Why did the Cuban Missile Crisis not end in war between the United States and the Soviet Union?

Kennedy was a young president. He was popular and appealed to the younger generation. He was a Democrat.  Khrushchev was an old Communist who had been an adviser to Stalin. During World War ll he led the NVDK in Starlingrad as well as in the Ukraine. As Premier of the USSR he had travelled and met Kennedy in the Vienna conference. Both men had very different history and views of the world.  

When the CIA revelled to Kennedy the U2 photographs of soviet medium and short-range missiles in Cuba he had a range of options. Tactical airs strikes perhaps in combination with a ground invasion, diplomatic options or a blockade. He chose the blockade. This was strongly criticised by many powerful military leaders as well as members of his government. The blockade did not address the problem of removing the missiles from Cuba. In the memoirs of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev an account of the meeting between Robert F Kennedy and Dobrynin (Soviet ambassador to the U.S.A) claims that Robert F. Kennedy had fretted to Dobrynin that if his brother did not approve an attack on Cuba soon, the American military might overthrow him and seize power.  This was probable a trick. They wanted Khrushchev to realise that if he did not work with Kennedy and his government he would have to deal with the Republicans or the military who would be unlikely to make any compromises.

Kennedy blockade put Khrushchev on the back foot. If he choose to break the line of battleships, Khrushchev would appear the aggressor. Khrushchev was also under immense pressure to come out of this crisis the winner. He had already backed down to America over Berlin in 1961. This crisis was his chance to rectify the missile gap and pay the US back for Berlin.

It is hard to say which leader and government did the most to end the crisis.  Kennedy chose a blockade as opposed to direct military action and Khrushchev turned this ships round at the very height of the conflict and came to Kennedy with an agreement that would end the crisis. Both leaders stood firm against military options that would have ended in nuclear war. There for I believe both leaders are responsible for breaking the dead lock and bring them selves back from the brink of war.

Believe the biggest factor in bringing the USSR and the USA back from the brink of nuclear war was an overriding belief that an attack by ether country would result in complete destruction for both. The first leader to launch a nuclear missile would go down in history as the man who started nuclear war. Neither leader would want that by their name.