Today’s WOTD – 16 October 2012

catholicon

[kuh-thol-i-kuhn]

Today’s aphorism

‘I once said “we will bury you”, and I got into trouble with it. Of course we will not bury you with a shovel. Your own working class will bury you‘.

Nikita Khrushchev, Soviet President from 14 September 1953 – 14 October 1964.

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‘If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich‘.

John F. Kennedy, U.S. President from 20 January 1961 – 22 November 1963.

On this day

16 October 1834 – London’s House of Lords and House of Commons damaged by fire caused by an over-heating chimney flue during the destruction of tally sticks.

16 October 1962 – start of the Cuban Missile Crisis, known in Cuba as the October Crisis and in Russia as Kарибский кризис (Caribbean Crisis), one of the major events of the Cold War as it brought the world to the brink of nuclear conflict. It started when a USAF U-2 plane photographed evidence of Soviet air bases being constructed in Cuba on 14 October 1962. The U.S. considered bombing the bases, but ended up blockading Cuba, preventing Soviet weapons being delivered. Soviet President Nikita Khrushchev wrote to U.S. President John F. Kennedy, stating the blockade constituted an act of war. For 13 days, the Americans and Soviets conducted talks to resolve the crisis. On 28 October 1962, Kennedy and UN Secretary General U. Thant reached a public and secret agreement with Khrushchev. Publicly, the Soviets agreed to dismantle their weapons in Cuba, while the U.S. gave an agreement to never invade Cuba. Secretly, the U.S. agreed to dismantle its ballistic missiles in Turkey.