The history of the Cuban Missile Crisis Matthew A Jordan TED-Ed

The Soviet Union viewed the blockade as “an act of aggression” and their ships would be instructed to ignore it. Three days after Kennedy’s speech, the Chinese People’s Daily announced that “650,000,000 Chinese men and women were standing by the Cuban people.” The crisis coincided with the Sino-Indian War, with China launching a surprise attack on India at the Himalayan border. On 24 October, Pope John XXIII sent a message to the Soviet embassy in Rome, to be transmitted to the Kremlin, in which he voiced his concern for peace. French President Charles de Gaulle gave Kennedy his full support, but he viewed the crisis as a demonstration of Europe’s vulnerability to superpower conflict.