Kennedy's Naval Quarantine - The Cuban Missile Crisis

Kennedy ultimately elected to establish a naval quarantine. This was a ring of US ships around Cuba, which would effectively block the delivery of offensive weapons and associated material from the Soviets. While Kennedy's decision crucially avoided an outright declaration of war, Khrushchev would later call this action, quote, "outright piracy" JFK knew that once he'd made the decision, he needed to communicate that to the American people through a radio and television address.