Question 1

True or false: Cuba had no involvement in the decision to place Soviet missiles on its soil.

Accepted Answer

False. Cuban leader Fidel Castro actively agreed to and even encouraged the Soviet deployment to deter US aggression.

Question 2

True or false: The crisis lasted exactly 13 days, from October 16 to October 28, 1962.

Accepted Answer

False. While often called 13 days, the timeline is flexible; the US blockade began Oct 24, and the resolution came Oct 28.

Question 3

True or false: President Kennedy’s brother, Bobby Kennedy, secretly met with the Soviet ambassador to negotiate the crisis.

Accepted Answer

True. Attorney General Robert Kennedy held secret meetings with Ambassador Dobrynin, helping to broker the backchannel deal.

Question 4

True or false: During the crisis, a Soviet submarine nearly launched a nuclear torpedo after losing radio contact.

Accepted Answer

True. B-59 submarine had a near-launch; only one officer, Vasili Arkhipov, vetoed the strike, averting nuclear war.

Question 5

True or false: The US discovered the Soviet missiles in Cuba using a spy plane flown by a CIA pilot.

Accepted Answer

False. Actually, the missiles were spotted by a U-2 spy plane flown by Air Force Major Richard Heyser, not a CIA pilot initially.

Question 6

True or false: The Soviet Union removed all missiles from Cuba within a week after the crisis ended.

Accepted Answer

False. Missile removal took weeks, with the last IL-28 bombers leaving Cuba by December 1962, not within a week.

Question 7

True or false: The US military had already planned a full-scale invasion of Cuba before the crisis even began.

Accepted Answer

True. Operation Mongoose and other invasion plans were in place since 1961; the crisis accelerated but didn't start them.

Question 8

True or false: The Cuban Missile Crisis ended solely because of a secret deal to remove US missiles from Turkey.

Accepted Answer

True. A secret deal to remove US Jupiter missiles from Turkey was key, though publicly the US promised not to invade Cuba.

Cuban Missile Crisis Trivia Questions