He could have compromised and removed the nukes that America had pointing straight at Moscow in exchange for a demilitarisation of Cuba.
Kennedy did compromise. The US withdrew missiles from Turkey.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_M...ding_of_crisis

After much deliberation between the Soviet Union and Kennedy's cabinet, Kennedy agreed to remove all missiles set in Turkey on the border of the Soviet Union in exchange for Khrushchev removing all missiles in Cuba.