The Cuban Missile Crisis, Reconsidered

The Weekly Standard ^ | 10/21/2002 | Peter Schweizer

[Cicero]

All this is true, and actually well-known. The Bay of Pigs gave the USSR the impression that Kennedy was weak, and they continued to probe and test him up till the time that he died.

I was kept in the army an extra three months past my release date because of the Berlin crisis. The airlift has always been portrayed as a great Kennedy victory, but it could just as well be portrayed as a defeat.

What Schweitzer hints at, but does not rub in, is that the Vietnam War was also a result of Kennedy's perceived weakness. It too was badly handled at the start, because Bundy, McNamara, and the rest were frankly incompetent.

McNamara was also responsible for the Edsel.

[Paleo Conservative]

airlift has always been portrayed as a great Kennedy victory

The blockade and airlift was in 1948.

[The Wizard]

the dirty little secret that no one talks about is that there were no missles in cuba....this was a CIA hatched plot to convince the world there were offensive missles in Cuba by releasing pictures to the TIMES and the networks in order to force JFK into an attack on Fidel

The cool thing was that JFK, working with Kruchev, convinced the world that missles that weren't there, were removed publicly in full view....very cool

(You'll remember you never saw any missles on the deck of the Soviet ships on the way in, did you?)

This was the final straw for JFK's enemies.....they knew they couldn't beat him fair and square, or by cheating......he was appointing republicans to cabinet positions, he was cutting taxes, he was a President who was more dedicated to the people he served than the monied people who were used to buying and selling presidents....so,the word went out.....

[alex]

"...heights of Gorbymania..."

BTW, Gorby came to power mostly because of Reagan reelection in 1984. After re-election even the old politburo figured out that they have no chance to fool their way through and returned to disarmament talks right away and when Chernenko died elected Gorby to try non-traditional tack.

[moodyskeptic]

Tough talk and no follow through, it seems there is ample reason for Clinton's well documented JFK worship. Much of the Cold War's anguish is attributable to Kennedy, just as the current jihad was fueled by Clinton's equivocations. Kennedy benefitted from martyrdom, something Clinton has, as yet, not attained.

Being cut down by a sniper does wonders for your legacy, erasing your weaknesses and amplifying your high minded resolve, as all thoughtful criticism dissolves into hero worship. Ask Malcom X, MLK, JFK and Lincoln.

[Orion78]

Castro Blames Khrushchev for Crisis... (10/9/02)

[B.Bumbleberry]

It's very clear that the Russians considered Kennedy an immoral playboy. I've always maintained that it is more than likely the Cuban missile crisis happened only because the Russians thought Kennedy was weak, as evidenced by the Bay of Pigs fiasco. Kennedy's stupidity almost got us into a nuclear war.

[B.Bumbleberry]

Right on.

[FlyVet]

Some of this story was on ABC's "Up Close" last night. An old Russian naval officer was interviewed. According to him, during the missile crisis, a Russian sub commander encountered an American destroyer. He ordered the arming of his nuclear torpedoes, while the destroyer commander didn't realize the sub had nukes on board. They both literally had their fingers on the button. They both backed off in the end. We came that close.

[tubebender]

They both backed off in the end. We came that close.

Good thing Kennedy had a date with some harlot that day.

[RLK]

Khrushchev knew he was dealing with a weakling playboy president in Kennedy and got everything he wanted out of Kennedy. When it was over, the communists then knew they could move into Viet Nam.

[1234]

the dirty little secret that no one talks about is that there were no missles in cuba....

if you're not from Oz, ya gotta elaborate on this, CITATIONS or sumptin, PUH-LEEZE.

[FlyVet]

Good thing Kennedy had a date with some harlot that day.

Or two, or three.

[thescourged1]

Yes....please show us the goods.

[Common Tator]

I have had a lot of talks with people who were in congress and in positions of leadership during this period. I have also discussed it with people in the media who did not have axes to grind.

What followes is the concensus of many members of congress who were in office at the time and some of whom when on to higher positions in governement.

The congressional leaders at the time felt the goal of the Russians was to get our missiles out of Turkey. If the Turkey missiles were gone, the Russians felt they had a good chance with the peacenics to get our missiles ordered out of Germany and France. They even had hopes for England. They might have gotten it if Carter had been re-elected. Look at how Saddam can fool Jimmy boy.

Remember the huge resistance inside Germany to our upgrading missiles in Germany when Reagan was president? Reagan got it done. But it was not easy.

I don't think Castro was anything except a pawn to Russia in this game. And Fidel is still angry about that. He says the Russians lied to him. Perhaps they did. That only re-enforces that the Russian goal was to get our missiles out of Turkey and then use the peace-nics at a later time to get our missiles out of Europe.

If we did not have missiles to defend Europe, Russia could very well have taken much of it.

If you want to have an accurate picture of JKF, then just remember even the Kennedys said Teddy was Jacks more talented brother.

[quietolong]

Much of the Cold War's anguish is attributable to Kennedy

No I'll give that honor to Truman. If he had taken the advice of Patten. We most likely would not have had any of this. ( but then who knows were a new time line would have taken us )

Patten from the west and LeMay from the east.

Patton advocated attacking the Russians?

[quietolong]

The Bedford Incident

[The Wizard]

I have reduced it here to just the basic facts.....

let me say this, I have provided a senario for your consideration and my own comfort limits me to just this.....I get nervous everytime I write about this and feel that it's better that you all just see it as speculation.

The point is the information is out there, and people other than I will eventualy come forward, but we will be very, very old, if alive at all, by then....

I'd bet it will surface like an old story from years ago written about in a paper back or the era's equivalent

[visitor]

Soviet submariner 'saved the world' in Cuban crisis
From Tim Reid in Washington
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/

---

My head is dizzy with spin, this latest anniversary conference in Cuba, while any real historic information would be most welcome, is producing some obvious disinformation and therefore I am suspect of any statements by McNamara and Orlov.

First if the USS Beale had "depth-charged" Orlov's sub as close as he says, it would have sunk. In the late '50's early '60's It was common ASW tactics for both aircraft and ship to drop "PDC's" (practice depth-charges) in conjunction with sonobouys to tract subs and the Russians knew this.

Second, it was not a U2 that strayed into Russian territory, it was an RB-47 (I think), had it been a U2 it would not have strayed, it would have intentionally flown into and out of the USSR. BTW, you should read Dino Brugioni's book "Eyeball to Eyeball."

Third, if the soviets had operational nuclear torpedos in '62, firing it would have only killed one or two destroyers and the sub itself. It's a good lead-in for the Bush Bashers.

Fourth, the only tactical nukes that we knew about or thought we knew about were at NAS Key West, where I was flying out of, and they were for the recently arrived Squadron of F-105 Starfighters. Had the Russians started fuelling the missiles, an 8 hour operation, and as a last resort to stop the firing of the missiles, the 105's would have been launched. The rest of us were armed with conventional weapons. BTW, SAC was on its way to the Fail-Safe line (I have spoken with SAC pilots who said they were on their way) and we had been briefed that the USSR had at most ONE ICBM that could have reached the USA, it does not take a rocket scientist to figure the odds.

Fifth, having been one of the few Aviators launched and fully armed with instructions to fire if fired on, following JFK's TV address to the nation, evening of Oct 22, I remember (I think) that our Detachment had gone to DEFCON-1, we flew just outside Havana Harbor, around Russian Cruisers, with SAMS locked on and Thank God nobody fired!!!

This all could have been avoided had JFK exercised the Honest Leadership that President BUSH Has and IS!!!

"Theodore Sorenson, President Kennedy's speechwriter, said that it sent a good message to a world on the verge of war." On these words hang Castro's image and Saddam's fate ;^(...rto

PS: The 40th Anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis is getting a lot of play on TV, in particular, C-SPAN's Washington Journal and coverage of Harvard/JFK School's presentations by the likes of Ted Sorensen and Robert McNamara. Those that worship at the altar of JFK, who have their anti-war draft-dodging legacy to defend, are revising the legacy of the Crisis to Bash Bush and his preemptive action plans for Iraq, so it is important to...

Remember that the missiles were ready as pictured in UN photos, Cuba had become a strategic nuclear base, then the blockade or quarantine was established with reservations, not as a preemptive action, followed immediately with the escalation of the cold-war, the arms-race, Vietnam and later, as documented in history books, "Thirteen Days" was dizzy with spin and 42 years later Cuba is still UN-listed as a
Terrorist-State...

The Missile Crisis came because the more powerful state also had a leader (JFK) who waited until it was a fait accompli and then said it would be "one hell of a gamble" to use its power to stop weapons of mass murder in Cuba. ...rto

"Saddam Hussein's regime is a grave and gathering danger. To suggest otherwise is to hope against the evidence. To assume this regime's good faith is to bet the lives of millions and the peace of the world in a reckless gamble." ...PRESIDENT BUSH