Thirteen Days that Changed the WorldCold War fears of nuclear holocaust reached its pinnacle during thirteen days in October of 1962. In the July of 1962, Cuban leader Fidel Castro and Soviet Premiere Nikita Khrushchev made secret arrangement to place Soviet medium range ballistic nuclear missiles in Cuba. The missiles were discovered by the United States on October 16, 1962 during a secret U-2 flight over Cuba. For the next Thirteen days the world stood still, all eyes focused on the Soviet Union, Cuba, and the United States as hopes for a peaceful resolution seemed to fade with each passing day. Americans prepared for the worst, they cleared store shelves of food, dry goods, batteries, medicines and other necessary resources to survive a nuclear attack. Pat Frank's fictional account of nuclear holocaust in Alas, Babylon now seemed all too real. |
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