What is happening on the world stage today? Could history be repeating itself?
On Monday 28 February 2022, from the Kremlin, President Putin sent a piercing message to the western NATO military alliance: “don’t intimidate Russia”. President Putin summoned his military chiefs and gave them an order. “Those top officials of leading NATO countries are making aggressive statements about our country therefore I’m ordering the minister of defence and the chief of the general staff to put the strategic nuclear forces on special alert”.
He stated that international sanctions are illegitimate, Moscow’s central bank and Russian banks have been cut off from the SWIFT financial messaging system.
According to BBC Television; it was highlighted that Russian state TV announced that their submarines alone are capable of launching more than 500 nuclear warheads, guaranteed to destroy America and all of NATO. One wonders; what is this, brinkmanship, something more or something less with only empty threats following the dramatic events. We’ve however seen in recent days that it would be unwise to dismiss these signals from the Kremlin.
Nevertheless; of course, the international community is left with a very difficult question, how to react to them.
It has in recent days become very easy to imagine a world where at any given moment, you and everyone you know could be wiped out without warning at the push of a nuclear missile button, because of the current war threat arising out of Russia with Ukraine
Looking back into history; a total annihilation could have been made a reality for the planet earth for millions of people during the Cold War. This was during the geopolitical, ideological, and economic struggle between two world superpowers, the USA and the USSR. This started in 1947 at the end of the Second World War and lasted until the dissolution of the Soviet Union on December 26, 1991
Both the United States and the Soviet Union knew that the other had nuclear weapons capable of destroying each other completely and utterly from the surface of this planet. This was most evident during the 13 days of the Cuban Missile Crisis as destruction loomed at that time. In 1961, the U.S. unsuccessfully tried to overthrow Cuba’s new communist government. That failed attempt was known as the Bay of Pigs, and it convinced Cuba to seek help from the
U.S.S.R. Soviet Premier Khrushchev was happy to come to the aid of Fidel Castro by secretly deploying nuclear missiles to Cuba, not only to protect the island but to counteract the threat from the U.S.A with its missiles in Italy and Turkey.
Prior to this situation, it was alleged that Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev was walking near his villa on the Black Sea when he apparently looked across the water. To which on the far shore in the horizon is Turkey, where, months before, President Kennedy had stationed nuclear missiles and their warheads threatened Moscow. He pondered “Why then can’t we do the same in Cuba?”
It seems the press has long been used as means for propaganda and scaremongering; take a look back into history following the launch of Sputnik in 1957, Khrushchev had regularly boasted to foreign press about the Soviet missile system, indicating his rockets could hit 8,000 miles, Moscow was manufacturing them in an assembly production line.
In reality, though, his intercontinental missiles were highly inaccurate and took hours to launch. In the event of a war, they’d probably malfunction and destroy themselves while launching.
Meaning that they weren’t much of a deterrent against an American first strike. These long-range missiles were little more than an empty threat of expensive firecrackers, yet
Khrushchev did have reliable medium and intermediate-range missiles and if he could station those in Cuba. Russia it seems is threatening the United States, in the same manner, NATO had encircled and threatened the Soviet Union.
From that position of power, Khrushchev could probably negotiate for Berlin, or demand that Kennedy withdraw his missiles from Turkey. Perhaps, as a bonus, the US would never again
dare to invade Cuba. However, deploying them, the nuclear missiles openly was not an option. They couldn’t risk Kennedy doing something rash and impetuous. Khrushchev would have to covertly transport them to Cuba and only unveil them once they were operational. It would be a checkmate, provided the secret was held
It is thought that on an undisclosed date in Havana; Fidel Castro sat in his office. The man across from him, travelling undercover as an agricultural engineer, was the head of a Soviet rocket forces agent who had just been offered to deploy nuclear missiles in Cuba. At first, Castro was sceptical of the idea. What If the Yankees discovered the secret deployment?
Would they think that the missiles were intended for a first strike? Besides, Cuba didn’t need nuclear weapons. Further; he wanted to look like a Soviet ally, not a puppet. It was suggested by Castro that rather a defence treaty would be better? The Soviet agent responded with a resounding “No, these weapons will counteract imperialist aggression, protecting both nations.” Castro then withdraws to confer and delivers his answer: Cuba will help defend the world revolution, Khrushchev will have his Caribbean fortress.
On another occasion the same year August 25th 1962 in Sevastopol, a timber freighter pulled out of port, riding low on the water. Deep in its hold of the ship lie medium-range missiles; rockets were so long that they had to be propped up against a bulkhead of the vessel. It supposedly was only one of 85 commercial ships ferrying troops and equipment to Cuba. The luckiest of these Soviet soldiers would travel on cruise ships, disguised as tourists, but the majority are crammed into sweltering freighters. By early September the missiles were to begin arriving and they’re not alone; 42,000 Soviet troops would come ashore dressed in civilian clothes or Cuban army uniforms. They unloaded their cargoes secretly by night: helicopters, bombers, patrol boats, anti-aircraft guns, fighter jets, and medium-range ballistic missiles. This was when the real work began.
By the time U.S. intelligence discovered the plan, the materials to create the missiles were already in place in Cuba. On October 16th at 11:50 a.m. 1962 in the Oval Office in Washington, President Kennedy and a handful of advisers sat at the briefing table, looking at enlarged photos from aerial reconnaissance U-2 spy plane. A CIA analyst explained in great detail.
These were medium-range nuclear missiles with a range of 1174 miles. If one launched it could hit Washington in 13 minutes. Kennedy was furious at Khrushchev’s betrayal. The mid-term elections were coming up and his political rivals had made the Soviet build-up in Cuba a campaign issue. They accused him of letting the Soviets install missile platforms 90 miles from Florida.
Sometime previously and privately, Khrushchev had told Kennedy that the build-up was defensive, this was meant to avoid another American invasion and that it wouldn’t include missiles. With this assurance in hand, Kennedy had drawn a red line pledging to take action if the soviet station’s nuclear weapons were in Cuba. He had made that pledge thinking that he’d never have to go through with it. “When would they be operational?” Kennedy enquired. The analyst replies: “Once the warheads are attached? Within hours.” The Defence Secretary interjected: “If there’s going to be an airstrike it would happen before the missiles are operational. There was evidence that the warheads weren’t on-site yet.” He thought that kennedy would still need time to plan. However, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs disagreed “Most of the rocket infrastructure is already in place.” He further thought that the President would either order an airstrike or maybe an airstrike followed by an invasion. “We are certainly going to do option one”, said Kennedy. We’re going to take out those missiles. They apparently reconvened that night.
At 6:30 p.m. in the White House, gathered around in the Cabinet Room were 14 men. Nine from the National Security Council, and five other key experts. It was the first meeting of what would be known as the Executive Committee of the National Security Council or EXCOMM. Kennedy secretly turned on a tape recorder preserving the meeting.
The Joint Chiefs stated their unanimous positions: declaring an airstrike on the missile sites wouldn’t work. Then they thought Khrushchev could just send more missiles to replace the destroyed ones and Soviet bombers in Cuba could still hit Florida. They recommended 800 sorties destroying all Soviet power on the island, followed by an invasion.
Kennedy’s brother, the Attorney General, was enthusiastic about this plan because he despised Castro. The others pointed out that airstrikes were never a hundred percent effective. Some Russian missiles might survive and launch a counter strike. If Soviet soldiers are manning the missiles, killing them in an airstrike could lead to war.
The Secretary of State enquired whether doing nothing was an option? After all, those missiles didn’t really change the strategic balance. Pondering, if getting nuked (destroyed with nuclear weapons) from Cuba was any different than getting nuked from Russia? Kennedy agreed, it isn’t. But he had pledged to take action. If he reneged, Khrushchev might have seen it as a weakness and started sending missiles to hot spots everywhere. Henceforth, three plans are developed.
First: Diplomacy. Low chance of success but a low risk of war.
Second: Instituting a naval blockade to stop any more weapons from coming in and calling for the removal of the missiles. Publicly warn that any offensive move against the US would lead to a nuclear strike on the Soviet Union.
Third: An airstrike with an optional invasion. This was for several hours discussed as EXCOMM went back-and-forth debating possible outcomes, but Kennedy kept coming back to Khrushchev’s rational course of action. Why would he do this? It would be like the US putting missiles in Turkey. “We did that”, points out the National Security Adviser.
On October 17th at 12:00 p.m. in the Caribbean, 40 US warships plunged toward the island of Cuba. The Marines inside checked their weapons. Soon, they would storm ashore and remove the island’s dictator Fidel Castro. It’s just a military exercise. One that was scheduled before the crisis. But in Washington, EXCOMM was still discussing whether this action would actually be implemented. On October 19th at 9:45 a.m. in the White House, the new intelligence reports were ominous. Fresh aerial reconnaissance U2 photos show two medium-range missiles were now operational.
The Soviets were also building several launch sites for intermediate-range missiles that could hit almost all of the continental US. Those missiles weren’t ready yet, but time was very limited.
The last several days’ discussions in EXCOMM had increasingly turned away from the airstrike invasion option. Even Bobby Kennedy had come around on that one. The blockade at least leaves room to negotiate. But the Joint Chiefs still push for war. Kennedy expressed his biggest concern: If he attacked Cuba, Khrushchev would attack Berlin and that’ll leave only one alternative: A nuclear strike.
The Air Force chief of staff forcefully insisted. If it came to it, they could wipe out the Soviets. Besides, a blockade would communicate weakness. He compared it to Nazi appeasement, which was to ridicule Kennedy’s father who once advocated negotiating with Hitler. But Kennedy knew that winning a nuclear war might still mean millions of American deaths. The general responded that the Air Force would be ready for an attack in only two days if ordered, “These high-ranking officers in the armed forces have one advantage”, Kennedy said after the meeting, “If we listen to them, none of us will be alive later to tell them they were wrong.” Kennedy needs to make an executive decision.
On October 20th at 9 am in Cuba, the 79th Missile Regiment gathered around a political officer. He stood on a mound of dirt brought from the Soviet Union for symbolic reasons, a reminder that these men were there to defend their homeland, He announced.
Their eight medium-range missiles are combat-ready. “We may die martyrs”, he said, “but we won’t abandon Cuba to the imperialists!” His troops applauded him for the statement he made.
On October 22nd at 10 pm in the Kremlin Moscow, Khrushchev received intelligence reports of unusual activity all over the US. Congressmen were apparently boarding Air Force jets back to Washington. Naval manoeuvres were happening in the Caribbean. And civilians were evacuating Guantanamo Bay, which was a historical legacy; US naval presence in the Caribbean came when the United States invaded Cuba – when it was a Spanish colony – in the summer of 1898. The Spanish-American War enabled the United States to establish a permanent military base at Guantanamo in Cuba.
Kennedy was scheduled to broadcast a television address at 2:00 a.m., Moscow time. The US Embassy had told him to expect a communication within an hour. Khrushchev called a meeting of the Praesidium, the highest Committee of the Communist Party.
“The missiles had been discovered,” he stated. “An invasion of Cuba was imminent.” After running through his options, from announcing a mutual defence pact with Cuba over the radio to transferring the missiles to Cuban control and letting them defend their own country. “The best course of action was to disallow Soviet troops from using the long-range missiles while permitting them to use their short-range tactical nuclear weapons in the event of an invasion.” His Defense Minister, Malinovsky, interjected. Putting that decision in the hands of commanders might accidentally precipitate a conflict.” He suggested waiting for Kennedy’s message which arrived an hour before Kennedy’s broadcast. This was not an invasion, but rather an ultimatum. There was no war that night, but also no sleep. Because there were 14 Soviet freighters inbound for Cuba right then. One which, carried nuclear warheads three times more powerful than all the bombs ever dropped in history. And it was heading toward an American blockade.
It was October 22nd at 7 P.M. when the Oval Office, in Washington, that the president went live on television, announcing to a hundred million Americans that there were nuclear weapons in Cuba. “Within a week, unmistakable evidence had established the fact that a series of offensive missile sites was now in preparation on that imprisoned island of Cuba. To halt this offensive build-up, a strict quarantine on all offensive military equipment under shipment to Cuba was initiated. It was then declared that it would become policy for their nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States. Requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union. President John F. Kennedy, therefore, stated that the US military would go to DEFCON 3, meaning the force readiness missiles and bombers could launch within 15 minutes of a presidential order.
Meanwhile, around the world troops were going on full alert. In Cuba, Castro sounded the mobilisation, calling up 300,000 troops to defend the island. He dispatched Che Guevera to prepare for a guerrilla war. His brother Raúl surrounded Guantanamo Bay with artillery. A hundred miles away in Florida, a hundred and twenty thousand servicemen gathered in an invasion force nearly as large as the one deployed on D-Day in Europe, Six hundred aircraft congested the runways.
Troops slept in football stadiums. A cargo plane crashed on the tarmac at Guantanamo Bay, it’s immolated crewmen were the first deaths in a conflict that could have killed millions. In Moscow, the Presidium was buckling down for an all-night meeting. First, Khrushchev issued a statement calling the so-called “quarantine” an illegal act of piracy. He knew that the term was a rhetorical dodge. Kennedy couldn’t call it a blockade because that would be an act of war.
But illegal or not, Khrushchev ordered his missile freighters to turn back toward the Soviet Union. He couldn’t risk them being boarded. The other freighters, the ones delivering food and fuel, would continue on. If Kennedy inspected those, it would only embarrass him. Their submarine escorts would hold positions just outside the quarantine ready to move in case war broke out.
Kennedy had delayed the quarantine a day in order to seek international support, and in that time the freighter full of warheads could still make Cuba. Pulling into a rural port just before dawn. Soviet troops carefully unloaded its cargo and distributed it to the holding bunkers. One freighter, Khrushchev decided, should steam on ahead as planned while Cuba’s missiles now had nuclear warheads. At 12:05 p.m., six US Navy jets took off from Florida, extremely fast over Cuba at a thousand feet. They were low-level reconnaissance craft meant to provide detailed pictures of the missile sites. On the ground below, Cuban anti-aircraft crews were unnerved and itching to strike back. Were those recon aircraft, or strike fighters? Were their positions currently being marked for elimination?
At 7:06 p.m.Kennedy officially signed the quarantine authorization, although there was a problem. EXCOMM was still debating how the Navy would enforce it. The Navy thought it simple; that they would challenge every ship to stop for inspection. If the ship didn’t stop, they would fire star shells as a means of illuminating the dark sky. If it still wouldn’t respond, they could disable its rudder and board it. If they encountered a submarine, they would use practice depth charges to force it to surface.
Hearing this, Kennedy’s face went pale with fear. Firing on Soviet ships could start a battle. A battle could lead to a war, and war might mean nuclear annihilation. He dispatched the Secretary of Defence to keep watch over the Navy’s war room. There was to be no shooting. The Navy was treating this quarantine as if it was their objective to sink ships, but this operation was meant to communicate with Khrushchev. Not for the US Navy to treat this matter like whack-a-mole, a game in an amusement arcade in which players use a mallet to hit toy moles, which appear at random, back into their holes. Instead sign language with destroyers. That night, Robert Kennedy secretly sneaks into the side door of the Soviet embassy. It’s a back channel that the Kennedys have used before. Robert asks if the Soviet ships will stop when challenged. The Ambassador, uninformed about the missiles and with no orders from Moscow, says that they will not. And furthermore, stopping them will be an act of war.
On October 24th at 10:00 a.m. the first suspected weapons freighter was scheduled to hit the quarantine line in minutes. EXCOMM anxiously waited for news… then, a message! The Soviet missile freighters had turned back! We’re eyeball to eyeball,” stated the Secretary of State. “And I think the other fellow just blinked.” Little did they know, there was no showdown. The freighters had turned back 30 hours earlier. CIA analysts wanted to be certain before passing on the information and naval signals traffic was so busy right then, even emergency messages were taking four hours to get through. The closest Soviet weapons freighter halted 500 miles away from the interception point But ships were still coming.
In Omaha, Strategic Air Command ordered the nuclear force to DEFCON 2. One hundred and forty-five missiles stood ready. Twenty-three bombers circled outside Soviet airspace. Each with enough firepower to level four cities. At 5:15 am in the Kremlin. Khrushchev had privately decided that there could not under any circumstances be a war. But buckling to US pressure could destroy him politically. He needed to walk away from this with a win. He proposed a new strategy: Withdraw the missiles in return for Kennedy’s promise never to invade Cuba. The Presidium agreed to this. He drafted a letter outlining the deal and dispatched it to the U.S Embassy. It took 8 hours to arrive, on October 25th at 5 P.M. The US ambassador to the UN was famously quiet and careful. But Kennedy made clear what needed to happen. The Soviets were still denying that the missiles existed. He had to go hard and held their ambassador to account on television. “Do you deny that the USSR has placed missiles in Cuba?” asked the ambassador. “Yes or no? Don’t wait for the translation…Yes, or no?” “I am NOT in an American courtroom.” argued the Soviet ambassador. “The US will have their reply later.” “I am prepared to wait for my answer until hell freezes over.” the Ambassador answered. The US ambassador to the UN raised enlargement photographs of the missile sites and laid out his evidence.
On October 26th at 1:00 AM in Minnesota, a sentry guarding a radar station sees the silhouette of a man trying to climb the fence. He fires into the darkness and raises a sabotage alarm. It’s happening. A soviet commando raid. Pilots across the Midwest scramble into their cockpits fighter jets. But the alarm was cancelled just before the first take-off. It’s a false alarm; a bear had wandered into the fence wire.
At 7:50 a.m. The US Navy boards the first vessel passing the quarantine line. This was a bit of political theatre as Kennedy had purposely chosen a Lebanese freighter with a Greek crew for his first inspection. There was a zero chance of it actually carrying nuclear weapons, but it did get the message across, Ships would be stopped. At 12 p.m., The CIA briefed EXCOMM
Low-level reconnaissance had discovered something new. Soviet cruise missiles, probably nuclear. They were positioned near Guantanamo Bay and the coast. Any US invasion would probably be met with a tactical nuclear strike. US generals asked for clearance to use their own tactical nukes. In Cuba Castro was losing patience. He was annoyed that Khrushchev ordered the freighters to return and furious that the Soviet ambassador was still denying the existence of missiles in Cuba.
He held fire to preserve diplomatic efforts, but his spies in the US were reporting that an attack could occur that night. These planes were violating Cuban sovereignty, scouting for an invasion, maybe even preparing for a surprise airstrike. He drafted a letter to the UN threatening defensive fire against any violation of Cuban airspace.
At 6:00 p.m. Khrushchev’s proposed deal finally arrived at the White House. The letter was long which was why it took long to translate, encrypt, and send; making an emotional appeal against a war. Kennedy wanted to take this deal, but the press, stonewalled by the White House, and seizing on statements by a bureaucrat, were reporting that an invasion of Cuba was imminent. If the Soviets believed them, war could break out before he would accept it.
On October 27th at 6:00 a.m. Castro had been at the Soviet embassy all night, trying to draft a statement. He thought the US would invade at any moment, and that would inevitably trigger a nuclear war, but he kept vacillating on what he wanted Khrushchev to do about it.
Finally, the frustrated ambassador asked, “Are you recommending a first strike?” “Yes or no?” “Yes.” He responded. In the event of a US invasion, the USSR would launch. Cuba would be martyred, but the global revolution would survive.
Meanwhile, in the White House, Kennedy was ordering more recon flights, despite Castro’s warning. CIA reports indicated that the missiles were now operational. If one launched, it would hit New York or Washington in 13 minutes. There was no room for error. One slip could mean the end of humanity. At 11:16 a.m., Soviet troops picked up a high-altitude plane over Cuba. It was probably a U2, and it had been photographing their positions in-depth for an hour. Their surface-to-air missiles could knock it out, and their general had issued orders to shoot down airspace violators. They called him for confirmation, but he was asleep. So, they launched.
72,000 feet above, Major Anderson was listening to his U2 camera traversing back and forth. Then a warning siren. An indicator went red. He tried to evade the fragile plane creaking in mid-air. Then, there was an explosion. Shrapnel rattles through the fuselage. Helmet glass
shatters, and then depressurized silence. Debris falls on the green fields of Cuba. And now, it is a shooting war. October 27th, 3:35 AM. Russian strategic bomber drops a bomb. A flashlights the arctic circle, shockwaves tear outward with the power of twenty Hiroshima bombs. Radioactive ash collects
On the barren island below. A Soviet atmospheric test; was scheduled before the crisis. While in Cuba, Soviet troops were transporting warheads to the missile sites. They, and the American troops in Florida, were prepared for an invasion. At the quarantine line, Soviet subs played ‘cat-and-mouse’ with American Destroyers. At noon, America conducted its own test. A mushroom cloud rising sixty thousand feet over the Pacific. Thus dawns Black Saturday, the day mankind came closest to nuclear destruction
At 11:59 AM. A U-2 pilot searched the horizon having taken off eight hours before, to collect air samples from the Soviet atmospheric test, where the northern lights had wiped the sky clean. He had to guess his way back to Alaska, and something about the ground below looked somehow unfamiliar. Little did he know, Soviet jets lurked fifteen thousand feet below him, ready to strike when he descended. He had just flown into the Soviet Union.
At the White House, EXCOMM is at the end of their tether. They’d nearly agreed to accept Khrushchev’s deal, pledging never to invade Cuba in exchange for Russia dismantling the missiles. But two hours ago, Radio Moscow broadcast a new deal. Khrushchev also wants US missiles withdrawn from Turkey. The new Soviet position is tough, because, well, because it’s so reasonable. Missiles for missiles. It would go down well at the UN. Kennedy leans toward accepting; the missiles are obsolete and due for withdrawal anyway. But the hawks revolt. ‘This will break NATO. It’s trading away an ally’s safety for our own.’ Rival factions in EXCOMM begin drafting their own responses to the offer. Meanwhile, the generals are preparing for air sorties in Cuba, starting on Monday.
Kennedy convinces them to delay until Tuesday, but time for diplomacy is running out. Then, they hear that a U-2 is overdue from Cuba. At 1:00 PM, Generals are rushing to put the US Nuclear force on full alert. In the event of war, they need everything ready, even if it means cutting corners. Nuclear weapons are supposed to work on the buddy system, where no one man is able to fire. But in the chaos, that’s waived. Single seat jets are equipped with tactical Nukes.
To get the new Minuteman missiles meaning at a moment’s notice. Remotely controlled from underground launch control centres miles away from the silos, it offered a hair trigger launch response. From the time keys were turned to execute a positive launch command, until the missile left the silo, it only took about a minute. Hence the name Minuteman.
Commanders jury-rig a solution that bypasses safety protocols. If an error occurs, the Minutemen will launch within thirty seconds.
At 2:25 PM, the lost U-2 pilot, out of fuel, finally glides into a rural airstrip in Alaska. For two hours, a navigator has been carefully guiding him in by radio. Only then does he learn that his excursion over the USSR lit up every Soviet air defence system in the sector. MiGs shadow him the whole time, thinking he was preparing for a bombing run. The U-2 pilot fell unconscious when he stepped out of the plane to discover that he was in Russia.
At 4:20 PM, EXCOMM was beginning to question everything. Why did Khrushchev offer two deals in 24 hours? In fact, how would they know if they were negotiating with Khrushchev at all? The tones of the messages were pretty different. What if there was a coup, and the Red Army took over? They were going in circles when they heard the news; that the overdue U-2 wasn’t actually coming back because the Soviets shot it down.
At 5:50 PM, Khrushchev apparently phoned his family, he was sending a car to pick them up going to the vacation house without allowing for questions to be asked.
The U-2 shooting down has shaken him to his core. Who ordered it? He’d told Soviet troops to defend themselves, not fire on unarmed planes. And Castro had sent that insane letter, urging a first strike on the United States. Were Soviet troops now following Cuban orders? And if so, would the next unauthorised launch be nuclear?
it’s 6:30 PM. For two days, an American destroyer has played cat-and-mouse with a Soviet sub, and now they’ve finally caught it. For a half hour, they’ve signalled it with grenades, no response. Now it’s time to roll out something bigger; practice depth charges. Moscow knew that the US Navy would use this signal, but no one told the submarine crews.
Below, the captain of the Soviet submarine B-59, becomes furious. The sub’s cooling system is broken, it’s 130°F in there. Drained batteries force the crew to live in the dark. Unable to surface while being pursued, they haven’t talked to Moscow in forty-eight hours. They have no idea if there’s a war on. And the grenades, it sounds like someone beating the hull with a sledgehammer. And then, Wham! That was a depth charge. The war’s started. There’s no other explanation. The captain gives the order; load the nuclear torpedo. If his crew’s going to perish, they’re going to take the American fleet with them.
At 7:30 PM, EXCOMM had at this point outlived its usefulness. Kennedy withdrew with a small corps of advisors, trying to figure out how best to accept the missile swap while still preserving NATO. The plan was to first, send a public letter accepting Khrushchev’s first offer; that the US would never invade Cuba. The letter was to be delivered to the Soviet ambassador, along with a second secret letter offer. Half an hour later, the ambassador was shocked at Bobby Kennedy’s demeanour. He had always been eager to pick fights, but here “Time was of the essence,” Kennedy stated “The military wanted retribution for the U-2 prepared to accept the non-invasion pledge publicly, without making an open trade for the Turkish missiles. The missiles would be gone in five months, following this the ambassador moved with urgent haste.
It’s 9:52 PM. around the Russian submarine depth charges were exploding. It’s now or never. Due to the hostile action of the American Destroyers, the Russian captain decides he has had enough of this and is going to vaporise as much of the American Navy as they can. Normally, two men have to agree to fire B-59’s nuclear torpedo, the captain and the political officer. They have both voted ‘yes’. But aboard this submarine is a third man, the Flotilla Commander, Vasili Arkhipov. And he also gets a vote. More depth charges striking near the submarine. An argument breaks out on deck. Arkhipov votes ‘no’. They need to surface and get orders from Moscow. It might end their careers, but it might also save the world. The captain calms, his moment of fury passing. It will be good, at least, to breathe fresh air again. B-59 surfaces surrounded by four American Destroyers. Its ragged crew, which has travelled further than any Soviet sub in history, definitely unveils the red flag of the Soviet Union.
October 28th, it’s morning in Moscow. Khrushchev has moved the Praesidium to a vacation house outside the city. He can tell they are judging him for creating this mess. Reports are coming in fast. The KGB swears war is imminent. He’s still trying to figure out who ordered Soviet troops to shoot down that U-2, and to decipher what message Kennedy was trying to send with the airspace violation. Then, Robert Kennedy’s deal arrives. Khrushchev reads it out, the Praesidium approves. Diplomats rush to cobble together a message, while Khrushchev composes a letter trying to calm Castro.
Russian police halt all traffic as a car rushes the announcement to Radio Moscow. Things are developing so quickly, they’re worried war could break out on the car ride. A broadcast goes out. These missiles are leaving, and the crisis is over. EXCOMM celebrates,
In a burst of anger Castro trashes his office, Khrushchev, finally, gets some sleep. These leaders had begun the crisis thinking of politics as a chess board, a game of moves and counter-moves.
But by the end, they realised, almost too late, that they weren’t moving chess pieces; they were gambling. They could place bets, but it was more than luck as much as a skill that kept them from war. A reconnaissance plane being hit by a missile, A U-2 straying into enemy territory, A Russian submarine Flotilla Commander, Vasili Arkhipov. voting ‘no’. The crisis was over, but the gambling would continue, even as, one by one, these men who saved the world were removed from power. While the US’s non-invasion pledge secured Castro’s hold on power, his volatility during the crisis marginalised him from his Soviet allies. Cuba would never again wield such influence on the world stage. Kennedy helped establish dialogue US-Soviet relations. He negotiated a test ban treaty and established a hotline so the president could talk with the Soviet Premier directly, without delay. He was starting to plan a new meeting with Khrushchev in 1963 when he stepped off Air Force 1 in Dallas. Kennedy was assassinated and his body was carried back aboard that plane.
In his absence, a dangerous myth grew. Most of EXCOMM never knew about the missile swap, they thought iron-willed diplomacy backed by military force had won the day. And if it worked with the mighty Soviet Union, mightn’t it work in a small country such as Vietnam?
In 1964, the Praesidium ousted Khrushchev, citing his poor decisions, including the missile deployment. He retired to write his memoirs, an old man with no influence. The new leadership immediately began turning out long-range missiles to compete with the US arsenal. Robert Kennedy wrote a book about the crisis. He served in the Senate and ran for President in 1968. He supported the de-escalation of the Cold War, especially in Vietnam.
Bobby Kennedy was assassinated. Shortly after midnight on June 5, 1968, at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles after winning the California presidential primary.
The Cold War continued for another twenty-three years. The crisis was now over. While criticised at the time by their respective governments for bargaining with the enemy, contemporary historical analysis shows great admiration for Kennedy’s and Khrushchev’s ability to diplomatically solve the crisis. But the disturbing lesson was that a slight communication error, or split-second decision by a commander, could have thwarted all their efforts, as it nearly did if not for Vasili Arkhipov’s courageous decision
The Cuban Missile Crisis revealed just how fragile human politics are compared to the terrifying power they can unleash.
The moral of the story is to outline; the current situation with Ukraine. The Western NATO alliance has to start negotiating with President Putin to find a middle path in diffusing the military tension. It is understandable that America may not want to be surrounded by their neighbours’ missiles pointing at them nor would Russia-like missiles point at them, therefore this philosophy applies to both Russia and the US. Just like in the 1961 Cuban missile crisis, when President Kennedy came to an amicable conclusion with Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev by the two parties understanding the mutual interest in negotiating to maintain world peace and hegemony.
(Article On British Herald: By Ranjiv Goonawardena Aficionado)
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