ICBMs have actually been around for centuries - as have overwrought science journalists with a poor grasp of arithmetic ...

Michael Marshall

It is not really very hard to stand on the edge of one continent and fire a cannon ball at the edge of another continent  - this is all ,technically, that a minimalist Inter-Continental-Ballistic-Missile has to do to qualify.

At their furthest edges, most continents tend to touch (or almost touch) a few of the other continents.

Europe touches Asia at the Urals, and almost touches Africa at the straits of Gibraltar. And North America to Europe is the closest space between Iceland and Greenland.

North America and South America touch at Panama. The westernmost island of Alaska is very close to the easternmost island of Asia.

Africa touches Asia near the Suez canal.

Australia is very close to the closest island of Asia.

Westernmost Africa is relatively close to Easternmost northern Brazil.

South America is even relatively close to Antarctica.

But Australia isn't close to North or South America, Europe or Africa or even Antarctica.

 This is why the famous anti-nuclear novel "ON THE BEACH" gained credibility by setting its only remaining humans alive after a nuclear war on this distant-from-everybody continent.

WWII actually had many intercontinental attacks between warring nations on separate continents.

What was truly new by 1962 was that a missile launched from the middle of any one continent could hit a city in the middle of any other continent.

What for centuries had been safe heartlands, free from initial conquest from a surprise invasion coming across national borders by sea or land, now were as vulnerable as any seaport close to enemy waters.

Chicago - home of some of  WWII's least patriotic Isolationists ( hell lets call them traitor-wannabes - right Colonel McCormick ?) - had had no pity for Warsaw's Poles when they almost instantly fell victim to an sudden invasion.

Now, after 1962, the same thing could also to happen to Chicago.

Who could blame Chicago's large Polish population for feeling that turnaround was fair play .....