Cuban Missile Crisis
In deliberations that stretched on for nearly a week, they came up with a variety of options, including a bombing attack on the missile sites and a full-scale invasion of Cuba. The challenge facing them was to orchestrate their removal without initiating a wider conflict–and possibly a nuclear war. The top secret “nuclear football” accompanies the president at all times. For nearly the next two weeks, the president and his team wrestled with a diplomatic crisis of epic proportions, as did their counterparts in the Soviet Union. Kennedy also secretly agreed to remove U.S. missiles from Turkey. Following this news, many people feared the world was on the brink of nuclear war.
- The half-hearted nature of the Bay of Pigs invasion reinforced his impression that Kennedy was indecisive and, as one Soviet aide wrote, “too young, intellectual, not prepared well for decision making in crisis situations… too intelligent and too weak”.
- President Kennedy initially kept this information secret from the American people while he and his advisors worked out what to do about the missiles.
- That afternoon, however, the crisis took a dramatic turn.
- As a result, the Soviet Union sent more SA-2 anti-aircraft missiles in April, as well as a regiment of regular Soviet troops.
- He also noted that they had not made the Soviets aware of the blockade line and suggested relaying that information to them via U Thant at the United Nations.