In October 1962, the world teetered on the brink of nuclear war as the United States and the Soviet Union faced off over the presence of Soviet missile sites in Cuba. The crisis began when American spy planes detected the construction of Soviet nuclear-capable ballistic missile sites on the island, just 90 miles from the United States. After a tense standoff, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev agreed to dismantle the sites in exchange for a U.S. promise not to invade the island and the removal of American missile sites from Turkey.