Video: 'November 2, 1962 - President Kennedy's Remarks on the Dismantling of Soviet Missile Bases in Cuba'

(Friday, November 2, 1962, 5:30 p.m. EST; after the Cuban missile crisis, part of the Cold War) — U.S. President John F. Kennedy reported to the nation tonight that Soviet missile bases in Cuba were being dismantled and “progress is now being made toward the restoration of peace in the Caribbean.”

In a brief radio and television speech from the White House, Kennedy said that aerial photographs taken yesterday (Nov. 1, 1962) and other indications had led the government to conclude that the bases “are being dismantled, their missiles and related equipment are being crated and fixed installations at these sites are being destroyed.”

Kennedy spoke just 11 days after his grave and dramatic announcement to the nation on Oct. 22, 1962, that he was imposing a naval and air quarantine on Cuba because the Soviet Union was building offensive missiles and bomber bases there.

Video: '1962: Morality and Brinkmanship (1970 documentary narrated by Peter Jennings)' (audio of Nov. 2, 1962, at 31:04)

The President announced that “the United States intends to follow closely the completion of this work through a variety of means including aerial surveillance until such time as an equally satisfactory international means of verification is effected.”

But even as Kennedy spoke tonight, there were no indications that any agreement on international verification on Cuban soil was in prospect following the rejection tonight by Cuban Premier Fidel Castro of all inspection proposals.

Kennedy said that the continuation of air surveillance and the naval quarantine “until the threat to peace posed by these offensive weapons is gone” was in keeping with the United States’ pledge “to secure their withdrawal or elimination from this hemisphere.”