The Washington–Moscow direct link comes into operation
A duplex teleprinter circuit between the two capitals, agreed by a memorandum of understanding signed at Geneva in June, became operational. It carried text and not voice, ran by cable through several European capitals with a radio backup, and was tested hourly. Its purpose was narrow and precise: to remove the delay that had characterised the exchanges of the previous October, when messages had gone by public radio broadcast and by embassy courier at a moment when decisions were being taken in minutes.
Historical — it happened, and the record is settled.
Subjects
- The Washington–Moscow Direct Communications Link · network · not located
Evidence
Partly verified — Core facts are sourced; some optional detail is deliberately absent.
The Cuban Missile Crisis — declassified documents and briefing books
Named as the principal declassified-document collection behind this pack's account of the crisis, the B-59 submarine incident and the later disclosures about tactical warheads on the island. V55 verification basis: NOT consulted — nsarchive.gwu.edu is blocked by the environment's egress proxy. Everything this pack says about the crisis is from standing knowledge of the published historiography, and the degree of documentary support for the B-59 account in particular is not established here.
National Security Archive, George Washington University · Partly verified
National Security Archive Cuban Missile Crisis collections and briefing books, including materials on the Soviet submarine incidents of 27 October 1962 and on tactical nuclear weapons deployed to Cuba