No one (including the Soviets) knew why JFK wanted broadcast time. When people throughout the country (including Soviet representatives in the United States) tuned in at 7 p.m. on October 22, they had no idea what the President would say.

After he spoke (follow the link to the Kennedy Library to hear the speech and read the text), life for the world’s populations would never be the same:

It shall be the policy of this Nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union.

The President flatly accused Gromyko and other Soviet officials of lying to him. He warned the American people of difficult days ahead:

My fellow citizens: Let no one doubt that this is a difficult and dangerous effort on which we have set out. No one can see precisely what course it will take or what costs or casualties will be incurred.

He also spoke to the Soviets:

And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender or submission.

The United States Strategic Air Command moved from DEFCON 5 (Defense Condition 5 - Normal Peace Readiness) to DEFCON 3 (Increase in Force Readiness) during the President's speech. B-52s were dispatched to maintain airborne alert. The gauntlet was thrown down. How would the Soviets respond?