to turn back any that carried offensive weapons. For several tense days Soviet vessels en route to Cuba avoided the quarantine zone, while Khrushchev and Kennedy discussed the issue through diplomatic channels. Khrushchev, realizing his weak military position, sent a message on October 26 in which he agreed to Kennedy's demands to remove all missiles. The following day, before the United States had responded to the first note, Khrushchev sent another, trying to negotiate other terms. Kennedy decided to respond to the first message, and on October 28, Khrushchev agreed to dismantle and remove the weapons from Cuba and offered the United States on-site inspection. In return Kennedy secretly promised not to invade Cuba and to remove older missiles from Turkey. Kennedy called off the blockade but Cuba, angry at Soviet submission, refused to permit the promised inspection. However, U.S. spy planes revealed that the missile bases were being dismantled. Nuclear war had been avoided. This was perhaps Kennedy's greatest moment as president. Many felt that both World War I and World War II had begun because of weak responses to acts of aggression, and Kennedy may have prevented World War III by displaying courage and strength. On November 22, 1963, President and Mrs. Kennedy were in Dallas, Texas, trying to win support in a state that Kennedy had barely carried in 1960. As the motorcade approached an underpass, two shots were fired in rapid succession. One bullet passed through the president's neck and struck Governor Connally in the back. The other bullet struck the president in the head. Kennedy fell forward, and his car sped to Parkland Hospital. At 1:00 PM, he was pronounced dead. He had never regained consciousness. Less than two hours after the shooting, aboard the presidential plane at the Dallas airport, Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as the 36th president of the United States. That afternoon, Lee Harvey Oswal...
