Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro replied to President Kennedy’s naval blockade over Cuban radio and television, October 23, 1962. This picture of Castro during his speech was copied from a television monitor in Key West, Florida. To defuse the Cuban missile crisis, President Kennedy promised not to invade the island nation, but newly declassified documents show he later retreated from the pledge, fearing Cuba could become an `invulnerable base.” The change of heart meant that the U.S.-Soviet understandings that resolved the 1962 crisis were never made permanent. (AP Photo)