For 13 days in 1962, President John F. Kennedy and the United States faced off against the Soviet Union in what was known as the Cuban Missile Crisis. The only time that the world had come within inches of nuclear war.

JFK addressed the nation in an address on October 22nd, 1962 warning the nation and the world of the dangers of the Soviet Union and it's nuclear weapons program in Cuba. Kennedy informs the nation that the United States navy will impose a naval blockade or quarantine around the small island country located a mere 90 miles off the coast of Florida. On October 27th, 1962, President Kennedy offers a deal to Russian Premier Nikita Khrushchev that the US will not invade Cuba and that it will “secretly” remove all it's defensive missile sites in Turkey if the Soviets command their cargo ships to turn back and head towards the USSR. On October 28th, 1962, Khrushchev agrees to the terms and the United States, as well as the rest of the world, can finally sleep safely knowing that there will be a tomorrow.

In the 21st century, particularly in recent years, Presidents Barack Obama and President Donald J. Trump have faced and are facing a similar threat. This time, this threat does not come from the Soviet Union as it did during the Kennedy era, rather it comes from the former USSR’s neighbor to the east, North Korea.

In recent years, North Korea has been building up its nuclear weapons program. For years since the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, there have been multiple councils, agreements, treaties, and conventions to ban the usage as well as the construction of these deadly devices. How effective these agreements have been, however, is truly unknown.

The Navy sent a carrier strike group, led by the USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), to the Korean peninsula after North Korea launched a test of a scud missile that exploded mid-flight. Time and time again, the U.S. will fly aircraft or send naval groups to this local to demonstrate to North Korean leaders that the United States is here to stay and will protect it's interests at any cost. The Navy also positioned two naval destroyers roughly 300 miles off the coast of where the US believes the nuclear weapons testing site is located.

In a recent statement that occurred today (April 13th, 2017), NBC News reported, that the United States is prepared to launch a preemptive strike against North Korea if US officials become aware and convinced that North Korea will complete and follow through with it's intention to launch a nuclear weapons test.

NBC then went on to report that North Korea had stated that a “big event” is on the horizon; that, according to US military officials, a nuclear weapons test could transpire posthaste within the next few days. President Trump and the Department of Defense’s options for attack are indubitably broad.

The US has, as previously stated, a massive naval force present in the Korean peninsula area, as well as heavy bombers stationed in Guam and military bases located in South Korea. Trump’s National Security Council gave him an option that may come as a surprise to many: Position nuclear weapons in South Korea (the US had withdrawn nuclear weapons from South Korea approximately 25 years ago). The US military, however, does not condone the placement of nuclear weapons in South Korea, however, the option is on the table; placed far, far away from any rational decision, but it is still there.

A major drawback to the US strike is that it may provoke North Korean retaliation on South Korea which could launch us into the Second Korean War. North Korean officials have been quoted numerous times in the past saying that they would attack the US and that, "A preemptive nuclear strike is not something the U.S. has a monopoly on...If we see that the U.S. would do it to us, we would do it first...We have the technology." That is a quote from North Korea official Lee Yong Pil according to NBC News.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un took power in 2011 when his father had died and since then has been a massive thorn in the United States’ side since he assumed power. The White House is urging China to step in and to attempt to alleviate the tension of the situation. President Trump sent out this tweet on Twitter saying, “I have great confidence that China will properly deal with North Korea. If they are unable to do so, the U.S., with its allies, will! U.S.A.”

We are in the age of man where a presidential address comes through to the American people in the form of a Tweet and Donald Trump is president; pizza gets delivered to your house faster than an ambulance will arrive to the scene of an accident and NASA has discovered the potential for life to be sustained on other planets. So, anything is truly possible.

Maybe those guys standing in Times Square saying, “The end is near,” weren’t so crazy after all.