Jimmy Aiken's mysterious world is brought to you by the StarQuest Production Network

and is made possible by our many generous patrons.

If you'd like to support the podcast, please visit sqpn.com slash give.

Previously on Jimmy Aiken's mysterious world.

Good evening, my fellow citizens. This government has promised,

has maintained the closest surveillance of the Soviet military buildup on the island of Cuba.

Within the past week unmistakable evidence has established the fact that a series of offensive

missile sites is now in preparation.

You're listening to episode 213 of Jimmy Aiken's mysterious world,

where we look at mysteries from the twin perspectives of faith and reason.

In this episode, we're talking about the Cuban Missile Crisis that almost led to nuclear war

in 1962. I'm Dom Betanelli and joining me today is Jimmy Aiken.

Hey Jimmy, howdy Dom. Between 1947 and 1991, the world was locked in a decades-long confrontation

between East and West. It was known as the Cold War, a terrifying stalemate that threatened

to become World War III and devastate the globe with nuclear war. One of the most dangerous

moments of the Cold War occurred in 1962 when it was discovered that the Soviet Union was placing

nuclear missiles in Cuba just 90 miles from the US coast. The result was a 13-day

international emergency known as the Cuban Missile Crisis. The key players were American President

John F. Kennedy, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, and Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro.

The fate of the world lay in the hands of these three men, and we came within a whisker

of a nuclear war that would have killed a third of humanity. That's what we'll be talking about

in this episode of Jimmy Aiken's mysterious world. So Jimmy, why did you want to do this mystery?

...