Thirteen days in October 1962 forever changed the course of the world in the nuclear age. The Cuban Missile Crisis represents the closest point to mutual nuclear destruction that the world has ever come to. Critical to the story of the Cuban Missile Crisis is the leadership in place throughout the crisis. Three men dominated the nations involved in the crisis and captivated citizens in every corner of the world. U.S. President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, and Cuban dictator Fidel Castro dominated the airwaves and news circuits leading up to the infamous crisis, which plunged all three leaders and nations into cold silence of misperceptions, poor communications and unprecedented problems. Unlike any other moment in history, the Cuban Missile Crisis shaped a generation entering the nuclear age with unease and tension. Decisions were ultimately made by the nations' leaders, who were undoubtedly shaped and influenced by voices far beyond the three men's own ideologies. The opinions and beliefs of those closest to leaders with a vested interest in the crisis dictated monumental moments throughout this thirteen-day standoff. The issue arose on the morning of October 16 when National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy woke President Kennedy with startling photographs taken by a U-2 plane over the Cuban mainland. The photos prove there were Soviet medium-range ballistic missiles on the island, located just 90 miles from the U.S. coast. Long before the Cuban Missile Crisis, as the JFK Presidential Library noted, "Kennedy warned of the growing arsenal of Soviet intercontinental ballistic missiles and pledged to revitalize America's nuclear forces." More rational members like Robert F. Kennedy urged the president to consider all aspects of the impending debacle and wait for a reaction from Khrushchev before beginning defensive retaliation. Khrushchev denied that Soviet or Cuban forces were ordered to shoot down unarmed American flights. President Kennedy, relying on his conscious conscience, believed in the sincerity of Khrushchev's words. Works Cited Houghton, D. (2013). The decision point. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Kennedy. (1962). Retrieved from http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/sUVmCh-sB0moLfrBcaHaSg.aspx May, Ernest R. and Philip Zelikow. The Kennedy Tapes: Inside the White House During the Cuban Missile Crisis. Cambridge, Mass: Belknap of Harvard UP, 1997. PrintPutnam, T. (1979). Retrieved from http://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/JFK-in-History/The-Cold-War.aspx?p=2