October 22, 1962

On the evening of October 22nd, Ottawa received an “Emergency” cable from George Ignatieff, Canada’s Permanent Representative to NATO. Dean Acheson and Sherman Kent, the Deputy Director of the CIA, had just briefed the North Atlantic Council on intelligence of Soviet weapons in Cuba. Ignatieff’s message includes details of the presentation (CDNW12556).   

The NATO briefing occurred at 10 pm in Paris (mid-afternoon back in Ottawa and Washington, DC). Later that day, at 7 pm Eastern, President John F. Kennedy gave a televised address informing Americans, and the world, about the missiles in Cuba.  

Kennedy’s speech marked the beginning of the world’s awareness of what we now call the “Cuban Missile Crisis.” A transcript of US President John F. Kennedy’s October 22nd speech is available in document CDNW12084.