Internet Exercises       If you'd like to print out this page, click the Print button above. Alternatively, you may click the printer icon on your browser's toolbar, or choose File>Print from the menu.   Back to Exercise List     The Cuban Missile Crisis John F. Kennedy’s national address about the Cuban Missile Crisis, October 22, 1963 1. What does Kennedy say about the nature and range of the weapons in place in Cuba and those soon to be in place? 2. How does he represent the history of the deployment of nuclear arms by the United States and the Soviet Union? 3. What are the seven steps he indicates he is taking? 4. Which of the seven steps were the most likely to involve the United States in a nuclear war with the Soviet Union? 5. In what ways is the levels-of-analysis approach a useful way to explain the actions of the states, bureaucratic agencies, and individuals involved with this crisis? 6. Ask people who are older than 45 or so what they remember of the Cuban missile crisis and how it affected them. 7. Until the end of the cold war in the late 1980s, the threat of nuclear annihilation was quite real and weighed on the minds of many people. How would you feel if nuclear war involving the United States had a much higher probability than it does now? Would you live your life any differently? How has the threat of terrorism affected you?