On the morning of 29 May 1962 Cuba’s leaders welcomed a delegation of ‘hydrotechnic specialists’ from the Soviet Union. To the Cubans’ surprise, the Soviet delegation also included top military leaders who had come to make an extraordinary offer: nuclear missiles. Nikita Khrushchev had struck upon the idea during a visit to Bulgaria earlier that month as a solution to two problems: Cuba’s vulnerability and the Soviet Union’s missile gap with the United States.