The Cuban Missile Crisis Quiz

What event marked the closest the world came to nuclear war during the Cold War?

• The Korean War

• The Berlin Blockade

• The Bay of Pigs Invasion

• The Cuban Missile Crisis

Who was the President of the United States during the Cuban Missile Crisis?

• Dwight D. Eisenhower

• Lyndon B. Johnson

• John F. Kennedy

• Richard Nixon

Which country did the U.S. try to overthrow before the Cuban Missile Crisis?

• Korea

• Cuba

• Vietnam

• Iran

What was the Bay of Pigs?

• A nuclear test site

• An unsuccessful attempt to overthrow Cuba's government

• A U.S. missile base

• A Soviet spy operation

Who was the Soviet Premier during the Cuban Missile Crisis?

• Leonid Brezhnev

• Joseph Stalin

• Mikhail Gorbachev

• Nikita Khrushchev

What did the U.S. do in response to discovering missiles in Cuba?

• Set up a naval blockade

• Conducted an airstrike

• Did nothing

• Launched a full-scale invasion

What was the U.S. naval blockade of Cuba officially called?

• An act of war

• A quarantine

• A maneuver

• A siege

Which officer refused to authorize a nuclear torpedo launch from a Soviet submarine?

• Anatoly Dobrynin

• Vasili Arkhipov

• Nikolai Beloussov

• Ivan Papanin

What did the U.S. agree to do in exchange for the Soviet Union removing its missiles from Cuba?

• Remove U.S. missiles from Turkey and Italy

• Apologize publicly to the Soviet Union

• Give financial aid to the Soviet Union

• Withdraw from Vietnam

What was DEFCON 2?

• A peace treaty

• A diplomatic conference

• A defense readiness condition

• A type of missile