November 14 - November 15, 1962

While the height of the crisis had passed and the MRBMS were dismantled, questions still remained regarding the status of the SRBMS and the IL28 bombers stationed in Cuba. The USA, fearing the capabilities of these remaining weapons, continued to carry out aerial surveillance to ensure they were dismantled- much to the Cuban’s dismay. The Soviets maintained that these weapons were merely “defensive”, fearing that the Americans would invade Cuba.

A pair of telegrams from Bonn reveal some confusion in the Canadian embassy about German views of the crisis. A telegram sent on the 13th (CDNW12435) reported Germans views that the Soviet action in Cuba as “defensive in military sense and offensive in political sense”. The following day, the Canadian diplomat decided the description of Germans was misleading, and he corrected the telegram on the 14th (CDNW12436).

Two telegrams from Washington reported on an ABC TV interview with US Deputy Secretary of Defense, Roswell L. Gilpatric, on November 11th (CDNW12441, CDNW12453). Gilpatric answered questions pertaining to the Cuban missiles, stressing that they presented a great threat to the USA and its Western allies. He stated that while the Soviets claimed there were only 42 missiles, the US believed there may be more and were unsure of the total number of warheads. However, despite the panic over the Cuban missiles, Gilpatric maintained that the “USA have a margin of superiority over the USSR in inter-continental missiles.” Gilpatric also declared the IL28 bombers in Cuba as a “threat” to the USA and announced plans to have them removed. While Khrushchev believed the IL28s were necessary for Cuba’s defense, the US maintained that it “never had an objective of invading Cuba.” To ease Khrushchev’s worries, a pact was made between the US and the USSR, promising that no invasion would occur as long as the Americans' disarmament terms were met.