The Cuban Missile Crisis referred to a tense situation that some feared would lead to a nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union. President Kennedy learned that there was a missile base being constructed in Cuba using Soviet materials. The world tensed, as Soviet ships headed toward Cuba. Kennedy forcefully declared that the United States would search all Soviet ships heading towards Cuba. The Soviet ships turned away and sailed back home. Kennedy’s Secretary of State Dean Rusk said: “We’re eyeball to eyeball and I think the other fellow just blinked.”