John F. Kennedy’s presidency was a time of great dreams and grave crises. He was a superb public speaker who inspired the American people during the exhilarating and perilous events of the early 1960s. Aside from his lofty idealism, Kennedy spent much of his time in office confronting the perils of the Cold War, a global complication he was obliged to address in his Report to the American People on the Soviet Arms Buildup in Cuba, broadcast from the Oval Office in October 1962. Photographs taken by an American spy plane over Cuba, an island located less than one hundred miles from the United States, revealed the presence of Soviet missile installations under construction that could easily reach major U.S. cities.