56 years ago, the Cuban missile crisis took the world to the brink of nuclear war - here's what it looked like from sunny Florida beaches

JFK Library

Soviet missiles in Cuba, seen in reconnaissance photos taken on October 14, 1962.

On October 14, 1962, one of the US Air Force's vaunted U-2 spy planes soared over Cuba. The photos it took during that high-altitude pass revealed the assembly of Soviet SS-4 medium-range ballistic missiles.

To that point, Soviet nuclear weapons were vastly outnumbered by US nuclear weapons. But Soviet missiles parked in Cuba could reach most of the US within minutes.

For President John F. Kennedy, less than a year and half from the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion, staring down the business end of Soviet missiles was unacceptable.

For 13 long days in October 1962, the world waited to see who would blink first. Here's what that looked like on the beaches of Florida, just 90 miles from the beginning of the end of the world.