On the 48th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis, four distinguished scholars will take the stage at CIGI who have vast experience working with and on Robert McNamara. They will address these questions: why did the crisis occur? What caused it to spin out of control? How close did the crisis come to nuclear war? What would likely have happened if nuclear weapons had been used by either side in or around Cuba? And what lessons do Robert McNamara’s experience of the crisis—both in October 1962 and in his subsequent historical research—offer to leaders and citizens alike who wish to reduce the risk of nuclear war in the 21st century so that nothing as dangerous as the missile crisis another never happens again?