On October 26, with tensions increasing, Kennedy received an offer from Khrushchev. The Soviet leader offered to withdraw his missiles from Cuba -- if the United States promised never to invade the island. The next morning, Khrushchev added another condition: the United States was to remove all its missiles from Turkey.

As Kennedy considered the options, the crisis escalated again -- when a Soviet-led Cuban missile battery shot down a U-2 spy plane. The Pentagon was prepared to bomb the missile site, as contingency plans required -- but Kennedy ordered that no action be taken. He wanted time to deal with Khrushchev.

The president sent his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, to meet with Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin. They struck a deal: Soviet missiles would be removed from Cuba in return for the unpublicized removal of missiles from Turkey. On Sunday October 28, Khrushchev announced the withdrawal of the Soviet missiles from Cuba. Under close American surveillance, Soviet ships took the missiles back home.