Good evening, my fellow citizens. This Government, as promised, has maintained the closest surveillance of the Soviet military build-up on the island of Cuba. Within the past week, unmistakable evidence has established the fact that a series of offensive missile sites is now in preparation on that imprisoned island. The purpose of these bases can be none other than to provide a nuclear strike capability against the Western Hemisphere...
— President John F. Kennedy, Report to the American People, October 22, 1962
How does Kennedy's quote describe the seriousness of the Cold War and further heighten American fears of a nuclear attack?
