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Shining City Audio, a

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John Meachman c thirteen original

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studio.

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On

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October nineteenth nineteen sixty two,

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the Cuban missile crisis unfolds.

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I'm John Nacham, and this is reflections

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of his free.

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We

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have talked about a

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lot of our friends of people who

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have made a pretty big response to

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this and not meet our our own citizens

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here at Lakeview.

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John f Kennedy's first reaction was

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intensely and explicitly personal.

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He can't do this to me. The president

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said as he was briefed in bed. about

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the deployment of Soviet nuclear missiles

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in Cuba, a deployment that

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put these weapons of mass destruction,

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less than fifteen minutes away from

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Washington. It was the

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morning of Tuesday, October sixteenth

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nineteen sixty two, the beginning

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of the two most dangerous weeks. in

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human history.

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President

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Kennedy called his attorney general

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Robert Kennedy with the news.

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Oh, shit, shit, shit, RFK

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said, those sons of bitches

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Russians As missus Kennedy

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described it to Arthur Schaysinger junior

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after Kennedy's assassination, it

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was just Cuba Cuba all the

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time in one way or another. The

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thirteen day crisis itself in October

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was a blur of late hours and perpetual

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meetings. There was, missus

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Kennedy said, no day or

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night. The context of the crisis

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is as always critical. In

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the heart of Europe, Berlin was in play.

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Its fate, essential, and unknowable.

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The United States had deployed Jupiter missiles

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to Turkey, seemingly shifting the balance

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of strategic power to American Advantage.

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Nikita Krushev, the Soviet leader,

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wanted to redress that balance and

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project Soviet power closer

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to American shores. Cuba

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was the perfect choice. And

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John Kennedy, in issuing an ultimatum in

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September, saying that the United States

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could not tolerate such missiles in

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Cuba. JFK was under

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attack for appearing weak on foreign

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policy, was now in a

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bind. The options,

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immediate air strikes to try to take out the

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weapons, but no one knew how many

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of them the US could actually hit or

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whether the Soviets would immediately

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strike back. there could be an

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invasion, there could be a naval

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blockade, and there could be

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diplomacy.

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No option was perfect. All risk

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escalation, either purposely or

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by miscalculation.

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The whole crisis was the result of

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a miscalculation. Moscow

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had wanted to install the weapons as a

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largely symbolic show of influence

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not so much as a provocative military

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maneuver. Krushev routinely

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inflated Soviet strength on the grounds

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that America recognizes only

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strength. Once after

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he said that the Soviets were churning out intercontinental

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rockets like sausages, he was

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challenged by his son who knew that

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the claim was untrue. The

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important thing is to make the Americans believe

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that, cruise chef replied, that

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way we prevent an attack. The

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missiles in Cuba, in other words, were designed

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to serve more of a political than a

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military purpose. We

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didn't want to unleash a war, cruise

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ships, said, we just wanted to frighten

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them to restrain the US in

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regard to Cuba. But

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American U2 planes had detected

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the operation in its early stages

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thus transforming political showmanship

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into nuclear brinkmanship. At

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first, the main options were air attack,

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invasion, or awcade. On

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this date, Friday, October nineteen,

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president Kennedy met with the joint chiefs

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of staff. Musing

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about the complexities of the Cold War, the

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president said that an attack on Cuba

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might lead to a Soviet attack, Humberland.

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which leaves me with only one alternative which

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is to fire nuclear weapons, which

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is a hell of an alternative. The

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president said, I General

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Curtis Lemaitre dismissed Kennedy's

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concerns. Without an attack

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on Cuba, not a blockade, but a

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real attack, The Soviets

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would see America as fatally weak.

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It will lead right into

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war, Lemae said, this is

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almost as bad as the appeasement at

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Munich. President

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Kennedy was horrified. When

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Lemae said that the president was in quite

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a fix, Kennedy asked him

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to repeat himself. What did you

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say? You're in a pretty bad

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fix, Lemae said. Well,

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you're in there with me. Kennedy replied.

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personally. Afterward,

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to an aid, the president observed,

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these brass hats have one great advantage

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in their favor, If we listen to them

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and do what they want us to do, none

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of us will be alive later to tell them

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that they were wrong.

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In

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twenty twenty two, at a time when

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there is loose talk from Moscow about

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the use of nuclear weapons. It's

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well to recall the stakes of

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such hours and to insist

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on careful diplomacy and on

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wisdom at the

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highest levels.

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oh

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Thank you for listening to reflections of

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history, a creation of Shining

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City Audio, the c thirteen

7:54

originals and John Meacham

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Studio.

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Reflections of history is executive

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produced by me, John Meacham. and

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Chris Corcoran, chief content

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officer and founding partner of

8:11

Cadence thirteen. Production

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and editing led by Lloyd Lockridge, Margo

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Grey, and Chris Basil. Production

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assistance by Andy Jaskowitz

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and Adam Mesias. Cadence

8:23

thirteen is an odd to see company.

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Let's be honest. The folks who get

8:31

the credit for a lot of innovation these days,

8:33

they all kind of look alike. Don't

8:35

you wanna learn who really did the work?

8:38

Well, that's exactly what we're gonna do

8:40

on they did that. Well,