Photograph and Speech Related to the Cuban Missile Crisis

On Sunday, October 14, 1962, an American U-2 aircraft, flying a photographic reconnaissance mission over Cuba, took 928 images (one is included with this article). The next day, analysts at the National Photographic Interpretation Center concluded that the photographs showed evidence of Soviet missile site construction in Cuba and conveyed their findings to McGeorge Bundy, President John F. Kennedy's National Security Adviser. Using this featured photograph and the copy of Pres. Kennedy's speech, teachers can lead a class discussion with the following questions: (1) What kind of document is it?; (2) When was it created?; (3) By whom?; and (4) For what purpose? This activity can help students recognized how helpful a group of advisors could be.