Fifty years have passed since the Cuban missile crisis took place in 1962. A failure to diplomatically resolve the crisis, which lasted from Oct. 15-28, might have developed into a nuclear exchange that turned into a total nuclear war.

At that time the United States had about 27,000 nuclear warheads and the Soviet Union about 3,000. The crisis taught the international community an important lesson: It is extremely difficult to manage a crisis between countries if communication is lacking and a catastrophic development may ensue.

On Oct. 14, 1962, a U.S. reconnaissance plane detected the construction of sites for medium-range and intermediate-range ballistic nuclear missiles in Cuba. On Oct. 22, U.S. President John F. Kennedy publicly announced the discovery of the sites. Faced with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev's inflexible stance, Kennedy initially was inclined to attack the Cuban missile sites by air.