[Grammar] The world came as close as it has ever come to .....

[wotcha]

'The world came as close as it has ever come to total nuclear destruction on October 14 in 1962, when

photographs taken by an American U-2 spy plane offered definitive proof that the Soviet Union had set up missile

bases on the island nation of Cuba, a mere 90 miles from the American coastline.


In the above sentence,I wonder why "it has" not "it had"...?


Thanks.

?

 

[5jj]

I wonder why "it has" not "it had"...?

Because the writer is extending the time period up to the present moment.[/QUOTE]

 

[BobSmith]

'The world came as close as it has ever come to total nuclear destruction on October 14 in 1962, when photographs taken by an American U-2 spy plane offered definitive proof that the Soviet Union had set up missile bases on the island nation of Cuba, a mere 90 miles from the American coastline.

Let me take this opportunity to recommend one of my favorite movies, Thirteen Days: "A dramatization of President Kennedy's administration's struggle to contain the Cuban Missile Crisis in October of 1962."