If we expect to learn how to survive future nuclear crises from the experience of 1962, we should acknowledge that the paradoxical effects of such memorialization are dangerous. It gives the impression that we have all learned what we needed to learn from it, while maintaining the possibility of divergent interpretations and lessons. Paradoxically, when an event reaches such iconic status, it can have a dangerous effect. For sure the crisis appears as a special event worth learning from. At a time when forgetting is a threat to global nuclear safety and security, this widespread memorialization is unduly reassuring. It even made it into a clever super-hero blockbuster, X-Men First Class in 2011. The so-called “Cuban missile crisis” is turning 52, but it is certainly not forgotten on the contrary, almost everyone seems to have an opinion on it.