British Pathe

Unissued / unused material - dates and locations may be unclear / unknown.

American newsreel item. Title reads: "The Cuban Crisis - US Answers Offensive Challenge"

Washington DC and New York City, United States of America / USA and Cuba.

Aerial shot, looking down on American...

Unissued / unused material - dates and locations may be unclear / unknown.

American newsreel item. Title reads: "The Cuban Crisis - US Answers Offensive Challenge"

Washington DC and New York City, United States of America / USA and Cuba.

Aerial shot, looking down on American military reconnaissance plane flying below. CU Aerial camera hatch opening. CU Operator at the camera. CU Aerial photograph of missile bases in Cuba - still. MS Operator at camera. CU Aerial photograph of surface-to-air missile assembly depot. Aerial LS, part of US Naval Fleet. Sea level shots of US Navy ships speeding through sea. (2 shots).

LS The Organisation of American States building in Washington. Various shots, during session of Organisation of American States. US Secretary of States, Dean Rusk, speaking at this meeting. A shot of the Cuban delegate's chair, empty. LS Pan up United Nations building in New York. Various shots, a special session in UN Assembly with U-Thant (acting UN Secretary-General) and Soviet representative Valerian A. Zorin (Soviet Ambassador to Czechoslovakia) speaking. MS and CU US Ambassador to the UN, Adlai E. Stevenson makes a strong speech on the Cuban trouble. He says that America wants world peace and that the building of missile bases in Cuba is a breach to the safety of the American people.

Various shots, cars on main streets in Cuba. MS People on street in Cuba. Various shots, in open spaces of Havana, troops, militia and armed students man anti-aircraft guns and mortars. Various shots, gun placements on the seafront. MS Troops marching through Havana. Various shots, night demonstration by Cuban women in Havana, they carry placards reading "Muerte Al Invasor", "Adelante Fidel Venceremos" and "Apoyamos Lucha Contra El Imperialismo". MS Cuban President Fidel Castro at microphone.

LS US Guantanamo Bay navy base, American forces' families gather around to board a liner. Various shots, American dependents awaiting evacuation. Low angle shot of women and children carrying their luggage up the gangplank to board ship. Low angle shot of people gathered on decks of ship. MS Rear view, two women leaning over side of ship. LS Liner moves off as marines stand on shore, waving to those on deck. MS Rear view, two marines as they look out to sea, the ship leaves. LS US Air Force Boeing landing at Guantanamo. MS Troops disembarking from plane carrying packs and guns. MS Amphibious vehicle lands on the beach and troops disembark. Aerial shot of American warships, aircraft carrier, convoy. Aerial shot, US naval blockade.

Note: Date on original record: 25/10/1962. Complete record of commentary follows:
The evidence is incontrovertible. Aerial cameras in American military reconnaissance planes made remarkable photographs... such as this one of a medium range ballistic missile base, which documents the Soviet offensive build-up in Cuba. The Defence Department says there are eight to ten missile bases in Cuba. This photograph shows a surface-to-air missile assembly depot. The aerial surveillance program was behind President Kennedy's momentous proclamation of the blockade against ships delivering offensive weapons to Cuba. The hours ticked away toward a showdown as twenty five Soviet ships steamed towards the armada of US Navy ships picketing Fidel Castro's island.

In Washington, the Organisation of American States lines up almost unanimously behind President Kennedy's call for the blockade. This extraordinary session demonstrates the greatest Western Hemisphere solidarity since World War Two. The vacant seat of Cuba grimly significant as Secretary of State Dean Rusk says the new Soviet intervention means a further enslavement of the Cuban people by Soviet power and warns it challenges as never before inter-American commitments to defend the hemisphere. At the United Nations, on the eve of the seventeenth anniversary of the opening session, the world organisation meets its newest challenge. The Acting Secretary General U Thant seeks to mediate the US-Soviet crisis; while the US agrees to talks it stands firm for the removal of offensive weapons. The Soviet representative, Valerian A. Zorin announces he will veto a draft of a resolution introduced by the US calling for the removal of the weapons. He makes a bitter attack on the American President's decision to impose the quarantine on ships bearing arms to Cuba. His denunciation of the US is echoed by the Cuban representative. US Ambassador Adlai E. Stevenson, in blunt language, states his government's position:

"We now know that the Soviet Union, not content with Dr Castro's oath of fealty, not content with the destruction of Cuban independence, not content with the extension of Soviet power into the Western hemisphere, not content with a challenge to the inter-American system and to the United Nations charter, has decided to transform Cuba into a base for communist aggression, into a base for putting all of the Americas under the nuclear gun and thereby to intensify the Soviet diplomacy of blackmail in every part of the world. There is a road to peace. if we act promptly we will have another chance to take up again the dreadful questions of nuclear arms and military bases and the means and causes of aggression and of war, to take them up and do something about them. This is a solemn and significant day for the life of the United Nations and the hope of the world community. Let it be remembered not as the day when the world came to the edge of nuclear war, but as the day when men resolved to let nothing thereafter stop them in their quest for peace." (Sync. sound).

Meanwhile, there are reports from inside Red Cuba of tightened controls on consumer goods to halt a wave of panic buying apparently inspired by the United States arms blockade. Also, scenes such as this are reported by our correspondent who notes that all salient points in Havana and open spaces on the long waterfront are provided with anti aircraft guns and mortars, manned by troops, militia or armed students. But behind it all is the story of divided control that sows chaos in Cuba. It is pointed out that although Premier Fidel Castro is still the nominal head of Cuba, the Russians are generally acknowledged as the real masters. The population has been frightened into obedience and is told little of the general confusion within the ranks of the Cuban government, nor perhaps of the real danger that lies ahead if the missile base build up on their Red Island goes on. The hour has arrived for Fidel Castro in a Cuba, where as one observer puts it, "nobody is really in control.". At the US Guantanamo Navy base in Cuba, several thousand American dependents are evacuated. Some received only as little as ten minutes notice of the exodus. Castro has demanded US withdrawal from Guantanamo and only last week moved up five thousand to six thousand troops near the base. There are new arrivals as well at Gitmo - as it is known in Navy slang. As a military precaution President Kennedy announces that the base has been reinforced and additional units ordered to stand by on an alert basis. The Pentagon moves swiftly to bolster the Navy and Marines, extending enlistments and tours of duty at a time when a nation that seeks peace for the world must enforce a mighty arms blockade.