpretation
Archive or reference webpage
Paley Center for Media
Paley Center collection: The Missiles of October, broadcast 18 December 1974
Archive or reference webpage
Library of Congress
Library of Congress catalogue: Dr. Strangelove (1964)
Archive or reference webpage
Photographs and their rights
Dates, creators and permissions are recorded separately for each photograph. Modern images are dated as such; no generated picture is presented as archival evidence.
San Cristóbal, 14 October 1962. This annotated reconnaissance photograph was among the images shown to President Kennedy on 16 October.
US government reconnaissance photograph; John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, via Wikimedia Commons.
Khrushchev and Kennedy in Vienna, 3 June 1961: an earlier encounter between the leaders who would confront the missile crisis the following year.
US Department of State; John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, PX 96-33:12, via Wikimedia Commons.
Harold Macmillan in Bermuda, 21 December 1961. A crop from a photograph of his meeting with President Kennedy.
Cecil Stoughton, White House Photographs, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum; cropped and adjusted version via Wikimedia Commons.
A Thor missile being raised from its horizontal position. This US Air Force photograph illustrates the equipment; its original date and location are not established in the source record.
US Air Force / National Museum of the US Air Force, image 090514-F-1234P-002, via Wikimedia Commons.
Remains of a Thor launch pad at former RAF Polebrook, photographed on 20 May 2007. This is a modern view, not a photograph from the crisis.
Nigel Stickells / Former Thor Missile Launch Pad at Polebrook Airfield / Geograph, CC BY-SA 2.0. Converted to WebP; no crop. This image remains CC BY-SA 2.0.
Kennedy meets ExComm on 29 October 1962, the day after the Soviet withdrawal announcement. Negotiations and verification were still continuing.
Cecil Stoughton, White House Photographs, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, ST-A26-25-62. Commons version has scratch repairs; resized and converted to WebP without cropping.
Kennedy addresses the nation about the dismantling of Soviet missile bases in Cuba, 2 November 1962. This is the later follow-up broadcast.
Robert Knudsen, White House Photographs, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, KN-C24800. Converted to WebP without cropping.
Kennedy signs Proclamation 3504 authorising the naval quarantine, 23 October 1962, in the Oval Office.
Abbie Rowe, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, via Wikimedia Commons. Converted to WebP without cropping.
An R-12 (SS-4) preserved in Havana, photographed on 2 November 2007. This later display illustrates the missile type deployed to Cuba in 1962.
Suvorow / SS-4 Sandalwood in Havana.JPG. Via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop. This image remains CC BY-SA 3.0.
Two R-14 (SS-5) missiles on transporters. The US Department of Defense record dates this photograph to 1977. It shows the type; R-14 missiles did not reach Cuba during the crisis.
US Department of Defense archive, DF-SN-83-01207; photographer unrecorded. Via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop.
An S-75 / SA-2 missile on a transport trailer at Riga Aviation Museum, 1 July 2023. A preserved example of the missile family, rather than equipment photographed in Cuba.
Mztourist / SA-2 at Riga Aviation Museum.jpg. Via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop. This image remains CC BY-SA 4.0.
Jupiter on a launch pad. The archive reproduction does not establish the capture date or location, so this is an illustration of the system rather than a verified view of a Turkish or Italian base.
US Air Force / Redstone Arsenal history collection. Via Wikimedia Commons. Commons version was cropped and colour-adjusted. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop.
A 2K6 Luna rocket system on its tracked 2P16 launcher, at the Artillery Museum in Saint Petersburg, 10 August 2016. This is the earlier Luna family, distinct from the later wheeled Luna-M.
Alf van Beem. Via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop.
An FKR-1 cruise missile at the Havana weapons exhibition, 18 May 2009. The photograph shows a preserved display, not a deployed missile during the thirteen days.
Martin Trolle Mikkelsen / FKR-1 Havana Weapons Exposition.jpg. Via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop. This image remains CC BY-SA 2.0.
U-2A serial 56-6722, “Article 389”, at the National Museum of the US Air Force. The source does not give a photograph date. This museum aircraft illustrates the type and is not identified as Anderson’s or Heyser’s crisis aircraft.
USAF. Via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop.
Three VFP-63 photographic-reconnaissance Crusaders during a Western Pacific deployment in 1962. The F8U-1P was redesignated RF-8A that September. These are examples of the type, not aircraft photographed on a Cuban reconnaissance mission.
LTJG J. Bieren; supplied by BeerInn / Three Vought F8U-1P Crusaders of VFP-63 Det.L flying in formation, in 1962.jpg. Via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop. This image remains CC BY-SA 4.0.
An RF-101C Voodoo on museum display, photographed on 6 August 2025. The source identifies the aircraft as serial 56-166, which flew low-level reconnaissance during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
George Neat / McDonnell RF-101C Voodoo.jpg. Via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop. This image remains CC BY-SA 4.0.
A B-52D Stratofortress in flight. The US government archive image is undated in the source record; it illustrates the bomber type rather than a specific October 1962 mission.
US government photograph, 061127-F-1234S-020; individual photographer unrecorded. Via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop.
B-47E 53-2275 at March Field Air Museum, California, 26 April 2012. This preserved aircraft illustrates the six-engine bomber type.
Magic Aviation / Boeing B-47E Stratojet US Air Force 53-2275 (8516852842).jpg. Via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop.
A Vulcan B.2 at Barksdale Global Power Museum, Louisiana, 19 September 2015. This is a modern museum view, with later markings and appearance.
Michael Barera / Barksdale Global Power Museum September 2015 39 (Avro Vulcan B.2).jpg. Via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop. This image remains CC BY-SA 4.0.
Victor B.1 XA922 approaching to land, circa 1957 according to the source. An RAF photograph from before the crisis.
Royal Air Force (RAF) official photographer. Via Wikimedia Commons. Low-resolution archival reproduction supplied by Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop.
A Vickers Valiant at Filton, near Bristol. The photographer’s record gives no definite date; this image should not be treated as a documented October 1962 scene.
Adrian Pingstone. Via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop.
An Il-28 at the Central Air Force Museum, Monino, Russia, 17 August 2016. A museum example of the bomber type involved in the withdrawal negotiations.
Alf van Beem. Via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop.
B-59 on the surface during the crisis. The source record dates this US Navy photograph to 28–29 October 1962; it is not a photograph of the internal decision-making aboard the submarine on 27 October.
US Navy / US National Archives, 428-N-711200. Via Wikimedia Commons. Commons version has its label cropped and contrast adjusted. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop.
USS Beale (DD-471) underway in harbour on 27 October 1964, two years after the crisis.
G. A. Carpenter, US Navy / Naval History and Heritage Command, NH 103711. Via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop.
USS Essex (CVS-9) at Saint Thomas in the US Virgin Islands, 14 December 1962, after the thirteen days. Aircraft of its anti-submarine air group are visible on deck.
US Navy / National Naval Aviation Museum, NNAM.1996.488.242.047. Via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop.
USS Enterprise (CVAN-65) underway on 1 October 1962, before the crisis, with Carrier Air Group 6 aircraft on deck.
USN. Via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop.
USS Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. (DD-850) in the Mediterranean in 1970. This later photograph illustrates the destroyer that supplied the Marucla boarding party; it does not show the boarding itself.
USN. Via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop.
John F. Kennedy, 1961.
US Navy photograph. Commons version includes a tonal adjustment to the right eye. Via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop.
Fidel Castro arriving in Washington, DC, 15 April 1959.
U.S. News & World Report collection, Library of Congress, LC-U9-2315-6; individual photographer unrecorded. Via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop.
Public domain — rights dedicated by U.S. News & World Report
Robert F. Kennedy in the White House Cabinet Room, 28 January 1964.
Yoichi R. Okamoto / Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library. Via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop.
Robert McNamara, 12 January 1961. A crop from his official portrait.
Oscar Porter, US Army / Department of Defense. Via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop.
McGeorge Bundy at an Oval Office meeting, 24 July 1967.
Yoichi Okamoto / Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library. Via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop.
Dean Rusk. The source record does not establish the photograph’s date.
US federal government photograph, via Wikimedia Commons; individual photographer unrecorded. Via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop.
John McCone. Undated official CIA photograph.
Central Intelligence Agency. Via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop.
General Maxwell D. Taylor as US Army Chief of Staff, 29 January 1957.
US Army; Taylor’s Official Military Personnel File. Commons crop. Via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop.
General Curtis E. LeMay as US Air Force Chief of Staff, circa 1961.
US Air Force; LeMay’s Official Military Personnel File. Via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop.
Adlai Stevenson at the White House, 23 June 1961.
Warren K. Leffler / U.S. News & World Report collection, Library of Congress. Commons crop. Via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop.
Public domain — rights dedicated by U.S. News & World Report
Llewellyn Thompson. The official portrait is undated in the source record.
US government / US Embassy portrait. Via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop.
Anatoly Dobrynin, 23 June 1967.
Yoichi Okamoto / Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library. Commons crop. Via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop.
Andrei Gromyko at Schiphol, 7 July 1972.
Rob Mieremet / Anefo, Dutch National Archives. Via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop. This image remains CC BY-SA 3.0 Netherlands.
Issa Pliyev in uniform. The source does not establish the photograph’s date.
Mil.ru / Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation; photographer unrecorded. Via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop.
Alec Douglas-Home, known as Lord Home during the crisis, circa 1963.
Anefo / Dutch National Archives; photographer unrecorded. Via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop.
Peter Thorneycroft in the 1955 Cabinet photograph. This small archival crop is shown at its available resolution.
UK government photograph; crop from Churchill’s 1955 Cabinet photograph, via Wikimedia Commons. Via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop.
David Ormsby-Gore during a meeting with President Kennedy, 26 October 1961.
Robert Knudsen / John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. Commons crop. Via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop.
U Thant at a Schiphol press conference, 1 July 1963.
Jack de Nijs / Anefo, Dutch National Archives. Via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop. This image remains CC BY-SA 3.0 Netherlands.
Rudolf Anderson Jr. The US Air Force museum’s photograph is undated in the source record.
US Air Force / National Museum of the US Air Force; photographer unrecorded. Via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop.
Nikita Khrushchev during his US visit, 21 September 1959.
Anefo / Dutch National Archives, 910-6890; photographer unrecorded. Commons crop. Via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop.
Anastas Mikoyan, centre, meets President Kennedy at the White House, 29 November 1962, after the thirteen days.
Abbie Rowe / John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. Via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop.
Ernesto “Che” Guevara, on the left, visiting Bayamo, Cuba, in early 1959.
Rolando Abello, Bayamo; supplied by Rpaneque via Wikimedia Commons. Via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop.
Raúl Castro during a state visit to Mexico, 6 November 2015. This later portrait shows him more than fifty years after the crisis.
Presidencia de la República Mexicana, via Wikimedia Commons. Commons crop. Via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; no further crop.
Transporting a Thor in a Douglas C-133 Cargomaster. This US Air Force photograph illustrates the airlift supporting the programme; its exact date and location are not established.
US Air Force / National Museum of the US Air Force, via Wikimedia Commons.
A Thor test launch at Cape Canaveral, Florida, 12 May 1959. This is a US test-range photograph, not a launch from a British base or an event during the Cuban crisis.
US Air Force / National Museum of the US Air Force, image 090514-F-1234P-003, via Wikimedia Commons.
Surviving Thor launch-site structures at former RAF Harrington, photographed on 3 August 2000. Later landscape evidence, not a view of the base in 1962.
Gary Sutherland / Geograph, via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; full frame retained.
Thor at RAF Museum Midlands, Cosford, on 26 September 2022, with a Lightning fighter alongside. The museum display gives a sense of the missile’s scale; it does not reproduce an operational emplacement.
Nick-D / Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP; full frame retained.
San Cristóbal Site 1, 23 October 1962: a US Navy low-level reconnaissance photograph. Original briefing-board annotations retained.
US Navy reconnaissance photograph / US government briefing board. Dino A. Brugioni collection, National Security Archive, image 21.
Public domain in the United States — official US government work
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Map coastlines use Natural Earth public-domain data. Explanatory diagrams are original graphics based on the sources cited beside them.