The Cuban Missile Crisis was likely the closest time that the United States and Soviet Union came to nuclear war and encapsulates the Cold War Era. In the CIA’s document called CIA Special National Intelligence Estimate, “Major Consequences of Certain U.S. Courses of Action on Cuba,” October 20, 1962, it’s evident that the Soviet Union was planning to use Cuba as a place to store missiles that could be used against the United States. The document goes into detail on the main purpose of the Soviet missile buildup. “A major Soviet objective in their military buildup in Cuba is to demonstrate that the world balance of forces has shifted so far in their favor that the US can no longer prevent the advance of Soviet offensive power even into its own hemisphere. At the same time, they expect their missile forces in Cuba to make an important contribution to their total strategic capability vis-a-vis the US.” This information put the U.S. in a difficult position and brought the Cold War tension to its height. In an address made by President John F. Kennedy on October 22, 1962, Kennedy tried his best to reason with the Soviets and reach a shared objective of preventing nuclear war. JFK stated, “Our goal is not the victory of might, but the vindication of right- -not peace at the expense of freedom, but both peace and freedom, here in this hemisphere, and, we hope, around the world. God willing, that goal will be achieved.” In the speech he detailed several steps that the US would take to neutralize the threat that the Soviets were making by using Cuba as a missile base. In the quote and throughout the speech JFK illustrated numerous benefits for the US and Soviet Union to compromise by balancing their nuclear power rather than compete to try to make one super power. He made it known that this was not a possible outcome and would only result in nuclear destruction. It was this balance of nuclear power that came out of the Cuban Missile Crisis and constant threat of mass destruction that epitomized the Cold War.