The fiftieth anniversary of the Crisis offers a great opportunity for teachers and students to learn about the fundamentals of the Cold War and how, over two weeks, the world came to the brink of nuclear Armageddon.

This section provides resources for educators interested in conducting a class on the Missile Crisis and making it accessible to today’s students. For those who want to learn more about how the Crisis unfolded and the dynamics of Kennedy’s and Khrushchev’s decisions, reading lists on the Crisis are available, as is a selection of videos suitable for class.

Ernest May (1928-2009), one of the leading historians of the Cuban Missile Crisis, teaching at Harvard.

You will also find a discussion of media depictions of the Crisis, most notably in Thirteen Days (2000), and of other dramas based around the theme of nuclear war.

The Belfer Center has also provided tools for teachers, including lesson plans and simulations, to help your students learn about the context and conduct of the Missile Crisis. You will also find links to other useful websites containing educational material.