On Oct. 14, 1962, a U.S. Air Force reconnaissance aircraft photographed the installation of forty medium-range Soviet missiles in Cuba. These nuclear weapons had an effective range of 5,000 kilometers, and could easily reach major U.S. cities, including Chicago, New York, and Washington, D.C.. President Kennedy was informed, and two days later on Oct. 16, the Cuban Missile Crisis began; for the next two weeks, the world held its breath and hovered on the brink of nuclear war. The first-ever James Bond film, Dr. No (1962), premiered in U.S. theaters only six months later.
