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AssaeLlited Pres.
Th
en
Atto
rney G
en
era
l Ro
bert F
. Ken
ned
y and
Presid
ent Jo
hn F
. K
ennedy in
e so
mber m
ood tw
o w
eeks b
efo
re th
e m
issile c
risis.
'Mod
CO
LU
MN
IST
S
ED
ITO
RIA
LS
SEC
TIO
N B
S
UN
DA
Y, N
OV
EM
BE
R
3, 1
968
Th
e 13 Days
Of C
risis O
nly Nixon
Can W
in It B
y Robert F
. Ken
nedy
ON
TU
ES
DA
Y M
OR
NIN
G, O
ct 18, 1982, shortly after 9 o'clock, P
resi-dent K
ennedy called and asked one to com
e to the White H
ouse. He said only
that w
e w
ere
facin
g g
reat tro
ub
le.
Shortly afterw
ard, in his office, he told m
e that a tr.2
had
just fin
ished
a pho-
tegrah
h id P
lastan an
d th
at the In
telli-g
ence co
mm
un
ity h
ad b
ecom
e con
- vinced that R
ussia was placing m
issiles and atom
ic weapons in C
uba. T
hat was the beginning of the C
uban m
issile crisis—a confrontation betw
een th
e two em
it atom
ic natio
ns, th
e U.S
. an
d th
e 'U.S.S.R
., which
bro
ught th
e w
orld
to th
e abyss o
f nuclear d
estruc-
tion an
d th
e end
of M
ankin
d. F
rom
th
at mord
ent in
Presid
ent K
enned
y's
office u.ntll. Sunday m
orning, Oct. 28,
that w
as my life—
and fo
r Am
ericans
and
Rtissian
s, for th
e wh
ole w
orld
, it w
as their life, as w
ell. A
t 11
:45
that sam
e mo
rnin
g, In
the
Cab
inet R
oom
, a form
al presen
tation
was m
ade b
y th
e Cen
tral Intellig
ence
Ag
ency
to a n
um
ber o
f hig
h o
fficials of th
e Goiern
men
t. Photo
grap
hs w
ere show
n to us. Experts arrived w
ith their ch
arts and th
eir poin
ters and to
ld u
s th
at if we lo
oked
carefully
, we co
uld
see there w
as a missile base being con-
structed
in a field
near San C
ristobal, C
uba. •
I; for one, had to take their word for
it I exam
ined
the p
ictures carefu
lly
and w
hat I sa
w a
ppeare
d to
be n
o
more than ,,the clearing of a field for a
farm o
r thi basement of a house. I w
as reliev
ed to
hear later th
at this w
as the
some reaction of virtue/1,Y
everyone at
the' meeting, including P
resident Ken-
ned
y. E
ven
a
few d
ays later, w
hen
m
ore work had taken place on the site,
This is th
e first of
three install-
ments from
a manuscript dictated by
the la
te Sen
. Ken
ned
y in th
e fall o
f 1987
on
th
e basis o
f his p
ersonal
diaries an
d
recolle
ctio
ns o
f the
Cuban m
issile crisis of 1982 Form
er P
residen
tial. C
ounsel T
heo
dore
C. Sorenson, w
ho "made
a num
ber o
f m
ail correctio
ns" in
the m
anuscript fo
r the
sake of clarity
, structu
re an
d g
rimm
er," says that
the S
en.
dor in
tended
to ad
d "a discussion of
the basic ethical question involved: W
hat, if any, circu
mstan
ces or lira
tifk
ation
gives th
is governm
ent or any governm
ent the m
ora
l right to
bring
its peo
ple an
d p
ossib
ly all
peo
ple u
nd
er the shadow
of m
idges destruction?"
draft p
repared
by N
icholas K
atsen
bath
, the D
epu
ty A
ttorn
ey G
eneral
and m
yself, th
e Presid
ent issu
ed ex
ach
y th
is kin
d o
f warn
ing an
d p
oin
ted
out th
e serious co
nseq
uen
ces, that
would result from
such a step.
Mo
scow
's Pu
blic S
tance
AW
EE
K L
AT
ER
, on S
ept. 1
1,
Mosco
w d
isclaimed
publicly
any
inten
tion o
f takin
g su
ch actio
n an
d
stated th
at there w
as no n
eed fo
r nu-
clear missiles to
be tran
sferred to
any
country
outsid
e the S
oviet U
nio
n, in-
cluding, Cuba.
Durin
g th
is same p
eriod o
f time, an
im
portan
t official In
the S
oviet E
m-
bassy, return
ing from
Moscow
, brought m
e a perso
nal m
essage fro
m K
hru
-sh
ehey
to P
residen
t Ken
ned
y, stalin
g
that h
e wan
ted th
e Presid
ent to
be as-
sure
d th
at u
nder n
o c
ircum
stances
would
stulace.to
tinrface m
issiles be
sent to
Cuba.
aliaze, Assistant Secretary of D
efense, an
d, in
termitten
tly at v
arious m
eet-in
gs, V
ice Presid
ent L
yndon B
. John-
sen; A
dlai S
teven
son, A
mbassad
or
to th
e U
nite
d N
atio
ns; K
enneth
O
'Donnell, sp
ecial assistant to
the
Presid
ent, an
d D
onald
Wilso
n, w
ho
was d
eputy
dire
cto
r of th
e U
nite
d
States In
form
ation A
gen
cy.
They w
ere men of the highest intelli-
gen
ce, industilo
us, co
urag
eous an
d
dedicated to their country's well-being.
It is no reflectio
n o
n th
em th
at none
was co
nsisten
t in h
is opin
ion fro
m th
e v
ery b
egin
nin
g to
the v
ery en
d. T
hat
kin
d o
f op
en, u
nfettered
min
d w
as es-se
ntia
l. Fo
r som
e th
ere
were
on
ly
small ch
anges, p
erhap
s varieties o
f a single Idea. F
or others there were con-
tinu
ou
s ch
ang
es of o
pin
ion
cach d
er., so
me, b
ecause
of th
e p
ressu
re o
f ev
ents, ev
en ap
peared
to lo
se their
judgment and stability.
no
te to th
e Presid
ent: 'I n
ow
kn
ow
how
Tojo
felt when
he w
as planning P
earl Harb
or."
After th
e m
eeting in
the C
abin
et R
oom
, I walk
ed b
ack to
the M
ansio
n
with
the P
residen
t. It would
be M
i. cu
lt; the stak
es were h
igh—
of
the
highest and most substantial kind—
but he k
new
he w
ould
hav
e to act. T
he
U.S
. cou
ld n
ot accep
t wh
at the R
us-
sians h
ad d
one.
To
keep
the d
iscussio
ns fro
m b
eing
inhib
ited an
d b
ecause h
e did
not w
ant
to aro
use atten
tion, he d
ecided
not to
attend all the m
eetings of our comm
it-tee, T
his w
as w
ise. P
erso
nalitie
s change w
hen
the P
residen
t is presen
t, an
d freq
uen
tly ev
en stro
ng m
en m
ake
recomm
endations on the basis of what
they
believ
e the P
residen
t wish
es to
hear. He instructed our group to com
e forw
ard with recom
mendations for one
aaakse o
r possib
ly sev
eral alternativ
e
By D
avid S. B
roder W
asheteioe Pot* SUM
Writer
AF
TE
R A
LL
the stratag
ems
and *enable
, the h
ecklin
g a
nd th
e
huck
stering, th
e parad
es, the o
ratory
an
d th
e politics, th
e presid
ential elec-
tion o
f 1908 co
mes d
ow
n to
this:
Rlohard M
. Nixon is th
e one can
di-
date w
ho can
win
an electo
ral colleg
e m
ajority
. Hubert H
. Hum
phrey
and
George C
. Wallace aright- 'but probably
won't—
take enough states from him
to stalem
ate the election. Neither can w
in it fo
r him
self. T
he fin
al pre.electio
n su
rvey
of T
he
Wash
ingto
n P
ost, b
ased o
n in
terview
s an
d rep
orts fro
m staff co
rresponden
ts traveling w
ith The three candidates, as
well as rep
orts fro
m n
ewsm
en an
d
political lead
ers in all 5
0 states, sh
ow
s th
at Rep
ublican
nom
inee N
ixon an
d
his running mate, G
ov. Spiro T
. Agnew
of M
aryland, have lost some ground in
the p
ast four w
eeks b
ut still are lead
-ing in enough states to w
in the election. W
allace's share o
f the p
opular v
ote
has slu
mped
, but b
e still is fawned
to
carry th
e six D
eep S
outh
states that
hav
e constitu
ted h
is base o
f support
A fin
al statc-hrstate rep
ort o
n th
e ele
ctio
n p
rosp
ects is o
n P
ages B
4
and 5
5.
since the start o
f his cam
paig
n.
The W
allace slump has increased the
chan
ce that H
um
phrey
and h
is Dem
o-
erotic ru
nn
ing
mate, S
en. E
dm
un
d S
. M
usk
ie of M
aine, w
ill carry so
me o
f th
e majo
r North
ern in
dustrial states.
Un
like a m
on
th ag
o, th
e Dem
ocrats
are almo
st assured
ahead
of W
allace an
d G
en. C
urtis E
. Leh
lay in
the elec-
leadin
g, w
ould
add 4
3 v
otes, b
ringin
g
his total to 210. T
he n
ext v
ital arena is th
e band of B
ord
er States—
Delaw
are, Mary
land,
Virg
inia, N
orth
Caro
lina, T
ennessee,
Ken
tuck
y an
d M
issou
ri, with
70
elec-to
ral vo
tes—w
here N
ixo
n is b
elieved
to
be lead
ing ag
ainst th
e div
ided
chal-
lenge o
f Wallace an
d H
um
phrey
. Al-
most a
ny six
of th
ose
seven sta
tes
would put h
im o
ver the top.
Finally, N
ixon has a bit of insurance in
thre
e W
este
rn sta
tes—
Nevada,
Washington and A
laska—w
here he ap-pears to
be lead
ing b
ut is n
ot g
uaran
-teed the votes.
When o
ne n
ote
s that th
ese
state
s could give him
victory even if he were
shut o
ut o
f Mic
hig
an,. M
inneso
ta,
South
Caro
lina, N
ew Y
ork
, Pen
nsy
l-v
ania, T
exas, F
lorid
a, Co
nn
ecticut,
New
Mex
ico an
d M
aine—
in all o
f w
hich he has a chance—the likelihood
of Nixon's w
inning is clear.
Six
More
GO
P G
ov
ern
ors
Q0 F
AR
AS
oth
er ra
ces a
re
eon-ceraed, ticket splitting seem
s to be th
e ord
er of th
e day
. T
he Republicans, w
ho now hold 28 of
the 53
govern
orsh
ips, are v
irtually
guaran
teed an
oth
er increase in
their
strength
this y
ear. In all, 1
3 D
emo-
cratic and
eigh
t Rep
ub
lican g
ov
erno
r-sh
ips are at stak
e Tu
esda
y. A
n expected victory In Illinois would
install R
epublican
s In th
e govern
ors'
chairs in
every
one o
f the b
ig sev
en
state
s except T
exas, w
hic
h se
em
s lik
ely to
return
ano
ther D
emo
crat. A
side fro
m Illin
ois, th
e oth
er stales ex
pected
to rep
lace Dem
ocrats w
ith
Rep
ublican
govern
ors o
n T
uesd
ay in
-clude Iow
a. Mp
,a
Th
e 13 Days
Of C
risis O
nly Nixon
Can W
in It B
y Robert F
. Ken
nedy
IAN
TC
HS
DA
.Y M
OR
NIN
G, O
ct. ld, IV
1982, shontl'y after 9 o'clock, Presi-
den
t Ken
ned
y called
and
asked
me to
com
e to the White H
ouse-He said only
that w
e w
ere
facin
g g
reat tro
ub
le.
Shortly afterw
ard, in his office, he told m
e that a. II-2 had just finished a pho• tograpialc•nriasion and that the intelli-gen
ce coM
muntty
had
beco
me co
n-
vinced that Russia w
as placing missiles
and Monne w
eapons in Cuba.
That w
as the beginning of the Cuban
missile crisis—
a confrontation between
the tw
o g
iant ato
mic n
ation
s, the U
.S.
and th
o -U
.S.S
.R., w
hich
bro
ught th
e w
orld
to th
e abyss o
f nuclear d
estruct
!ion an
d th
e end o
f man
kin
d. F
rom
th
at mo
rden
t in P
residen
t Ken
ned
y's
office u
ntil S
unday
morn
ing, O
ct. 28, th
at was ?n
y life—
and
for A
merican
s an
d R
imslen
s, for th
e whole w
orld
, it w
as their life, as well.
At 1
1:4
5 th
at som
e morn
ing, in
the
Cab
inet R
oom
, a form
al presen
tation
was m
ade b
y th
e Cen
tral Intellig
ence
Agen
cy to
a num
ber o
f hig
h o
fficials o
f the G
og
ernm
ent. P
ho
tog
raph
s were
shown to ua. E
xperts arrived with their
charts an
d th
eir poin
ters and to
ld u
s th
at if we lo
ok
ed carefu
lly, w
e cou
ld
see • there was a m
issile base being con-stru
cted in
a field near S
an Cristobal,
Cuba. I,
for one, had to take their word for
It. I exam
ined
the p
ictures carefu
lly
an
d w
hat I sa
w a
pp
eare
d to
be n
o
more th
an th
e clearing o
f a field fo
r a tarn' or the basem
ent of a house. I was
relieved
to h
ear later that th
is was th
e sam
e reaction o
f virtu
ally ev
eryone at
the 'meeting, including P
resident Ken-
ned
y. E
ven
a few d
ays later, w
hen
m
ore work had taken place on the site,
he rem
arked
that it lo
oked
like a foot-
ball field, T
he d
om
inan
t feeling at th
e meetin
g
was stu
nned
surp
rise. No o
ne h
ad ex
-
'Pla
t kind
of p
ressure d
oes
strange th
ings to
a h
um
an
being, even to brilliant, self-co
nfid
ent, m
atu
re, experi-
enced m
en. F
or so
me it
brin
gs o
ut ch
ara
cteristics a
nd
streng
ths th
at p
erha
ps
even th
ey never kn
ew th
ey had, and for others the pres-sure is too overw
helming:
This is th
e Jirsc of th
ree insta
ll-m
ents fro
m a m
anuscript dictated by th
e late S
en. K
enned
y in th
e fall o
f 1967
oft Its bans
of h
is perso
nal
diaries and
reeottectio
ns o
f the
Cuban m
issile crisis of 1982. Form
er P
residen
tial C
onnect T
heo
dore C
. Sorenson, w
ho "modo a n
um
ber o
f sm
all corrections" in the manuscript
"for the
sake o
f clarity. structure
and
gram
mar," sag
s that
the S
e*
ator intended to add "a discussion of
the W
m eth
ical qu
estion
inv
olv
ed:
Wh
at, if any
, circum
stances o
r jos. tification gives
this g
overn
men
t or
any
government the
moral right to
brin
g its
peo
ple an
d
poasibla all people under the shadow
of unclear destruction?"
draft p
repared
by
Nich
olas K
aren
bath
, the D
epu
ty A
ttorn
ey G
eneral
and m
yself, th
e Presid
ent issu
ed ex
actiy this kind of w
arning and pointed o
ut th
e se
riou
s co
nse
qu
en
ces th
at
would result from
such a step.
Mo
sco
w's P
ublic
Sta
nce
A
WE
EK
LA
TE
R, o
n S
ept. 1
1,
A M
osco
w d
isclaimed
publicly
any
inten
tion o
f takin
g su
ch actio
n an
d
stated th
at there w
as no need fo
r nu-
clear =M
iles to b
e transferred
to an
y
coun
try o
utsid
e the S
oviet U
nio
n, im
eluding C
abal. D
urin
g th
is same p
eriod o
f time, an
imp
ortan
t official in
the S
ov
iet Em
-bassy, returning from
Moscow
, brought m
e a perso
nal
messa
ge from
IC.h.m
o sh
chev
to P
residen
t Ken
ned
y, statin
g
that h
e wan
ted th
e Presid
ent to
be as-
sure
d th
at u
nd
er n
a c
ircu
msta
nces
wo
uld
surface-to
-surface m
issiles he
sent to
Cuba.
No
w, as th
e represen
tatives o
f the
CIA
exp
lained
the i7
8 p
ho
tog
raph
s th
at m
orning, T
uesd
ay, O
ct 16, w
e realised
that it h
ad all b
een lies, o
ne
gig
antic fab
ric of lien
Th
us th
e do
mi-
nan
t feeling
was o
ne o
f sho
cked
in-
credulity
. We h
ad b
een d
eceived
by
Khrtm
lichiv
, but w
e had
also fo
oled
ourselves. N
o official with the G
overn-m
ent b
ad ev
er suggested
to P
residen
t K
enn
edy
that th
e Ru
ssian b
uild
up
in
Cuba w
ould-Mclude m
issiles. W
e heard
tater, in a p
as iinortem
stu
dy, th
at re
ports h
od c
om
e fro
m
ag
en
ts with
in C
ub
a in
dic
atin
g th
e
presen
ce of m
issiles In S
eptem
ber o
f 1
95
2. M
ost o
f the rep
orts w
ere false; som
e were th
e result o
f confu
sion b
y
un
trained
ob
servers b
etween
surface-
to-air m
issiles and su
rface-tosu
rface
Nitre, A
ssistant S
ecretary o
f Defen
se, an
d, in
termitten
tly at v
ariou
s meet-
ing
s, Vice P
residen
t Ly
nd
on
B. Jo
hn
-so
n; A
dlat S
teven
son, A
mbassad
or
to th
e U
nite
d N
atio
ns; K
enneth
O
'Do
nn
ell, sp
ecia
l assista
nt to
the
Presid
ent, an
d D
on
ald W
ilson
, wh
o
was d
ep
uty
dire
cto
r of th
e U
nite
d
States In
form
ation
Ag
ency
. T
hey were m
en of the highest tntelC-
gence, in
dustrio
us, co
urag
eous an
d
ded
icated to
their co
un
try's w
ellbein
g.
It is no
reflection
on
them
that n
on
e w
as con
sistent in
his o
pin
ion
from
the
very
beg
inn
ing
to th
e very
end
. Th
at k
ind
of o
pen
, unfettered mind w
as es-se
ntia
l. Fo
r som
e th
ere
were
on
ly
small ch
ang
es, perh
aps v
arieties of a
single id
ea. For o
thers th
ere were co
n-
tinuous ch
anges o
f opin
ion each
clay;
som
e, b
ecause
of th
e p
ressu
re o
f ev
ents, ev
en ap
peared
to lo
se their
judgment and stability.
Blo
ckad
e vs. A
ir Strik
e
rG
EN
ER
AL
FR
PL
ING
in th
e t. :g
inn
ing
was th
at som
e form
of
action Was required. T
here were th
ese, alth
ough th
ey w
ere a small m
inority
, w
ho
felt the m
issiles slid n
ot alter th
e b
alance o
f po
wer an
d th
erefore n
eces-sitated
no actio
n. M
ost felt, at th
at sta
ge, th
at a
n a
ir strike a
gain
st the
missile sites co
uld
be th
e only
course.
Listen
ing
to th
e pro
po
sals, I pissed
a
Some of the o ffieids
w
ho, With the K
ermedys,
shared the `confrorn-
Arroclaa3
ern
e
Presid
ent Jo
hn F
. th
e w
ind
s crisia
.
note to
the P
reskien
t: "I now
know
how
Thin
felt when
he w
as plan
nin
g
Pearl H
arbo
r." A
fter the m
eeting in th
e Cab
inet
Room
, I walked back to
the M
ansio
n
with
the P
residen
t. It would
be d
iffi-cu
lt; the stak
es were h
igh—
of th
e highest and m
ost substantial kind—but
he k
new
he w
ou
ld h
ave to
act. Th
e U
.S. co
uld
no
t accept w
hat th
e Ru
s-sian
s had
done.
To
keep
the d
iscussio
ns fro
m b
eing
inh
ibited
and
becau
se he d
id n
ot w
ant
to aro
use atten
tion, b
e decid
ed n
ot to
attend ail the m
eetings of our comm
it. te
e. T
his w
as w
ise. P
erso
nalitie
s ch
ange w
hen
the P
residen
t is presen
t, and
frequ
ently
even
no
vas m
en m
ake
recomm
endations on the basis of what
they
believ
e the P
residen
t wish
es to
hear. He Instructed on
e group
to came
forward w
ith recomm
endations for one co
urse o
r possib
ly sev
eral alternativ
e courses of action.
It was during the afternoon and eve-
nt/11ot that first day, Tuesday, that w
e be
gan
to d
iscuss th
e idea o
f a qu
aran-
tine or block
ade. S
ecretary men
amare,
by Wednesday, becam
e the blockades stro
ng
est adv
ocate. H
e argu
ed th
at. It w
as limited
pressu
re, wh
ich co
uld
be
increased
as the clecu
mstan
ces war-
ranted
. Fu
rther, it w
as dram
atic and
forceful pressure, w
hich would be un-
See C
RIS
IS, P
age 132, Colum
n 1
By D
avid S
. Bro
der
sienna'. Pest graft w
riter
AF
TE
R A
LL,
the stratag
ems an
d
spending, th
e heck
ling an
d th
e E
ticketerin
g, th
e parad
es, the o
ratory
an
d th
e politics, th
e presid
ential elec-
tion
of H
U co
mes d
ow
n to
this:
Rich
ard H
. Nix
on Is th
e One can
di-
date w
ho
can w
in an
electoral co
llege
majo
rity. H
ub
ert IL H
um
ph
rey an
d
George C
. Wallace m
ight—hut probably
won't—
take enough states from him
to stalem
ate the election. Neither can w
in it fo
r him
self. T
he final pre-election survey of T
he
Wash
ingto
n P
ost, b
awd o
n in
terview
s an
d rep
orts fro
m staff co
rrespo
nd
ents
travelin
g w
ith th
e three candidates, as w
ell as repo
rts from
new
smen
and
political lead
ers in all 5
0 states, sh
ow
s th
at Rep
ub
bican
no
min
ee Nix
on
and
his running m
ate, Gov. S
piro T. A
gnew
of Maryland, h
ave lest som
e ground in th
e po
st fou
r week
s bu
t still are lead-
ing in enough states to win the election.
Wallace's sh
are of th
e po
pu
lar vo
te h
as slum
ped
, bu
t he still is fav
ored
to
carry th
e six D
eep S
ou
th states th
at hav
e constitu
ted h
is base o
f support
A final m
ate-byatate report o
n the
election
pro
spects is o
n P
ages 8
4
and 5
5.
since th
e abu
t of b
is campaign.
The W
allace slump has increased the
chan
ce that H
um
ph
rey end his D
emo -
cratic ro
amin
g m
ate, Sen
. Edm
und S
. A
ftiskie O
f Main
e, will carry
som
e of
the m
ajor N
orth
ern industrial
states. U
nlik
e a mo
nth
ego
, the D
emo
crats are alm
ost assu
red ah
ead o
f Wallace
and G
ee. Curtis E
. LeM
ay in
the elec-
toral vote *base. But the sam
e diminu-
tion o
f Wallace's h
ackin
g h
as help
ed
Nix
on
's po
sition
in th
e bo
rder states
and th
us, iro
nically
, giv
en h
im ad
ded
in
suran
ce of
an
electora
l colleg
e ma-
jority. T
he W
ashin
gto
n P
ost su
rvey
sho
ws:
Nina/11s leading in
31 slates with 295
electoral v
otes, 2
5 m
ore th
an th
e 27
0
need
ed fo
r election.
Hu
mp
hrey
is leadin
g in
seven
states an
d th
e District o
f Co
lum
bia w
ith 5
7
electoral votes. W
allace Is leadin
g In
six states w
ith
53 electoral votes. S
ix states w
ith 1
23
electoral v
otes
are in th
e tossu
p categ
ory
. Hum
phrey
end N
ixon are ba
ttling
for five of them:
Coim
ectieut, New
, Mexico, N
ew Y
ork, P
ennsy
lvan
ia and T
esax lv
the six
th
wInrida. the fight Is betw
een Nixon
leadin
g, w
ould
add 4
3 v
otes, b
ringin
g
his total to 210. T
he next vital arena is th
e ban
d o
f B
ord
er Stater,--D
elaware, M
arylan
d,
Virg
inia, N
orth
Caro
lina, T
ennessee,
Ken
tuck
y an
d M
issouri, w
ith 7
0 elect
local v
otes—
where N
ixon Is b
elieved
to
be lead
ing ag
ainst th
e div
ided
chal-
leng
e of W
allace end
Hu
mp
hrey
. Al-
mo
st an
y' six
of th
ose
no
on
state
s w
ould put Min over the top.
Finally, N
ixon has a bit of insurance in
thre
e W
este
rn sta
tes—
Nevada,
Washington and A
laska—w
here he up. pears to
be lead
ing
bu
t Is no
t gu
aran-
teed W
h thene ventes. e n
ote
s that th
ese
state
s could give biro victory even if he w
ere sh
ut o
ut o
f Mich
igan
, - Min
neso
ta, S
ou
th C
arolin
a, New
Yo
rk, P
enn
syl-
van
ia, Tex
as, Flo
rida, C
on
necticu
t, N
ew M
exico
and M
aine—
in all o
f w
hich he has a chance—the likelihood
of Nixon's w
inning Is clear.
Six
Mo
re G
OP
Go
vern
ors
Q
0F
AR
AS
oth
er ra
ces a
re c
on
• cerned, ticket splitting seem
s to be the order of the d
ay.
The R
epublicans, who now
hold 26 of th
e 50
go
vern
orsh
ips, are v
irtually
guaran
teed an
oth
er increase in
their
streng
th th
is year. In
all, 13
Dem
o•
erotic an
d eig
ht R
epublican
govern
or-
ships are at stoke Tuesday.
An expected victory in Illinois w
ould In
stall Rep
ublican
s in th
e governors' chairs
in ev
ery o
ne o
f the b
ig sev
en
state
s ex
cep
t Tex
as, w
hic
h se
em
s lik
ely to
return
anoth
er Dem
ocrat.
Asid
e from
Illino
is, the o
ther states
exp
ected to
replace D
emo
crats with
R
epu
blican
go
vern
ors o
n T
uesd
ay in
-clu
de Io
wa, N
ew H
ampsh
ire and V
er-m
ont, with chances of varying degrees
for R
epu
blican
s to tak
e ov
er also in
D
elaware, Indiana, K
ansas, North C
ar-olina and W
est Virginia.
By
con
trast, the o
nly
Rep
ub
lican-
held
go
vern
orsh
ips th
at app
ear in an
y
Th
en A
ttorn
ey Gen
eral R
ob
ert P. K
enn
edy a
nd
K
enned
y in
a som
ber
mood tw
o w
eeks b
efo
re
DE
AN
AC
HE
SO
N
erseeu litA
SIL
. A
VI
brings ou
t characteristics
and stren
gths th
at perhaps
even th
ey never kn
ew th
ey had, and for others the pres-sure is too overw
helming.'
pected or anticipated that the Russians
would deploy sarfaceeo-surface ballis-
tic missiles In C
uba.
Meeting W
ith Dobry
nis
e
IT
HO
UG
HT
B
AC
K to
my
meeting
with
Sovie
t Am
bassa
dor A
nato
ly D
obrynin In my office som
e weeks be-
fore. He cam
e to tell Inc that the Rus-
sians were prepared to sign an atm
os-p
he
ric te
st b
an
trea
ty if w
e c
ou
ld
make
certa
in a
gre
em
ents o
n u
nder-
ground testing. I tied him
we w
ere deeply concerned w
ithin
the A
dm
inistra
tion a
bout th
e
am
ou
nt o
f Wittily/ e
qu
ipm
en
t be
ing
sent to C
ub
a. T
here was som
e evidence th
at, in
ad
ditio
n to
the
sulle
n-M
ale
m
issile (S
AM
) sites th
at w
ere
be
ing
erected, the R
ussians, under the guise of a
fishin
g villa
ge, w
ere
constructing a
larg
e n
ava
l ship
yard
an
d a
ba
se fo
r eubm
arin
es. T
his
was a
ll bein
g
watch
ed ca
refu
lly—th
rough a
gents
with
in C
uba w
ho w
ere
reportin
g th
e
milita
ry bu
ildu
p in
a lim
ited
bu
t fre-
qu
en
tly imp
orta
nt w
ay, th
rou
gh
the
q
ue
stion
ing
of re
fug
ee
s wh
o w
ere
screened and processed as they arrived in
Plerida and through lee flights.
Am
ba
ssad
or D
ola
rynin
told
me
I should not be concerned, for he w
as in-structed by S
oviet Chairm
an Nikita S
. K
hrushchev to assure President K
en-n
ed
y tha
t the
re w
ou
ld b
e n
a g
rou
nd
-to-ground m
issiles or offensive weap-
ons placed in Cuba. F
urther, be said, I co
uld
assu
re th
e P
resid
ent th
at th
is m
ilitary buildup was not of any signife
canee and that Khrushchev w
ould do n
oth
ing
to d
isrup
t the
rela
tion
ship
of
our tw
o co
untrie
s durin
g th
is perio
d
prio
r to th
e e
lectio
n. C
ha
irma
n
Khrushchev, he said, H
eed President
Kennedy a
nd d
id n
ot w
ish to
em
ber.
ram
I told
him
we w
ere
watc
hin
g th
e
bu
ildu
p ca
refu
lly find
tha
t he
shrie
k/ know
It would be of the gravest conse-
quence if the Soviet U
nion placed mis-
siles in Cuba. T
hat w
ould never hap• pen, he assured m
e, and left. I reported the conversation to P
resi-dent K
ennedy, Secretary of S
tate Dean
Rusk and S
ecretary of Defense R
obert
McN
amara, relayed m
y ow
n ske
pticism
and suggested that it m
ight be advisa-ble to Issue a statem
ent making It une-
quivocally Meer that the U
nited States
wo
uld
no
t tole
rate
the
intro
du
ction
of
offensive surfaceto-surface missiles, or
offe
nsive
weapons o
f an
y kin
d, in
to
Cuba. T
hat same afternoon, S
ept 4, from a
stud
y, tha
t rep
orts h
ad
com
e fre
es
ag
en
ts w
ithin
Cu
ba
ind
ica
ting
the
pre
sence
of m
issiles in
Septe
mber o
f 1
96
2. M
ost o
f the
rep
orts w
ere
false
; so
me
we
re th
e re
sult o
f con
fusio
n b
y untrained observers betw
een surface-to
-air m
issiles a
nd
surfa
ce4
o.su
rface
Several reports, how
ever, turned out to be accurate—
one from a form
er ent-plo
Ye a
t the H
ilton H
ote
l In H
ava
na,
who believed a m
issile installation was
being constructed near San C
ristobal, and another from
someone w
ho over-h
ea
rd P
rem
ier F
ide
l Ca
stro
's p
ilot
talkin
g in
a b
oa
stful a
nd
into
xicate
d
way o
ne e
venin
g a
bout th
e n
ucle
ar
mis
sile
s th
at w
ere
go
ing
to b
e fu
r. nished C
ube by Russia.
But before these reports w
ere given substance, they had to be checked and rechecked. T
hey were not even consid-
ered substantial enough to pass on to th
e P
resid
ent o
r oth
er h
igh o
fficials
with
in th
e G
ove
rnm
en
t. In re
trosp
ect,
this w
as p
erh
aps a
mista
ke. B
ut th
e
sam
e P
ostm
orte
m stu
dy a
lso sta
ted
that th
ere
was n
o a
dio
s the U
nite
d
Sta
tes co
uld
have
take
n b
efo
re th
e
time w
e a
ctu
ally
did
act, o
n th
e
gro
un
ds th
at e
ven
the
films a
vaila
ble
on O
ct. Id w
ould
not h
ave
been su
b-
stan
tial e
no
ug
h to
con
vince
the
go
v-ernm
ents and peoples of the world of
the
pre
sen
ce o
f offe
nsive
missile
s In
Cuba. C
ertainly, unsubstantiated refu-gee reports w
ould not have been suffi-cient.
The Im
portant fact, of course, is that th
e m
issiles w
ere
un
cove
red
an
d th
e
information w
as made available to the
Governm
ent an
d the people before the
missiles becam
e operative and in time
for th
e U
ntie
d S
tate
s to act.
Men
Un
der'P
resnu
e
rS
AM
E G
RO
UP
that m
et th
at
fTrst m
orning in the Cabinet R
oom
met a
lmost co
ntin
uously th
rough th
e
next 12 days and almost daily for som
e six w
eeks th
ere
afte
r. Oth
ers in
the
group, which w
as later to be called the "lexC
ernm" (the E
xecutive Com
mittee
of th
e N
atio
nal S
ecu
rity Council), In
-cluded S
ecretary of State D
ean Rusk;
Secre
tary
of D
efe
nse R
obert M
c-
Nam
ara
; Dire
ctor o
f the C
entra
l Inte
e
lig-mace A
gency John IvIeCone; S
ecre-ta
ry of th
e T
rea
sury D
ou
gla
s Dillo
n;
Pre
sident K
ennedy's a
dvise
r on n
a-
tional s
ecurity
affa
irs, M
cG
eorg
e
Bundy; P
residential Counsel T
heodore C
. Sorensen; U
nder Secretary of S
tate G
eorge Ball; D
eputy Under S
ecretary of S
tate U. A
lexis Johnson: Gen. M
ax-w
ell T
aylo
r, chairm
an o
f the J
oin
t C
hiefs of Staff; E
dward M
artin, Assist-
ant Secretary of S
tate fee Latin Am
er-ica
; orig
inally, C
harle
s Bohle
n, w
ho,
after the first day, left to become A
m-
bassador to France and w
as succeeded by Llew
ellyn Thom
pson as the adviser en
Russian affairs; R
oswell G
epatric, D
ep
uty S
ecre
tary o
f De
fen
se; P
atti
Som
e of th
e off idols w
ho, w
ith th
e Ken
nedys,
shared th
e `confron
. C
ation betw
een th
e tw
o giant atom
ic nations, the U
.S. wad
the U
.S.S
.R., w
hich
brou
ght th
e world to
the abyss of n
uclear
clestrzetion an
d th
e end of m
ankin
d.'
RO
ILE
RT
Mr.N
AM
AIL
I
TH
RO
DO
RR
SO
RE
NS
EN
JO
HN
1)IcCO
NE
Wallace
is leading in sir sta
tes w
ith
53 electoral votes. S
ix state
s with
12
8 e
lecto
ral vo
tes
are
in the tossup categori- Hum
phrey and N
ixon are battling for five of them:
Connecticu
t, New
Mexico
, New
York,
Pennsylvania and T
exas. Ie. the sixth state, F
lorida, the Heat is betw
een Nixon
and Wallace_
Marked L
oss fo
r Wallace
SIN
CE
T
HE
mb
eca
inp
aig
n su
rvey
10 published on October 5, correspond-
ents report the following m
ajor tren
ds
: •
A
ma
rke
d lo
ss o
f support by
Wallace in states outside the S
outh, par-ticu
larly a
mong b
lue-co
llar w
orke
rs. M
uch
of th
e sh
ift is attrib
ute
d to
the
Intensive propaganda campaign against
Walla
ce co
nducte
d b
y trade u
nio
ns
among their m
embers and fam
ilies. •
A so
lidifyin
g o
f sup
po
rt for H
urn
• phrey am
ong traditional Dem
ocratic vot-ing groups, including N
egroes, Mexican-
Antericene and Jew
s, as the traditional and icleolegic-al divisions no evident at last A
ugust's national convention have began to recede into m
emory.
• A
weakening of support for N
ixon in
the a
reas
of
liberal Republicanism
, w
hich supported Gov. N
elson A. R
ock-efe
ller fo
r the n
om
inatio
n a
nd w
here
criticism
of th
e style
of N
ixon
's an
d
Agnew
's campaign hes been m
ast prey. gent.
All o
f these
seals h
ave
been m
ore
m
arked in the northeast quadrant of the country than elsew
here, and, together, th
ey e
xpla
in th
e ra
ther d
ram
atic im
-p
rove
me
nt in
the
pro
spe
cts for th
e
Hum
phrey-Muskie ticket in such states
as Massachusetts, M
ichigan, Connecticut,
New
York and perhaps P
ennsylvania. B
ut the survey also shows N
ixon ap. peers to be
sla
yin
g in front—
and gen. o
rally m
ain
tain
ing
his m
arg
in—
in th
e
Midw
estern and Western states. M
ost im
portant, correspondents report little evidence that H
umphrey boa m
ade a breakthrough in the suburban areas and sm
alle
r cities th
at co
ntro
l such
state
s as C
alifornia, Illinois and Ohio. T
here, the law
-andorder issue and general dis-sa
tisfactio
n w
ith th
e so
cial, fisca
l and
foreign policies of the Johnson A
dmits
istration, which H
umphrey sym
bolises, present an alm
ost insuperable barrier to his victory.
Whatever H
umphrey m
ay have gained from
the last-minute presidential deci-
sion to halt bombing of N
orth Vietnam
, correspondents say, is outw
eighed b
y the abiding teneifore-change sentim
ent th
at N
ixon h
as e
xplo
ited in
his ca
m-
paign. T
he
difficu
lty of th
e ta
sk of d
en
ying
N
ixon a
n e
lecto
ral m
ajo
rity is show
n
by th
is an
alysis of his support: H
is bard
.core
strength
, inclu
din
g
California, Illinois, 'Indians, W
isconsid a
nd
15
sma
ller sta
tes in
the
Mid
we
st and W
est, totals 167 electoral votes. O
hio and New
Jersey, the
other two
major states w
here he is believed to be
de
gre
e o
f da
ng
er
are
M
ontana, New
M
exico and Arizona.
Un
de
r the
be
st circum
stan
ces, R
e-
publicans could come out of the elec-
tion with 35 of the 50 governors. A
rea-sonable guess is that they m
ay have 32, in
stead o
f their p
rese
nt 2
6. •
In c
on
trast to
go
ve
rno
rs' ra
ce
s,
which traditioiaLly stand on their ow
n, there have been m
any years where m
e Lio
nel 'tre
nds h
ave
c
au
se
d
sweeping
-changes in•the Senate. T
his does not se
em
to b
e o
ne o
f them
. • T
he Republicans cam
e into the cam
-paign w
ith' high hopes, mainly because
they had 25 Dem
ocratic e.t.a
to aim
at a
nd
on
ly 11
of th
eir o
wn
to d
efe
nd
. W
hile they had little hope of overturn-le
g th
e D
em
ocra
ts' 68-9
7 m
atu
rity, they hoped to m
ove their strength into th
e u
pp
er 4
00
in p
rep
ara
tion
for a
m
ajo
r cam
paig
n In
1070.
Rep
ub
lican G
ain in
Sen
ate e
rsHE
WA
SH
ING
TO
N P
OS
T su
rvey
T in
dica
tes th
e like
ly Re
pu
blica
n
ga
in w
ill be
la th
e ra
ng
e o
f fou
r to six
seats. B
ut e
ven th
at m
uch
of a
shift,
alo
ng w
ith re
pla
cem
ent o
f a re
tiring
Dem
ocra
t in A
labam
a a
nd a
retirin
g
Republica
n in
Kaunas b
y more
con-
servative mem
bers of their own P
arty, w
ill tend to
reduce
the a
lmost a
uto
-m
atic liberal majorities the S
enate has
know
n sin
ce M
a
Am
ong the conservative Republicans
given goad to excellent chances of re-pla
cing D
em
ocra
ts are
form
er S
en.
Barry G
old
wate
r of A
rizona, fo
rmer
Go
v. He
nry B
ellm
on
of
Oklahom
a. M
ayor Elm
er E. R
asmuson of A
nchor-age a
nd R
ep. E
dw
ard
3
. Gurn
ey o
f F
lorida. Moderate R
epublicans among
the
po
ssible
win
ne
rs inclu
de
Willia
m
D.
itue
keisb
an
a
of In
dia
na
, Re
p.
Charles M
cC. M
athias of Maryland, A
t-to
rne
y Ge
ne
ral W
illiam
B. S
axb
a o
f O
hio
, Staa
nteia Rep. R
obert R
p. R
ob
e P
ackw
oo
d o
f O
regon and Rep. R
ichard Schw
eiker of P
en
nsylvania.
Not all of these, of course, are likely
to come through. M
eantime, tw
o liberal D
ern
ocra
ls--Go
v. Ha
rold
Hu
gh
es o
f Iow
a and former S
tate Controller A
lan C
ran
ston
of C
alifo
rnia
, are
give
n re
al
chances to take over Republican sears.
Oth
er sta
tes w
here
Renate
seats
could shift parties Include Mahe, M
is-sour', N
ew H
ampshire, S
outh Daktoa
and Utah.
Guessin
g th
e o
utco
me o
f the 3
85
See POLITIC
S. Page B
e, Colum
n 4
I e;
15 TR
UC
KS U
ND
ER
.1_EA
MO
USLA
GE
NE
TT
ING
eeete
l ST
AT
ION
TR
UC
KS U
ND
ER
C
AM
OU
FLA
GE
T
ING
14,11%1551LE SH
ELTER
-vI 1T
EN
TS
'MISSIL
E
OR
132 San
dse, N
ov. a,1
948
TE
R W
ASH
ING
TO
N PO
ST
Th
e Evidence: a"tTceheripahnotoA A
merican
knot! itnhdeicmenie estim
ate thet
misswilietsh
r are L
inn! m
inutes Troents. photos such ead th
ese irL
rovidedanv gielzsoasf sLirellacate-tsoh-sipusri an shalt wa y syitz
their bein
g fired 80 million
Am
ericans w
ould be dead."
dense D
epart- F
idel Castro's C
uba with
military cargoes su
ch as ,iet bom
ber fuselages.
You
Are in
a Pretty B
ad
ad F
ix 5 Mr. P
resident' C
RISIS, F
rom P
age B
1
dersto
od
yet, m
ost im
po
rtantly
, still leav
e no in
contro
l of events.
Later h
e reinfo
rced h
is positio
n b
y
repen
ting th
at a surp
rise air strike
again
st the m
issile bases alo
ne—
a su
rgical air. strik
e, as it came to
be
called—
was m
ilitarily Im
practical in
th
e view
of th
e Join
t Chiefs o
f Staff;
that an
y su
ch m
ilitary actio
n w
ou
ld
have to
Inclu
de all m
ilitary in
stalla-tions in C
uba, eventually leading to an in
vasio
n. P
erhap
s we w
ou
ld co
me to
th
at, he arg
ued
. "Bu
t let's no
t start w
ith th
at cou
rse." T
hose w
ho arg
ued
for th
e military
strik
e p
oin
ted
ou
t that a
blo
ck
ad
e
would
not in
fact remove th
e missiles
and
wo
uld
no
t even
. stop
the w
ork
fro
m g
oin
g ah
ead o
n th
e missile sites
themselves. T
he missiles w
ere already in
Cuba, an
d all w
e would
be d
oin
g
with a blockade w
ould be "closing the door after the horse had left the barn."
Their m
ost fo
rceful arg
um
ent w
as th
at o
ur in
stalla
tion o
f a b
lockade
around C
uba in
vited
the R
ussian
s to
do the same to B
erlin. If we dem
anded th
e remo
val o
f missiles fro
m C
ub
a as th
e p rice for lifting our blockade, they w
ould demand the rem
oval of missiles
surro
un
din
g th
e So
viet - U
nio
n as th
e reciprocal act.
An
d so
we arg
ued
, and
so w
e disa-
greed
—all d
edicated
, intellig
ent m
en,
disag
reeing an
d fig
htin
g ab
out th
e fit-.
and h
e wa
s strongly
in fav
or o
f an air
attack. H
e said th
at the P
residen
t of
the United S
tates had the responsiblity fo
r the secu
rity o
f the p
eop
le of th
e U
nited
States an
d o
f the w
ho
le free w
orld
, that it w
as his o
blig
ation to
tak
e the o
nly
action w
hich
cou
ld p
ro.
teat that secu
rity an
d th
at that m
eant
destro
yin
g th
e missiles.
With
som
e tre
pid
atio
n, I a
rgu
ed
th
at, wh
atever v
alidity
the m
ilitary
and political arguments w
ere for an at-ta
ck in
pre
fere
nce to
a b
lockade,
Am
erica's traditions and history would
net p
ermit su
ch a co
urse o
f action.
Wh
atever m
ilitary reaso
ns h
e and
eth-
ers could marshal, they w
ere neverthe-less. in
the last an
alysis, ad
vocatin
g a
surp
rise attack b
y a v
ery larg
e natio
n
again
st a very
small o
ne. T
his, I said
, could not be undertaken by the U
nited S
tate
s if we w
ere
to m
ain
tain
our
moral position at hom
e and around the globe.
We sp
ent m
ore tim
e on th
is moral
questio
n d
urin
g th
e first fiv
e d
ays
than
on an
y o
ther sin
gle m
atter. At
various times, it w
as proposed that we
send a letter to
Khru
shch
ev 2
4 h
ours
before the bombardm
ent was to begin,
that w
e send a letter to
Castro
, that
leaflets and p
amphlets listin
g th
e tar-gets b
e dro
pped
over C
uba b
efore th
e attack
—all th
ese ideas an
d m
ore w
ere ab
and
on
ed fo
r military
or o
ther rea-
son
s. We stru
gg
led an
d fo
ug
ht w
ith
one another and with row
ennsriennes
They m
et late Wednesday afternoon
in th
e Presid
ent's o
ffice in th
e Wh
ite H
ouse. Grom
yko began the conversa-tio
n b
y sa
yin
g th
e U
nite
d S
tate
s sh
ould
stop th
reatenin
g C
uba. A
ll C
ub
a wan
ted w
as peacefu
l com
dst
ence, he said; she was not interested in
exp
ortin
g h
er system
to o
ther L
atin
Am
erican countries. Cuba, like the S
o-viet U
nio
n, w
anted
only
peace. P
re-m
ier Khru
shch
ev h
ad in
structed
hin
t, G
rom
yk
o said
, to tell P
residen
t Ken
-ned
y th
at the o
nly
assistance b
eing
furn
ished
Cu
ba w
as for ag
ricultu
re an
d lan
d d
evelo
pm
ent, so
the p
eop
le co
uld
feed th
emselv
es, plu
s a small
amount o
f defen
sive arm
s. In v
iew o
f all the publicity in the A
merican press,
he said
, he w
anted
to em
ph
asize that
the Soviet U
nion would never becom
e involved in the furnishing of offensive w
eapons to Cuba.
Presid
ent K
enn
edy
Listen
ed,
es tate !sh
ed, b
ut also w
ith some adm
iration for the boldness of G
romektes position.
Firm
ly, but with great restraint consid-
ering
the p
rov
ocatio
n, h
e told
!ere-anyko that it w
as not the United S
tates w
hich was ferm
enting discord, but the S
oviet Union, T
he U.S
.S,11.'s supplying
of arm
s to C
uba w
as hav
ing a P
re*
found e
ffect o
n th
e p
eople
of th
e
'Lim
ited S
tates and w
as a source
- of
great concern
to h
im. B
ecause o
f the
perso
nal assu
rances h
e had
received
'. fro
m K
hru
shch
ev, h
e had
been
taldn
g
.e. —
.ea, ...el *
Inn
th
at n
n A
rtion nas
that p
ositio
n h
ad b
een m
ade clear to
the S
oviet Union in m
eetings between
the Attorney G
eneral and Am
bassador D
obrynin and In his own public state-
ment,. T
o avoid any misunderstanding,
he read aloud his statement .of S
ept, 4, w
hich
po
inted
ou
t the serio
us co
nse-
qu
ences th
at wo
uld
arise if the S
ov
iet U
nio
n p
laced m
issiles or o
ffensiv
e w
eapons within C
uba. G
rom
yko assu
red h
im
this w
ould n
ever b
e do
se, that th
e Un
ited S
tates sh
ould
not b
e concern
ed. A
lter touch
-in
g b
riefly o
n so
me o
ther m
atters, he
said goodby. I cam
e by shortly after Grom
yko left the W
hite House. T
he President of the
United
States, it can
be said
, was d
is-pleased w
ith the spokesman of the S
o-viet U
nio
n.
From
Agreem
ent to D
iscord
BY
TH
UR
SD
AY
NIG
HT
, there was
a majo
rity o
pin
ion In
our g
roup
for a b
lock
ade. O
ur co
mm
ittee wen
t fro
m th
e S
tate
Depale
ment to
the
White H
ouse around 9:15 that nlgtrL In
order to avoid the suspicion that would
hav
e ensu
ed fro
m th
e presen
ce of a
long tine of limousines, w
e all went in
my car—
John McC
one, Maxw
ell Tay-
lor, the driver end myself all crow
ded to
geth
er in
the fro
nt se
at, a
nd six
o
thers sltU
ng
in b
ack.
We explained our recom
mendations
to th
e Presid
ent. A
t the b
egin
elue, th
e m
eeting
seemed
to p
roceed
In an or-
derly
A
nd
satisfactory way. H
owever,
susp
icion
, he retu
rned
to h
is regu
lar sch
edu
le and
his cam
paig
n sp
eakin
g
engagements.
The tex
t morn
ing, at o
ur m
eeting at
the S
tate
Departm
ent, th
ere
were
sh
arp d
isagreem
ents ag
ain. T
he strain
an
d ,th
e hours w
ithout sleep
were b
e-g
inn
ing
to tak
e their ten
. Ho
wev
er, ev
en m
any
years later, th
ose h
um
an
wealm
esses—im
patience, fits of anger—are u
nd
erstand
able.
Each
one o
f us w
as bein
g ask
ed to
m
ake a recomm
endation which w
ould affect th
e futu
re of all m
ank
ind
, a lee. o
itun
end
ation
-wh
ich, if w
ron
g an
d if
accepted
, could
mean
the d
estructio
n
of th
e hum
an race. T
hat k
ind o
f pres-
sure d
oes stran
ge th
ings C
o a h
um
an
being, even to brilliant, self-confident. m
ature, ex
perien
ced m
en. F
or so
me It
brin
gs o
ut c
hara
cte
ristic
s a
nd
streng
ths th
at perh
aps even
they never k
new
they
had
, an
d fo
r oth
ers th
e
pressure is too overwhelm
ing, F
inally, we agreed on e procedure by
which
we felt w
e could
giv
e som
e in-
telligent recomm
endations to the Pres-
irked. We spilt into groups to w
rite up our resp
ective reco
mm
endatio
ns. In
the early afternoon, w
e exchanged pap• ers, each group dissected and criticized th
e oth
er, and
then
the p
apers w
ere retu
rned
to th
e orig
inal g
roup to
de-
velop further answers. G
radually from
all this cam
e the o
utlin
e of d
efinitiv
e plans.
Ru
sk F
requ
ently A
bsen
t
DU
RIN
G A
LL
these d
eliberatio
ns,
we ail sp
oke as eq
uals. T
here w
as no ran
k an
d, in
fact, we d
id n
ot ev
en
have a chairman. D
ean Rusk—
who, as
Secretary
of S
tate, mig
ht h
ave as-
sum
ed th
at po
sition
—h
ad o
ther d
uties
durin
g th
is perio
d o
f time an
d fee.
quently could not attend our meetings.
As a resu
lt, the co
nv
ersation
s were
co
mp
lete
ly u
nin
hib
ited
en
d m
ere
-etricted. It w
as a tremendously advan-
tageo
us p
roced
ure th
at does n
ot fre-
quen
tly o
ccur w
ithin
use E
xecu
tive
Branch of the G
overnment, w
here rank is often so im
portant. W
e met all d
ay F
riday
and
Frid
ay
nig
ht. T
hen a
gain
early
Satu
rday
morning w
e were back at the S
tate De-
partm
en
t. I talk
ed
to th
e P
resid
en
t sev
eral times o
n F
riday
. He w
as ho
p•
ing to
be ab
le to m
eet with
us early
' '
"
Th
e E
vid
en
ce:
at Cleertp
ho
tog
raph
y ]Saving a'tedniaatea
‘ asth
aR
tithin
areft
i4mgindulsteess'O
l Jr h
igh
overhead
such as sand
from
praslo
wija
si angles,
of s
ar
i weld as sh
ips th
eir w
aytos
the
ir be
ing
fired
- 80
millio
n A
me
rica
ns
wo
uld
be
de
ad
." Dee
fen
ra D
ep
art.
Fid
el Castro
's Cu
ba w
ith m
ilitary carg
oes
such as
iets bopsmbaer fuselages.
`You
Are in
a Pretty B
ad F
ix, Mr. P
residen
t' C
RIS
IS, F
rom
Pa
ge
El
declin
ed
yet, m
ost im
po
rtan
tly, s
till le
ave u
s in
co
ntro
l of e
ven
ts.
La
ter lie
rein
forc
ed
his
po
sitio
n b
y
rep
ortin
g th
at a
su
rpris
e a
ir strik
e
ag
ain
st
the
mis
sile
ba
se
s a
lon
e—
a
su
rgic
al a
ir, strik
e, a
s It c
am
e d
o b
e
ca
lled
—w
as
milita
rily lin
ntw
elc
al in
th
e v
iew
of th
e J
oin
t Ch
iefs
of Sta
ff; th
at a
ny
su
ch
milita
ry a
ctio
n w
ou
ld
have to
inclu
de a
ll milita
ry In
sta
lla
he
ns
in C
ub
a, e
ve
ntu
ally
lea
din
g to
an
in
va
sio
n. P
erh
ap
s w
e w
ou
ld c
om
e to
th
at, h
e a
rgu
ed
. Bu
t let's
no
t sta
rt w
ith th
at c
ou
rse."
Th
ose w
ho
arg
ued
for th
e m
ilitary
s
trike
po
inte
d o
ut th
at a
blo
ck
ad
e
wo
uld
no
t In fa
rt rem
ov
e th
e m
iss
iles
an
d w
ou
ld n
ot e
ven
• sto
p th
e w
ork
fro
m g
oin
g a
he
ad
on
the
mis
sile
site
s
them
selv
es. T
he m
issile
s w
ere
alre
ad
y
in C
ub
a, a
nd
all w
e w
ou
ld h
e d
oin
g
with
a b
lockad
e w
ou
ld b
e "c
losin
g th
e
do
or a
tter th
e h
ors
e h
ad
left th
e b
are
." T
he
ir mo
st fo
rce
ful a
rgu
me
nt w
as
th
at o
ur in
sta
llatio
n o
f a b
loc
ka
de
aro
un
d C
ub
a in
vite
d th
e R
ussia
ns to
d
o th
e s
am
e to
Be
rlin. If w
e d
em
an
de
d
eh
e re
mo
val o
f mis
sile
s fro
m C
ub
a a
s
the
pric
e fo
r lifting
ou
r blo
ck
ad
e, th
ey
w
ou
ld d
em
an
d th
e re
mo
va
l of m
iss
iles
su
rrou
nd
ing
the S
ovie
t Un
ion
as th
e
rec
ipro
ca
l ac
t. A
nd
so
we a
rgu
ed
, an
d s
o w
e d
isa-
gre
ed
—all d
ed
icate
d, in
tellig
en
t men
, d
isa
gre
ein
g a
nd
figh
ting
ab
ou
t the
fie
lure
of th
eir c
ou
ntry
, an
d o
f ma
nk
ind
. M
ean
wh
ile, tim
e w
as s
low
ly ru
nn
ing
tu
t. A
n e
xa
min
atio
n o
f ph
oto
gra
ph
y
taken
on
Wed
nesd
ay, th
e 1
7th
of
Octo
ber, s
ho
wed
severa
l oth
er in
sta
lla-
tion
s, w
ith e
t least le
an
d p
ossib
ly 3
2
missiles o
f over
10
00
.mlle
ran
ge
. Ou
r m
ilitary
exp
erts
ad
vis
ed
that th
ese
mis
sile
s c
ou
ld h
e in
op
era
tion
with
in a
w
eek.
Th
e n
ext d
ay, T
hu
rsd
ay, e
stim
ate
s
by o
ur in
tellig
en
ce c
om
mu
nity
pla
ced
in
Go
bs
mis
sile
s w
ith a
n a
tom
icw
ar-
he
ad
po
ten
tlai o
f ab
ou
t on
e.h
alf th
e
cu
rren
t ICB
M c
ap
ac
ity o
f the
en
tire
So
vie
t Un
ion
. Th
e p
ho
tog
rap
hy
ha
vin
g
Ind
ica
ted
tha
t the
ma
ilea
we
re b
ein
g
dire
cte
d a
t ce
rtain
Am
eric
an
citie
s,
the e
stim
ate
was th
at w
ithin
a fe
w
min
ute
s o
f their b
ein
g fire
d tO
millio
n
an
d h
e w
as stron
gly 111 favo
r of a
n a
ir
atta
ck
. He
sa
id th
at th
e P
res
ide
nt o
f th
e U
nite
d S
tates had
the resp
orn
alblity
for th
e s
ecu
rity o
f the p
eo
ple
of th
e
Un
ited
Sta
tes a
nd
of th
e w
ho
le fre
e
wo
rld, th
at it w
as h
is o
blig
atio
n to
take th
e o
nly
ac
tion
wh
ich
co
uld
pro
-te
at th
at s
ec
urity
an
d th
at th
at m
ea
nt
de
stro
yin
g th
e m
iss
iles
.
With
so
me
trep
ida
tion
, I arg
ue
d
tha
t, wh
ate
ve
r va
lidity
the
milita
ry
an
d p
olitic
al a
rgu
men
ts w
ere
for a
n a
t. ta
ck in
pre
fere
nce to
a b
lockad
e,
Am
eric
a's
trad
ition
s a
nd
his
tory
wo
uld
n
ot p
erm
it su
ch
a c
ou
rse
of a
ctio
n.
Wh
ate
ve
r milita
ry re
as
on
s h
e a
nd
otla
• era
co
uld
mars
hal, th
ey w
ore
neverth
e-
less, in
the la
st a
naly
sis
, ad
vo
catin
g a
s
urp
rise
atta
ck
by
a v
ery
larg
e n
atio
n
ag
ain
st a
very
sm
all o
ne. T
his
, I mid
, co
uld
no
t be u
nd
erta
ken
by th
e U
nite
d
Sta
tes if w
e w
ere
to m
ain
tain
ou
r m
ora
l po
sitio
n a
t ho
me a
nd
aro
un
d th
e
glo
be.
We s
pen
t mo
re tim
e o
n th
is m
ora
l q
uestio
n d
urin
g th
e firs
t five d
ays
than
on
an
y o
ther s
ing
le m
atte
r. At
va
riou
s tim
es
, it wa
s p
rop
os
ed
tha
t we
sen
d a
lette
r to Ith
rush
ch
ey IA
ho
urs
-b
efo
re th
e b
om
bard
men
t was to
beg
in,
that w
e s
eed
a le
tter to
Castro
, that
leafle
ts a
nd
pa
mp
hle
ts lis
ting
the ta
r. g
ets
be d
rop
ped
over C
ub
a b
efo
re th
e
atta
ck—
all th
ese id
eas a
dd
mo
re w
ere
a
ba
nd
on
ed
for m
ilitary
or o
the
r res
. s
on
s. W
e s
trug
gle
d a
nd
fou
gh
t with
o
ne
an
oth
er and
with
ou
r con
sciences,
for it w
as
a q
ue
stio
n th
at d
ee
ply
trote
b
led
us a
ll.
Gro
niy
ko
's R
eassu
ran
ce
TN
TH
E M
IDS
T o
f all th
ese d
iscu
s-
-I. aim
s, A
nd
rei G
rom
yko
cam
e to
see
the
Pre
sid
en
t. It wa
s a
n a
pp
oin
tme
nt
ma
de
kin
g b
efo
re th
e m
issile
s w
ere
me
co
ve
red
, an
d th
e P
res
ide
nt fe
lt it w
ou
ld b
e a
wk
wa
rd to
ca
nc
el IL
He
de
-b
ate
d w
heth
er h
e s
ho
uld
co
nfro
nt th
e
So
vie
t Fo
reig
n M
inis
ter w
ith o
ur
kn
ow
led
ge
of th
e m
iss
iles
' pre
se
nc
e
an
d fin
ally
decid
ed
that, a
s h
e b
ad
no
t Y
et d
ete
rmin
ed
a fin
al c
ou
rse o
f actio
n
an
d th
e d
isc
los
ure
of o
ur k
no
wle
dg
e
mig
ht g
ive th
e R
ussia
ns th
e in
itiativ
e,
he
wo
uld
sim
ply
liste
n to
Gro
my
ko
.
Th
ey
me
t late
We
dn
es
da
y a
ftern
oo
n
in th
e P
res
ide
nt's
offic
e in
the
Wh
ite
Ho
use. G
eam
yko
beg
an
the c
on
veria
-
lion
by
sa
yin
g th
e lIn
ited
Sta
tes
sh
ou
ld s
top
thre
ate
nin
g C
ub
a. A
ll C
ub
a w
an
ted
w
as p
eacefu
l co
exis
t- e
nc
e, h
e s
aid
; sh
e w
as
no
t inte
res
ted
in
exp
ortin
g h
er s
yste
m to
oth
er L
atin
A
me
rica
n c
ou
ntrie
s. C
ub
a, lik
e th
e S
o.
Vie
t Un
ion
, wa
nte
d o
nly
pe
ac
e. P
re-
en
ter K
hru
sh
eh
ev
ha
d le
strn
cte
d h
im,
Gro
my
ko
sa
id, to
tell P
res
ide
nt K
en
. n
atty
tha
t the
on
ly a
ss
ista
nc
e b
ein
g
furn
ish
ed
Cu
ba
wa
s fa
r ag
ricu
lture
an
d la
nd
develo
pm
en
t, so th
e p
eo
ple
co
uld
feed
them
selv
es, p
lus a
sm
all
am
ou
nt o
f defe
nsiv
e a
rms. in
vie
w o
f all th
e p
ub
licity
1n
the A
meric
an
pre
ss,
he
sa
id, h
e w
an
ted
to e
mp
ha
size
tha
t th
e S
ov
iet U
nio
n w
ou
ld n
ev
er b
ec
om
e
inv
olv
ed
in th
e fu
rnis
hin
g o
f offe
ns
ive
w
eapo
ns to
Cu
ba.
Pre
sid
en
t Ke
nn
ed
y lis
ten
ed
, as
ton
-is
hed
, bu
t als
o w
ith s
om
e a
dm
iratio
n
for th
e b
old
ne
ss
of G
rom
ylo
es
po
sitio
n.
Firm
ly, b
ut w
ith g
rea
t res
train
t co
ns
id-
erin
g th
e p
rov
oc
atio
n, h
e to
ld G
ro-
myko
that It w
as n
ot th
e U
nite
d S
tate
s
wh
ich
was to
rmen
ting
dis
co
rd, b
ut th
e - S
ovie
t Un
ion
. Th
e U
.S.S
.R.'s
su
pp
lyin
g
of a
rms to
Cu
ba w
as h
avin
g a
pro
-fo
un
d e
ffec
t on
the
pe
op
le o
f the
U
nite
d S
tate
s a
nd
wa
s a
so
urc
e- o
f
gre
at c
on
ce
rn to
him
. Be
ca
us
e o
f the
p
ers
on
al a
ss
ura
nc
es
he
ha
d re
ce
lad
: fro
m K
hre
sh
elie
v, h
e h
ad
be
en
tak
ing
th
e p
ub
lic p
os
ition
tha
t no
ac
tion
wa
s
req
uire
d a
gain
st C
ub
a, a
nd
yet th
e tit.
tuitio
n w
as b
eco
min
g s
tead
ily n
iers
d
ang
erou
s. .
_ G
rom
yk
o re
pe
ate
d th
at
rhe
ob
jectiv
e o
f the T
J.S
.S.R
. was to
"giv
e -.-
bre
ad
to C
ub
a in
ord
er to
pre
ven
t hu
n-
ge
r in th
at c
ou
ntry
." As
far a
s a
rms
w
ere
co
nc
ern
ed
, the
So
vie
t Un
ion
ha
d
sim
ply
sen
t so
me s
pecia
lists
to tra
in
Cu
ban
s to
bu
nd
le c
erta
in k
ind
s o
f' ar.
ma
rne
nt, w
hic
h w
ere
on
ly 'd
efe
ns
ive
" H
e th
an
sa
id h
e w
ish
ed
to e
me
ha
site
th
e w
ord
"defe
nsiv
e" a
nd
that n
on
e o
f th
es
e w
ea
po
ns
co
uld
ev
er E
as taiiillta
a
thre
at to
the U
nite
d S
tate
s.
Th
e P
resid
en
t rep
lied
th
at th
ec
a
sh
ou
ld b
e n
o m
isu
eid
ers
tan
din
g o
f the
p
ositio
n o
f the U
nite
d S
tate
seete
at
that p
ositio
n h
ad
been mad
e c
lear to
th
e S
ov
iet U
nio
n In
me
etin
gs
be
twe
en
th
e A
ttorn
ey
Ge
ne
ral a
ne
Am
ba
ss
ad
or
Do
bry
nin
an
d in
his
ow
n p
ub
lic s
tate
-m
en
ts. T
o a
vo
id a
ny
mis
un
de
rsta
nd
ing
, b
e re
ad
alo
ud
his
sta
tem
en
t of S
ep
t. 4,
wh
ich
po
inte
d o
ut th
e s
erio
us c
on
se-
qu
en
ces th
at w
ou
ld a
rise it th
e S
ovie
t U
nio
n p
ieced
mis
sile
s o
r offe
nsiv
e
we
ap
on
s w
ithin
Cu
be
G
rom
yko
assu
red
him
this
wo
uld
n
ever b
e d
on
e, th
at th
e U
nite
d S
tate
s
sh
ou
ld n
ot b
e c
on
cern
ed
. Alte
r tou
ch
-in
g b
riefly
en
so
me
oth
er m
atte
rs, h
e
sa
id g
oo
db
y.
I ca
me
by
sh
ortly
afte
r Gro
rred
ro le
ft th
e W
hite
Ho
use. T
he P
resid
en
t of th
e
Un
ited
Sta
tes
, It ca
n b
e s
aid
. wa
s d
is-
ple
as
ed
with
the
sp
ok
es
ma
n o
f the
So
-v
iet U
nio
n.
Fro
m A
gre
em
en
t to D
isc
ord
'ply
TH
UR
SD
AY
NIG
HT
, there
was
a m
ajo
rity o
pin
ion
in o
ur g
rou
p
for a
blo
ckad
e. O
ur c
om
mitte
e w
en
t fro
m th
e S
tate
Dep
artm
en
t to th
e
Wh
ite H
ou
se
aro
un
d 9
11
3 th
at n
igh
t. In
otte
r do
av
oid
the
su
sp
kto
n th
at w
ou
ld
ha
ve
en
su
ed
from
the
pre
se
nc
e o
f a
lon
g lin
e o
f limo
usin
es, w
e a
ll wen
t in
an
y c
ar—
Jo
hn
Mc-C
on
e, M
axw
ell T
ay-
lor, th
e d
rive
r an
d m
ys
elf a
ll cro
wd
ed
to
geth
er in
the fro
nt s
eat, a
nd
de
oth
ers
sitting in b
ack
We
ex
pla
ine
d o
ur re
co
mm
en
da
tion
s
to th
e P
resid
en
t. At th
e b
eg
inn
ing
. the
me
etin
g s
ee
me
d to
pro
ce
ed
in a
n o
r-d
erly
an
d s
ertis
fac
tory
wa
y. H
ow
ev
er,
Es p
eo
ple
'talk
ed
, as th
e P
resid
en
t ra
ised
pro
bin
g q
uestio
ns, m
ind
s a
nd
o
pin
ion
s b
eg
an
to
ch
an
ge a
gain
, an
d
no
t on
ly o
n s
mall p
oin
ts. F
or s
om
e, it
was fro
m, o
ne e
xtre
me to
an
oth
er—
su
pp
ortin
g e
n a
ir atta
ck
at th
e b
eg
in-
nin
g o
f the
me
etin
ga
nd
by
the
time
W
e le
ft the
Wh
ite H
ou
se
, su
pp
ortin
g
no
action at a
ll, T
he
Pre
sid
en
t, no
t at a
ll sa
tisfie
d,
res
it us
ba
ck
to o
ur d
elib
era
tion
s. B
e-
ca
us
e a
ny
oth
er s
tep
wo
uld
aro
us
e
su
sp
icio
n, h
e re
turn
ed
to h
is re
gu
lar
sch
ed
ule
an
d h
is c
am
paig
n s
peakin
g
eng
agem
ents.
Th
e n
ext m
orn
mg
, at o
ur m
eetin
g at
I he S
tate
Dep
artm
en
t, there
w
ere sh
arp
dis
ag
reem
en
ts a
gain
. Th
e s
train
a
nd
sh
e h
ou
rs w
itho
ut s
lee
p w
ere
be
-g
inn
ing
to ta
ke th
eir to
ll. Ho
wever,
even
ma
ny
ye
ars
late
r, these h
um
an
w
eaknesses—
imp
atience, fits o
f eager—
are
un
ders
tan
dab
le.
Ea
ch
on
e o
f us
wa
s b
ein
g a
sk
ed
to
make a
reco
mm
en
datio
n w
hic
h w
ou
ld
affe
ct th
e fu
ture
of e
n m
an
kin
d, a
mc
-o
nu
nen
datio
n w
hic
h. if w
ron
g a
nd
if accep
ted
, co
uld
mean
the d
estru
ctio
n
of th
e Is
su
es
rac
e. T
ha
t kin
d o
f pre
S-
Silre
do
es
stra
ng
e th
ing
s to
a h
um
an
b
ein
g, e
ve
n to
brillia
nt, s
elf-c
on
fide
nt,
matu
re, e
xp
erie
nced
men
. Far lo
am
it b
ring
s o
ut c
hara
cte
ristic
s a
nd
Ilalted. Pre. I...W
aistless'
Ad
lai H
. Ste
ven
so
n . . . "A
ltho
ug
h
I disag
reed
stro
ng
ly w
elt h
is re
c-
om
me
nd
atio
ns
, I tho
ug
h: h
e w
as
co
urag
eou
s to m
ake them
. .
stre
ng
ths th
at p
erh
ap
s e
ven
they n
ever
kn
ew
the
y h
ad
, an
d fo
r oth
ers
the
p
ressu
re is
too
overw
helm
ing
. F
ina
lly, w
e a
gre
ed
on
a p
roc
ed
ure
by
w
hic
h w
e fe
lt we
co
uld
giv
e s
om
e in
-te
lligen
t reco
mm
en
datio
ns to
the P
res-id
ent. W
e s
plit in
to g
rou
ps to
write
up
O
ut re
sp
ectiv
e te
co
rnm
en
datio
ns. In
She e
arly
afte
rno
on
, we e
xch
an
ged
pap
-ers
, each
gro
up
dis
secte
d e
nd
critic
ised
th
e o
the
r, an
d th
en
the
pa
pe
rs w
ere
re
turn
ed
to th
e o
rigin
al g
rou
p to
de•
se
tup
furth
er a
ns
we
rs.. G
rad
ua
lly fro
m
alt th
is c
am
e th
e o
utlin
e o
f de
finitiv
e
plan
s.
Ru
sk F
requ
ently A
bsen
t
DU
RIN
G
AL
L th
ese d
elib
era
tion
s,
we a
ll sp
oke a
s e
qu
als
. Th
ere was
Ala ra
nk a
nd
, in fa
ct, w
e d
id n
ot e
ven
h
av
e a
ch
airm
an
. De
an
Ru
sk
—w
ho
, as
S
ecre
tary
of S
tate
, mig
ht h
ave a
s.
mate
d th
at p
ositio
n—
had
oth
er /Judea
du
ring
this
pe
riod
of tim
e a
nd
fre-
qu
en
tly c
ou
ld n
ot a
tten
d o
ur m
eetin
gs.
As
a re
su
lt, the
Co
nv
ers
atio
ns
we
re
co
mp
lete
ly u
nin
hib
ited
en
d u
nre
-stric
ted
. It was a
trem
en
do
usly
ad
van
. ta
geo
us p
roced
ure
that d
oes n
ot ire
. em
eriti), We
nt' w
ithin
dm
Ex
ec
utiv
e
Bra
nch
of th
e G
overn
men
t, wh
ere
ran
k
is o
ften
so
imp
orta
nt.
We
me
t all c
lay
Frid
ay
an
d F
rida
y
nig
ht T
han
ag
ain
early
Satu
rday
mo
rnin
g w
e w
ere
bo
ck a
t the S
tate
De-
pertin
en
t. I talk
ed
to th
e P
resid
en
t eevera
l times o
n F
riday. H
e w
as h
op
-in
g to
be a
ble
to m
eet w
ith u
s e
arly
en
ou
gh
to d
ecid
e o
n a
co
urs
e o
f actio
n
an
d th
en
bro
ad
cast it to
the N
atio
n
Su
nd
ay
nig
ht. S
atu
rda
y m
orn
ing
at 1
0
o'c
lock I c
alle
d h
im a
t the B
lacksto
ne
Ho
tel In
Ch
icag
o a
nd
told
him
we w
ere
re
ad
y to
meet w
ith h
im. H
e c
an
ce
led
h
is trip
an
d re
turn
ed
to W
as
hin
gto
n.
As h
e w
as re
turn
ing
to W
ash
ing
ton
, o
ur A
rme
d F
orc
es
ac
ros
s th
e w
orld
w
ere
pu
t on
ale
rt. Te
lep
ho
nin
g fro
m
See F
acin
g P
ag
e
ingINN
VM
MIM
TSM
NIM
iniiiiinittESI
Only N
ixon C
an Win It
PO
LIT
ICS
, Fro
m P
ag
e B
/
HO
MO
aslitaarda f41 n
eemeee,le
o
1
FIN
E G
LO
VE
S
The G
eorg
eto
wn U
niv
ers
ity Shop's selection
of g
love
s was n
eve
r finer. W
e h
ave
rece
ived
seve
ral sh
ipm
en
ts rece
ntly fro
m E
ng
lan
d a
nd
w
e h
ave
glo
ves in
from
the
be
st ma
kers in
A
merica
.
Th
ey con
sist of
fine capeskin, and suedes in M
e,
grey a
nd b
lack, lin
ed a
nd u
nlin
ed. S
am
e with
cashm
ere linings. Some w
ith fur. A
ll beautifully made an
d serviceable.
$8.0
0 to
$15.0
0
Wo
ole
n g
love
s w
ith le
ath
er palm
s for driving and casual w
ear $6.
Als
o le
t Wo
men
aim
s.: A
l-go
er L
ea
the
r Glo
ve
: $9
.50
to fit
Es:rin
se. 1
91
5
head p
ote
ntia
l of a
bout o
ne-h
alf th
e
curre
nt IC
BM
capacity o
f the e
ntire
S
oviet Union. T
he photography having indicated that the m
issiles were being
dire
cted
at ce
rtain
Am
erica
n citie
s, th
e e
stimate
was th
at w
ithin
a fe
w
min
ute
s of th
eir b
ein
g fire
d 8
0 m
illion
A
mericans w
ould be dead.
LeM
ay U
rged. A
ttack
HE
ME
MB
ER
S of the Joint C
hiefs of T
Sta
ff were
unanim
ous in
callin
g
Imm
ediate military action. T
hey force-fu
lly p
rese
nte
d th
eir v
iew
tha
t the
blockade w
ould not be effective. Gen.
Curtis LeM
ay, Air F
orce chief of staff, arg
ued stro
ngly w
ith th
e P
resid
ent
tha
t a m
ilitary a
ttack w
as e
ssen
tial.
When the P
resident questioned what
the response of the Russians m
ight be, G
en. LeMay assured him
there would
be no reaction. P
resid
ent K
ennedy w
as ske
ptica
l. "T
hey n
o m
ore
than w
e ca
n le
t these
things go by w
ithout doing something.
They ca
n't, a
fter a
ll their sta
tem
ents,
pe
rmit vs to
take
out th
eir m
issiles,
kill a lot of Russians and then do aoth-
ing. If th
ey d
on't ta
ke a
ction in
Cuba,
they ce
rtain
ly will in
Berlin
." T
he President w
ent on to say that he re
cog
nize
d th
e va
lidity o
f the
arg
u-
me
nts m
ad
e b
y the
Join
t Ch
iefs a
nd
th
e like
lihood, if w
e d
id n
oth
ing, th
at
the R
ussia
ns w
ould
move
on B
erlin
and in other areas of the w
orld, feeling th
e U
nite
d S
tate
s wa
s completely im
-potent T
hen It would be too late to do
an
ythin
g in
Cu
ba
, for b
y tha
t time
all
the
ir missile
s wo
uld
be
op
era
tion
al.
Gen. D
avid M. S
houp, comm
andant of the M
arine Corps, sum
med up ever.
one's fe
elin
gs: "Y
ou a
re in
a p
retty
bad fix, Mr. P
resident." The P
resident a
nsw
ere
d q
uickly, "Y
ou
are
in it w
ith
me." E
veryone laughed a
nd, w
ith n
o
final decision, the meeting adjourned.
La
ter, S
ecre
tary
McN
am
ara
, al-
though h
e to
ld th
e P
resid
ent h
e d
is-agre
ed w
ith th
e Jo
int C
hie
fs and fa
-vo
red
a b
locka
de
rath
er th
an
an
at-
tack, informed him
that the necessary pla
nes, m
en a
nd a
mm
unitio
n w
ere
bein
g d
eplo
yed a
nd th
at w
e co
uld
be
ready to move w
ith the necessary air bom
bardments on T
uesday, Oct. 23, If
that was to be the decision. T
he plans ca
lled fo
r an in
itial attack, consisting
of 5
00 so
rties, strikin
g a
ll milita
ry tar-
ge
ts, inclu
din
g th
e m
issile site
s, air
fields, ports and gun emplacem
ents. I supported M
cNam
ara's position in fa
vor o
f a blockade. This w
as not from
a deep co
nvictio
n th
at it w
ould
be a
successful course of action, but a feel-in
g th
at le
ha
d m
ore
flexib
ility an
d
few
er lia
bilitie
s than a
milita
ry atta
ck. M
ost im
porta
ntly, like
oth
ers, I co
uld
n
ot a
ccep
t the
ide
a th
at th
e U
nite
d
States w
ould rain bombs on C
uba, kill. ing thousands and thousands of civil-M
iss hi a surprise attack.
Fo
rme
r Se
creta
ry of S
tate
De
an
A
cheson began attending our meetings,
and finally decided that, as he had not Y
et determined a final course of action
and th
e d
isclosu
re o
f our kn
ow
ledge
mig
ht g
ive th
e R
ussia
ns th
e in
itiative
, he w
ould simply listen to G
romyko.
The
Influences:
"M
an
y con
gressio
nal lea
ders
were sh
arp
in th
eir criticism."
H
ere Ch
airmen
Rich
ard Ru
ssell of th
e Sen
ate A
rmed
Services
Com
mittee, J
. W. F
ulbrigh
t of th
e. Sen
ate F
oreig
n R
elatio
ns
Co
mm
ittee an
d C
arl V
inso
n o
f th
e Hou
se Arm
ed Services C
om-
mittee a
rrive in th
e Capita
l Oct.
22 after being su
mm
oned to m
eet w
ith th
e Presid
ent.
these weapons could ever constitute a
threat to the United S
tates. T
he
Pre
side
nt re
plie
d th
a t there
should be no m
isunderstanding of the positio
n o
f the U
nite
d S
tate
s--that
"T
he m
emb
ers of
the J
oin
t C
hiefs o
f Sta
ff were u
nan
imou
s • in
calling for im
mediate m
ilitary actio
n."
Here, th
e Arm
y's Gen
. E
arle W
heeler, th
e Air F
orce's
Gen
. C
urtis
LeMay
and th
e
Navy's
Ad
m. G
eorg
e An
derso
n
from
left, p
au
se o
utsid
e th
e
Wh
ite Ho
use o
n O
ct. 22
, 19
62
. T
he m
an
at rig
ht is C
ap
t. Ta
ze-w
ell Sh
epa
rd J
r., presid
entia
l n
aval aide.
Iv 'u
11 &
WE
L
Can
Win
It P
OLIT
ICS
, Fro
m P
age E
l H
ouse contests Ill Dem
ocrats and 9 R
epublicans have no Easier pa
rty o
pp
o-
sitio
n) Is
ve
ry difficu
lt, but most ob-
servers agree there will be a
Republi-
can gain of some size, w
hatever the di-vision of votes am
ong the three presi-dential candidates,
House R
epublican Leader Gerald It.
Ford of M
ichigan, whose prophecy of a
40-seat Republican gain in
1988 proved co
nse
rvative
when th
e G
OP
actu
ally
picked up 47 seats, is now on the' re,
ord
as p
redictin
g th
e G
OP
will g
litn
the
30
sea
ts ne
ed
ed
to M
ake
him
S
peaker of the next House.
At th
e clo
se o
f the la
st Congre
ss, D
emocrats held 247 seats and R
epubli-cans 188.
Republicans do have one ace in the
hole
—th
e p
ossib
le w
illingness o
f a
half.d
oze
n S
outh
ern
Dem
ocra
ts to
sw
itch th
eir a
ffiliatio
n to
the G
OP
afte
r the e
lectio
n, if th
eir c
om
mitte
e
senio
rlly is upheld.
Inte
restin
gly, h
ow
eve
r, top stra
te-
gists for Nixon calculate privately that
the R
epublica
ns w
ill gain
only 1
5.2
0
House
seats, in
part In
cense
Nixo
n's
coattails do not look very broad. Dem
o-crats tend to see 15 as the upper lim
it for R
epublican gains. T
he G
OP
's adva
nta
ges th
is year,
apart from w
hatever aid Nixon proves
capable of giving, Include a marked 'su-
periority In congressional campaign fi.
naming and advantages gained by re-
die
tricting
in su
ch sta
tes a
s Ind
ian
a,
North C
arolina, Florida and C
alifornia that m
oved Dem
ocrats into unfamiliar
or more hazardous territory.
On the other hand, m
ost of the Re-
publican target seats happen to fall In the regions w
here Nixon and the G
OP
face their toughest com
petition. In the N
orth
east, H
um
phre
y's rece
nt ra
lly has dim
inished prospects for multiple-
seat GO
P gains in N
ew Jersey, N
ew
York a
nd C
onnecticu
t, am
ong o
ther
states. In
the S
outh
, where
Nix
on w
ould
o
the
rwis
e h
ave
lan
dslid
e m
ajo
rities
over Hum
phrey, the presence of Wal-
lace on the ballot seems likely to save
many D
emocratic C
ongressmen. Indi-
cations are that most W
allace voters in the S
outh will go back to their norm
al D
em
ocra
tic pre
fere
nce
for H
ouse
races. Ironically, w
auace's coattails in A
labama—
where he Is the D
emocratic
candidate for President—
may knock
two R
epublican Congressm
en out of of-fice
,
This survey w
as
compiled from
re-ports by w
eshinnton Post staff w
riters and sp
ecia
l correspandeets in the vari-ous s
tate
s w
ith the aserlstance of W
ash. ingtan P
ost rese
arch
er Jan K
rause.
Georgetow
n University Shop
36
th &
N S
treets, N.W
.
rEm,L5-110.
Open A
ll Day S
aturd
oy u
ntil 6 p.m
. year 'totted
Fro
m a
de
sk
cle
are
d fo
r the
bro
ad
ca
st, P
res
ide
nt K
en
ne
dy
ann
oun
ces the decisin
to "qu
arantin
e" C
ub
a.
Th
e Decision
:
Told th
at the R
ussian
s and
Cu
ban
s had p
ark
ed th
eir pla
nes w
ingtip
to w
ingtip
, m
aking th
em perfect targets,
Presiden
t Ken
nedy requ
ested a
U-2
fligh
t over Florida.
'It wou
ld be interestin
g if we
have don
e she sam
e thin
g,' h
e rem
ark
ed. T
his
Tam
pa T
imes ph
oto of MaeD
ill Air
Force E
ase, Flo., w
as trans-
mitted th
at SU
MO
ad
y—
Ocs.
23, 1962.
TH
E W
AS
HIN
GT
ON
PO
ST
S
an
der. IV
n J
. lea
B3
`Th
ere Was N
o Oth
er Ch
oice, S
aid JFK
P
rom
Pre
ce
din
g P
ag
e
ou
r Meetin
g in
the S
tate
Dep
artm
en
t, S
ecre
tary
MeM
an
iere
ord
ere
d fo
ur
tac
tica
l -air s
qu
ad
ron
s p
lac
ed
at reach-
'lima SW
'an' a
ir strik
e in
ca
se th
e B
rest.
den
t decid
ed m
accept th
at cecorn
ossu
-
Th
e P
res
ide
nt a
rrive
d b
ac
k a
t the
W
hite
Ho
us
e a
t 1:4
0 p
.m. a
nd
we
nt fo
r a
an
dm
. At 2
:30
we w
alk
ed
up
to th
e
Ov
al R
oo
m. T
he
me
etin
g w
en
t on
un
til te
n m
inu
tes
afte
r 5.
C.O
nven
ed as a fo
rmsd
meetin
g o
f the
Natio
nal S
ecu
rity C
ou
ncil, it w
as a
la
rger 'g
rou
p o
f peo
ple
wh
o m
et, s
om
e
of w
ho
ria lo
ad
no
t pa
rticip
ate
d in
the
d
elib
era
tion
s u
p to
tha
t lime
. Bo
b
lide
Nfirria
ra p
res
en
ted
the
arg
um
en
ts
for th
e .b
loo
kad
e; o
the
rs p
resen
ted
the
arg
um
en
ts fa
r the
milita
ry a
ttac
k.
Th
e d
iscu
ssio
n, fo
r the v
ilest p
art,
was a
ble
an
d o
rgan
ised
, alth
ou
gh
, like
all m
eetin
gs o
f this
kin
d, c
erta
in s
tate
-m
en
ts w
ere
mad
e a
s .a
ccep
ted
trusim
s
wh
ich
I, at le
ast, th
ou
gh
t were
of q
ues-
tion
ab
le v
alid
ity. O
ne
me
mb
er o
f the
Jo
int
Ch
iefs
o
f Sta
ff, for e
xa
mp
le,
arg
ued
that w
e c
ou
ld u
se n
ucle
ar w
eap
-o
ns
, on
the
ba
sic
tha
t ou
r ad
ve
rsa
ries
w
ou
ld u
se
the
irs a
ga
ins
t us
in a
n a
t. ta
ck_ I th
ou
gh
t, as I lis
ten
ed
, of th
e
man
y time
s th
at I h
ad
he
ard
the
milt-
tary
ta
ke p
os
ition
s w
inc
h, if
wro
ng
, A
zad
the a
dvan
tag
e th
at n
o o
ne w
ou
ld
be
aro
un
d a
t the
en
d to
kn
ow
,
Th
e P
ree
itien
t De
cid
es
E
S P
RE
SID
EN
T m
ad
e h
is d
eal-
sio
nn
Ma
t afte
rno
on
In fa
vo
r of th
e
blo
ckad
e. T
here
was o
ne fin
al m
eetin
g
the
ne
xt m
orn
ing
, with
Ge
n. W
aite
r C
. Sw
ee
ne
y J
r., co
mm
an
de
r in c
hie
f of
the
Ta
ctic
al A
ir Co
mm
an
d, w
ho
told
th
e P
resid
en
t tha
t ev
en
a m
ajo
r su
r-p
rise a
ir atta
ck c
ou
ld n
ot h
e certa
in o
f d
estro
yin
g a
ll the m
issile
site
s a
nd
nu
. cle
ar w
eap
on
s in
Cu
ba. T
hat e
nd
ed
the
sm
all, lin
gerin
g d
ou
bt th
at m
igh
t still
have re
main
ed
in Ills
min
d. it h
ad
wo
r-rie
d h
im th
at a
blo
ackad
e w
ou
ld n
ot
rem
ove th
e m
issile
s—
no
w iiw
as c
lear
that on
atta
ck
co
uld
no
t ac
co
mp
lish
th
at ta
sk c
om
ple
tely
, eith
er,
Attla
i Ste
ve
ns
on
ha
d c
om
e fro
m N
ew
Y
ork
to a
tten
d th
e m
eetin
g S
atu
rday
afte
rno
on
, as
he
ha
d a
tten
de
d s
ev
era
l o
f the
Ex
-Co
rnm
me
etin
gs
. He
ha
d a
l-w
ays b
een
du
bio
us a
bo
ut th
e a
ir strik
e,
bu
t at - th
e S
atu
rday m
eetin
g h
e
stro
ng
ly a
dv
ocate
d w
hat h
e h
ad
on
ly
ten
tativ
ely
su
gg
es
ted
to ro
e a
few
da
ys
b
efo
re—
min
:tub
% th
at w
e m
ak
e it .h
ea
r to
the S
ovie
t Un
ion
that if It w
ithd
rew
its
mis
sile
s fro
m C
ub
a, w
e w
ou
ld b
e
willin
g to
with
dra
w o
ur m
iss
iles
from
T
urk
ey a
nd
Italy
an
d g
ive u
p o
ur
nava
l bas
e a
t Gu
an
tan
am
o B
ay
. .. T
here
Was o
p e
xtre
mely
stro
ng
rear
from
so
nic
of th
e p
arlie
lPen
ts to
pre
para
tion
s w
en
t forw
ard
d,
Missile
cre
ws
we
re p
lac
ed
on
ina
xn
uu
ni a
lert.
Tro
op
s w
ere
mo
ve
d in
to F
lorid
a a
nd
the s
ou
theaste
rn p
art o
f the
Un
ited
'Sta
tes
. La
te S
atu
rda
y n
igh
t, the
Firs
t A
rmo
red
Div
isio
n b
eg
an
to m
ove o
ut
of T
ex
as
into
Ge
org
ia a
nd
live
mo
re
div
isio
ns w
ere
pla
ced
on
ale
rt. Th
e
ba
se
at G
ua
nta
na
mo
Ba
y w
as
stre
ng
th-
crie
d
Th
e N
avy d
ep
loyed
1g
t1 s
hip
s in
to
the
Ca
ribb
ea
n- T
he
Stra
teg
ic A
ir Co
m-
ma
nd
wa
s d
isp
ers
ed
to c
ivilia
n la
nd
ing
fie
lds a
rou
nd
the c
ou
ntry
to le
ssen
its
vu
lne
rab
ility in
ca
se
of a
ttac
k. T
he
5
.52
bo
mb
er fo
rce
wa
s o
rde
red
into
the
air fu
lly lo
ad
ed
with
ato
mic
weap
on
s.
As
on
e c
am
e d
ow
n to
lan
d, a
no
the
r iin-
med
iate
ly to
ok its
pla
ce in
the a
ir. A
n h
ou
r befo
re th
e P
resid
en
t's
sp
ee
ch
, Se
cre
tary
Ru
sk
ca
lled
in A
m-
bassad
or D
ob
ryn
in a
nd
told
him
of th
e
sp
eech
. Th
e n
ew
sp
ap
ers
rep
orte
d th
at
Do
hry
nin
left th
e S
ecre
tary
's o
ffice
loo
kin
g c
on
sid
era
bly
sh
aken
. - T
he
Pre
sid
en
t me
t with
the
me
m.
he
rs o
f the
Ca
bin
et a
nd
info
rme
d th
em
fo
r the firs
t time o
f the c
risis
. Th
en
, n
ot lo
ng
be
fore
the
bro
ad
ca
st, h
e m
et
with
the
lea
de
rs o
f Co
ng
res
s. T
his
wa
s
the
mo
st d
ifficu
lt me
etin
g. I d
id n
ot a
t-te
nd
, bu
t I kn
ow
from
se
ein
g h
im a
ft-e
rwa
rd th
at it w
an
a tre
me
nd
ou
s
stra
in.
Ma
ny
co
ng
res
sio
na
l lea
de
rs w
ere
sh
arp
In th
eir c
riticis
m. T
hey fe
lt that
the
Pre
sid
en
t sh
ou
ld ta
ke
mo
re fo
rce
-fu
l ac
tion
, a m
ilitary
atta
ck
or in
va
sio
n,
an
d th
at th
e b
loc
ka
de
wre
n fo
r ton
w
ea
k a
res
po
ns
e. S
en
. Ric
ha
rd E
. R
us
se
ll of G
eo
rgia
sa
id b
e c
ou
ld n
ot
live
with
him
se
lf if he
did
no
t sa
y in
th
e s
tron
gest p
ossib
le te
rms h
ow
im-
po
rtan
t it was th
at w
e a
ct w
ith g
reat-
er s
tren
gth
than
the P
resid
en
t was c
on
-tem
platin
g,
Se
n. J
. Willia
m F
ulb
righ
t of A
rka
n-
sas also stro
ng
ly advised
military actio
n
rath
er th
an
su
ch
a w
ea
k s
tep
as
the
b
lockad
e. O
thers
said
they W
ere
skep
ti. cal b
ut w
ou
ld re
main
pu
blic
ly s
ilen
t o
nly
be
ca
us
e It w
as s
uch
a d
an
gero
us
ho
ur fo
r the
co
un
try.
Th
e P
res
ide
nt, a
fter lis
ten
ing
to th
e
freq
uen
tly e
mo
tion
al c
riticis
m, e
x-
pla
ine
d th
at h
e w
ou
ld ta
ke
wh
ate
ve
r ste
ps w
ere
necessary
to p
rote
ct th
e s
e-
cu
rity o
f the
Un
ited
Sta
tes
bu
t tha
ttie
did
no
t feel g
reate
r on
ilitary
actio
n w
as
wa
rran
ted
initIa
llY. B
eca
use
it wa
s P
os-
sib
le th
at th
e m
atte
r co
uld
be
res
olv
ed
w
itho
ut a
de
va
sta
ting
wa
r, he
ha
d d
e-
tide
d o
n th
e c
ou
rse
he
ha
d o
utlin
ed
, P
erh
ap
s In
the e
nd
, he s
aid
, dire
ct n
ill-tirm
y a
ctio
n w
ou
ld b
e n
ecessary
, bu
t th
at c
ou
rse
sh
ou
ld n
ot h
e .fo
llow
ed
lig
htly
. In th
e m
ea
ntim
e, h
e a
ss
ure
d
them
he b
ed
cate
r, -ree.i,.,,re
s.
waTnhieed
tonehx
tavemsoiro
ninein
Cgiir. day
ineeiih
i:s40:11,
hern
ia.
.-the_..4u
arantin
e wen
t tide
effe
ct, a
nd
th
e re
po
rts d
urin
g th
e e
arly
ho
urs
So
ld
of th
e Ru
ssian sh
ips co
min
g S
teadily o
n
tow
ard
Cu
ba
. / talk
ed
with
the
Pre
si-
de
nt fo
r a -fe
w m
om
en
ts b
efo
re w
e
we
nt in
to o
ur
-reg
ula
r meetin
g. H
e
said
, "It loo
ks re
ally
mean
, do
esn
't it?
Bu
t then
, really
, there
was n
o tith
er
ch
oic
e. If th
ey g
el th
is m
ean
on
this
o
ne in
ou
r part o
ithe w
orld
, wh
at w
ill th
ey
do
on
the
ne
xt?
"
'I just d
on
't thin
k th
ere
was
an
y
ch
oic
e," I s
aid
, "an
d n
ot o
nly
that, If
yo
u h
ad
n't a
cte
d, y
ou
wo
uld
have b
een
im
peach
ed." T
he
Pre
sid
en
t tho
ug
ht fo
r a
mo
me
nt a
nd
sa
id, "
Th
at%
wh
at I
thin
k—
I wo
uld
have b
een
imp
each
ed
."
Th
is W
ed
nesd
ay m
orn
ing
meetin
g,
alo
ng
with
tha
t of th
e fo
llow
ing
Sa
tur-
da
y, O
ct. 2
7, s
ee
me
d th
e m
os
t tryin
g,
the
mo
st d
ifficu
lt an
d th
e m
os
t filled
w
ith te
nsio
n. T
he R
ussia
n s
hip
s w
ere
-p
roc
ee
din
g, th
ey
we
re n
ea
ring
the
500- M
ile b
arrie
r an
d w
e e
ithe
r ho
d to
In-
terc
ep
t the
m o
r an
no
un
ce
we
we
re
with
dra
win
g.
Th
e IT
Es
an
d lo
w-fly
ing
pla
ne
s h
ad
re
turn
ed
the p
revio
us d
ay w
ith th
eir
film, a
nd
thro
ug
h th
e e
ven
ing
it was
an
aly
se
d—
by
no
w in
su
ch
vo
lum
e th
at
the filth
alo
ne w
as m
ore
than
125 m
iles
lon
g a
nd
25 m
iles w
ide. T
he re
su
lts
we
re p
res
en
ted
to u
s a
t the
me
etin
g.
Th
e la
un
ch
ing
pad
s, the
mis
sile
s, th
e
co
nc
rete
bo
xe
s, th
e n
uc
lea
r sto
rag
e
bu
nkers
, all th
e c
om
po
nen
ts w
ere
th
ere
, by
no
w c
lea
rly d
efin
ed
an
d o
b-
vio
us
. co
mp
aris
on
s w
ith th
e p
ictu
res
o
f a fe
w d
ays e
arlie
r mad
e c
lear th
at
the
wo
rk o
n th
os
e s
ites
wa
s p
roc
ee
d-
ing
an
d th
at w
ithin
a fe
w d
ay
s s
ev
era
l o
f the
lau
nc
hin
g p
ad
s w
ou
ld b
e re
ad
y
for w
ar.
It wa
s n
ow
a fe
w m
inu
tes
afte
r I0
o'c
loc
k. S
ec
reta
ry M
cN
am
ara
an
-n
ou
nced
that tw
o R
ussia
n s
hip
s, th
e
Gag
arin
an
d th
e K
om
iles, w
ere
with
in
a fe
w m
ites o
f ou
r qu
ara
ntin
e b
arrie
r. T
he in
terc
ep
tion
of b
oth
sh
ips w
ou
ld
pro
ba
bly
be
be
fore
no
on
Wa
sh
ing
ton
tim
e.
Th
en
cam
e th
e d
istu
rbin
g N
avy re
. p
ort th
at a
Ru
ss
ian
su
bm
arin
e h
ad
m
ov
ed
into
po
sitio
n b
etw
ee
n th
e tw
o
It ha
d o
rigin
ally
be
en
pla
nn
ed
to
have a
cru
iser m
ake th
e firs
t inte
rcep
• tio
n b
ut, b
ec
au
se
of th
e in
cre
as
ed
do
n•
ger, it w
as d
ecid
ed
in th
e p
ast fe
w
ho
urs
to s
en
d in
an
airc
raft c
arrie
r su
pp
orte
d b
y h
elic
op
ters
, carry
ing
an
-tis
ub
ma
rine
eq
uip
me
nt, h
ov
erin
g o
ve
r-h
ead
. Th
e c
arrie
r Essex w
as to
sig
nal
the
su
bm
arin
e b
y s
on
ar to
su
rfac
e a
nd
Front a desk cleared for the broadcast, P
resident Kennedy announces flee decision to "quorentineu C
ube.
Th
e Decision
:
Told
that th
e Russia
ns a
nd
Cu
ba
ns h
ad
pa
rked th
eir pla
nes w
ingtip
to w
ingtip
, m
aking them perfect targets,
President K
ennedy requested a U
.2 flig
ht o
ver Flo
rida.
'It would be interesting if w
e h
ave d
on
e the sa
me th
ing
: he rem
arked
. This T
am
pa
Tim
es photo
of M
acD
ill Air
Force B
ase, Fla., w
as trans-m
itted th
at so
me d
ay—
Oct.
23, 1962.
With
an
tiaircra
ft rockets in
the background, troops string barbed w
ire along the beach at K
ey West, F
la.
'Isn't there some w
ay we can
avo
id h
avin
g o
ur first
ex-
001P R
eim. T
he meeting w
ent on until tea m
inu
tes after 5,
Consiened as a form
al meeting of the
Nadanar
Seeerity
Council, It w
as a larger group of people w
ho met, som
e o
f• wh
om
had
no
t particip
ated in
the
defileeratien
s up to
that tim
e. Hob
Mere
pre
sente
d th
e a
rgum
ents
for e b
lock
ade; o
thers p
resented
the
arguments for the m
ilitary attack. T
he d
iscussio
n, fo
r the m
ost p
art, w
as able and organized, although, like all m
eetings o
f this kind, certain state-m
ents w
ere mad
e or accep
ted tru
sims
which I, at least, thought w
ere of ques-tio
nab
le valid
ity. O
ne m
ember o
f the
Join
t 'Chiefs o
f Staff, fo
r exam
ple,
argued that we could use nuclear w
eap-o
ns, o
n th
e basis th
at ou
r adv
ersaries w
ould
use th
eirs again
st us le an
at-tack
. I thought, as I listen
ed, o
f the
man
y lim
es that I h
ad h
eard th
e mili-
tary tak
e po
sition
s win
ch, if w
ron
g,
bad
the ad
van
tage th
at no
on
e wo
uld
be around at the end to know
,
Th
e P
resid
ent D
ecid
es
ere
=P
RE
SID
EN
T m
ade h
is dece
eion that afternoon in favor of the blockade. T
here was one final m
eeting _th
e teat morn
ing, w
ith G
en. W
aiter C
. Sw
eeney Jr., comm
ander in chief of th
e Tao
tical Air C
om
man
d, w
ile told
th
e Presid
ent th
at even
a majo
r sur-
prise air attack could not be certain of destroying all the m
issile sites and nu-clear w
eapons in Cuba. T
hat ended the sm
all, lingerin
g d
oubt th
at mig
ht still
have remained in his m
ind. It had wor-
ried b
en th
at a blo
ackatle w
ould
not
remove th
e oessiles—
now
it was d
ear th
at en attack
cou
ld o
at siecom
plisb
that task com
pletely, either. A
ellai Stevenson had com
e from N
ew
York
to atten
d th
e meetin
g S
aturd
ay
afterno
on
, as he b
ad atten
ded
several
of the Ex-C
mforn. m
eetings. He had al-
ways been dubious about the air strike,
bu
t at th
e S
atu
rday
meetin
g h
e
strongly
advocated
what h
e had
only
tentatively seggested to m
e a few days
before—nam
ely, that we m
ake it elear to the S
oviet Union that if it w
ithdrew
its missiles fro
m C
uba, w
e would
be
willing to w
ithdraw our m
issiles from
Turk
ey a
nd Ita
ly a
nd g
ive u
p o
ur
naval base at Guantanam
o Bay,
Th
ere was an
extremely stron
g rent`
Sio
n fro
m so
me o
f the p
arti ci pan
ts to
his su
ggestio
n, an
d sev
eral sharp
ex-
chan
ges fo
llow
ed. T
he P
residen
t, el though be rejected S
tevenson's Sugges-
tion, pointed out that be had for a long P
eriod h
eld reserv
ation* ab
out th
e v
alue o
f Jup
iter el:thee:is in
Tu
rkey
end Italy and som
e time ago had asked
the State D
epartment to conduct nego•
liations for their removal; but now
, he 'sak
e was n
ot th
e appro
priate tim
e to
sug
gest th
is action
, and
we co
uld
no
t abandon G
uanta
nam
o B
ay u
nder
threat from the R
ussians. S
teven
son h
as slime been telecised
publicly for the position he took at this m
eeting
. 1 th
ink It sh
ou
ld b
e emp
ha-
sized that he was presenting a point of
view from
a different perspective than th
e oth
ers, on
e wh
ich w
as therefo
re im
po
rtant fo
r the P
residen
t to co
n-
The N
avy d
eplo
yed
lee ship
s into
the C
aribbean. The S
trategic Air C
om-
mand w
as dispersed to civilian landing field
s around th
e country
to lessen
its V
uln
erability
in ease o
f attack T
he
B.52 bom
ber force was ordered into the
air fully
load
ed w
ith ato
mic w
eapons.
As one cam
e down to land, another M
i. m
ediately took its place In the air. A
n h
our b
efo
re th
e P
resid
ent's
speech
, Secretary
Ru
sk called
in Asa.
bassador Dobrynin and told him
of the sp
eech. T
he n
ewsp
apers rep
orted
that
Dobry
nin
left the S
ecretary's o
ffice looking considerably shaken.
The P
residen
t met w
ith th
e mem
-bers of the C
abinet end informed them
fo
r the first tim
e of th
e crisis. Th
en,
no
t lon
g b
efore th
e bro
adcast, h
e met
with the leaders of C
ongress. This w
as the m
ost difficult meeting. I did not at-
tend, b
ut I k
now
from
seeing h
im aft.
cow
ard
that it w
as a
trem
endous
strain.
Man
y co
ngressio
nal lead
ers were
sharp
in th
eir criticism. T
hey
felt that
the P
residen
t shou
ld tak
e more fo
rce-ful action, a m
ilitary attack or invasion, and th
at th
e b
lockade w
as M
r too
weak
e re
spo
nse
. Sen
. Ric
hard
B.
Ru
ssell of G
eorg
ia said h
e cou
ld n
ot
live w
ith h
imself if h
e did
no
t say in
th
e strongest p
ossib
le terms h
aw im
- p
ortan
t it was th
at we act w
ith g
reat. er strength than the P
resident was con-
templating.
Sen
, J. William
Fu
lbrig
ht o
f Ark
in.
ass also strongly advised military action
rathei th
an su
ch a w
eak step
as the
blockade. Others said they w
ere skePti•
cal but w
ould
remain
publicly
silent
on
ly b
ecause it w
as ou
ch a d
ang
erou
s h
our fo
r the co
un
try.
The P
residen
t, after listenin
g to
the
frequ
ently
emo
tion
al criticism, ex
-p
lained
that h
e wo
uld
take w
hatev
er steps w
ere necessary to protect the Se-
curity
of th
e Untied
States b
ut th
at he did not feel greater m
ilitary action was
warranted initially. B
ecause it was P
os-sib
le that th
e matter co
uld
be reso
lved
w
ithout a d
evastatin
g w
ar, lie had
de-
cided
on th
e course h
e had
outlin
ed.
Perh
aps in
the end, he said, direct m
il-eery
action
wo
uld
be n
ecessary, b
ut
that co
urse sh
ould
not lee .f.ello
wed
'tig
htly
. In th
e mean
time, h
e assured
th
em, h
e had
taken
measu
res to p
re-pare
our m
ilitary
forc
es a
nd p
lace
them in a position to m
ove. Ile w
as upset by th
e time th
e meet-
lag M
ided
. Wh
en w
e discu
ssed it later
he w
as more p
hilo
sophical, p
oin
ting
ou
t that th
e con
gressio
nal leaders' re-
actloo to what w
e should do, although m
ore m
ilitant th
an h
is, was m
uch the san
e as our first reaction w
hen
we
first heard
abo
ut th
e missiles th
e pre-
vious Tuesday.
At 1 o'clock, he w
ent on television to th
e Natio
n to
exp
lain th
e situatio
n in
C
ub
a and
the reaso
ns fo
r the q
uaran
-tine. In his speech, he em
phasized that th
e blo
ckad
e was th
e initial step
. He
had
ord
ered th
e Pen
tago
n to
mak
e all th
e prep
arations n
ecessary fo
r furth
er m
ilitary action. S
ecretary M
cNam
ara, in a co
nfid
en.
LI/C
11
, rea
lly, [1
10
.11
C w
11
0 um
er ch
oice. if they get th
is mean
on
this
one in our part o Ithe world, w
hat will
they do on the next?" "I ju
st do
n't th
ink
there
was a
ny
ch
oice," I said
, "and n
ot o
nly
that, if
you hadn't acted, you would have been
impeached." T
he President thought for
a mom
ent an
d said
. "That's w
hat I
think—I w
ould have been impeached."
Th
is Wed
nesd
ay m
orn
ing
meetin
g,
along with that of the follow
ing Satur-
day
, Oct 2
'/, seemed
the m
ost try
ing,
the m
ost d
ifficult an
d th
e most filled
w
ith ten
sion. T
he R
ussian
ship
s were
proceeding, they were nearing the 500-
mile b
arrier and w
e either h
ad to
in-
tercept th
em o
r ann
ou
nce w
e were
withdraw
ing. T
he L
ies and
low
-flyin
g p
lanes h
ad
return
ed th
e prev
ious d
ay w
ith th
eir film
, and
thro
ug
h th
e even
ing
it was
analyaed—by now
in such volume that
the film alone w
as more than 125 m
iles lo
ng an
d 2
5 m
iles wid
e. The resu
lts w
ere presented to us at the meeting.
The launching pads, the m
issiles, the co
ncrete b
ox
es, the n
uclear sto
rage
bu
nk
ers, a
ll the c
om
po
nen
ts were
th
ere, by
no
w clearly
defin
ed an
d o
b-
vio
ue. C
om
pariso
ns w
ith th
e pictu
res o
f a few d
ays earlier m
ade clear th
at th
e wo
rk o
n th
ose sites w
as pro
ceed-
ing
and
that w
ithin
a Sew days several
of th
e laun
chin
g p
ads w
ou
ld b
e ready
for w
ar. It w
an
now
a few m
inutes after le
o'c
lock. S
ecre
tary
McN
am
ara
an.
flounced
that tw
o R
uasien
ships, the
Gagarin and the leam
iies, were w
ithin a few
miles o
f ou
r qu
arantin
e barrier.
The in
terceptio
n o
f both
ship
s would
pro
bab
ly b
e befo
re noon W
ashin
gto
n
time.
Th
en cam
e the d
isturb
ing
Nav
y re-
Peet th
at a Ru
ssian su
bm
arine h
ad
mo
ved
into
po
sition
betw
een th
e two
ships.
It had
orig
inally
been
plan
ned
to
hav
e a cruiser m
ake th
e first intercep
-tion but, because of the increased dan-ger, it w
as decid
ed in
the p
ast few
ho
urs to
send
in an
aircraft carrier supported by helicopters, carrying an-tisubm
arine equipment, hovering over-
head
Th
e carrier Essex
was to
sign
al the subm
arine by sonar to surface and Identify itself. If it refused, said S
ecre-tory M
cNam
ara, depth charges with a
small ex
plo
sive w
ou
ld b
e used
un
til the subm
arine surfaced.
Some P
ersonal Thoughts
TifiN
le geese few m
inutes were th
e tim
e o
f gra
vest c
oncern
for th
e
President. W
as the world on the brink
of a h
olo
caust,
Was It o
ur erro
r? A
mistake? W
as there something further
that sh
ould
hav
e been
done? O
r not
done? H
is han
d w
ent u
p to
his face an
d
cov
ered h
is mo
uth
. He o
pen
ed an
d
closed his fist. klimface seem
ed drawn,
his e
yes p
ain
ed
, niM
ost g
ray
. We
stared at each
oth
er across th
e table.
For a few
Heetin
g seco
nds, it w
as al-m
ost as th
ou
gh
no
on
e else was th
ere
• S
teven
son h
as since b
een criticized
publicly for the position he took at this m
eeting
, I thin
k it sh
ou
ld b
e emp
ha-
sized that he was presenting a point of
view from
a different perspective than th
e oth
ers, on
e wh
ich w
as therefo
re im
po
rtant fo
r the P
residen
t to co
n-
sider. A
ltho
ug
h I d
isagreed
stron
gly
w
ith h
is recom
men
datio
ns, I th
ou
gh
t he w
as courageous to make them
and I m
ight add they made as m
uch sense as som
e others considered during that pe-riod of tim
e, T
he P
residen
t's speech
was n
ow
scheduled for M
onday evening. Under
the d
irection o
f Geo
rge B
all, Alex
Jo
hn
son
and
Ed
Martin
, a detailed
hour-to-hour P
rogram w
as arranged, to in
form
ou
r allies, prep
are for a m
eet-in
g o
f the O
AS
, info
rm v
ie amb
assa-d
ors statio
ned
in W
ashin
gto
n an
d p
re-pare fo
r them
and
ethers, in
written
form
, the legal Justifir.allon on which
our action was predicated.
More and m
ore Governm
ent officials w
ere brought into the discussions, and fin
ally w
ord
beg
an to
seep th
rough to
th
e press th
at a seriou
s crisis was im
-m
inen
t Th
rou
gh th
e perso
nal in
ter-ven
tion o
f the P
residen
t with
several
new
spap
ers, the O
nly
stories w
ritten
Monday
morn
ing w
ere 'reports th
at a m
ajor sp
eech w
as to b
e giv
en b
y th
e P
residen
t and
that th
e cou
ntry
faced a
serious crisis.
Su
pp
ort F
rom
Allie
s rim
E D
IPL
OM
AT
IC E
FF
OR
T w
as I
of g
reat sign
ificance. W
e were
able to
establish
a firm leg
al too n
cla. lio
n fo
r our actio
n u
nder th
e OA
S
Ch
arter, and
ou
r po
sition
arou
nd
the
wo
rld w
as greatly
streng
then
ed w
hen
th
e Org
anizatio
n o
f Am
erican S
tates
, theRhnou-slY
supported the recomm
en-datio
n fo
r a quaran
tine. T
hus th
e So-
viet U
nio
n an
d C
uba faced
the u
nited
actio
n o
f the w
hole W
estern H
emi-
sph
ere. F
urther, with the m
inima of detailed
photo
grap
hs, D
ean A
cheso
n—
who
oblig
ed th
e Presid
ent b
y o
nce ag
ain
bein
g w
illing
to h
elp
—w
as a
ble
quick
ly to
convin
ce Prim
e Min
ister H
arold Macm
illan of Great B
ritain and F
rench President C
harles de Gaulle of
the correctness of our response. G
en.-d
e Gau
lle said, "It is ex
actly
what I w
ould
hav
e done," ad
din
g th
at it w
as no
t necessary
to see th
e ph
oto
-graphs as "a great governm
ent such as yours d
oes n
ot act w
ithout ev
iden
ce." C
hancellor Konrad. A
denatier of West
Germ
any
vo
iced h
is sup
po
rt, as well,
and
the S
ov
iet Un
ion
was p
reven
ted
from
sep
ara
ting
the U
ntie
d S
tale
s from
Europe. (John D
iefenbaker. Prim
e M
iniste
r of C
an
ad
a, w
as th
e o
nly
N
AT
O lead
er wh
o v
oiced
skep
ticism
and disbelief.) D
urin
g th
is same p
eriod
, military
the N
ation
to ex
plain
the situ
ation
in
Cuba an
d th
e reasons fo
r the q
uaran
-tine. In
his sp
eech, he ein
ph
asized that
the blockade w
as the in
itial step. H
e h
ad o
rdered
the P
entag
on
to m
ake all
the p
reparatio
ns n
ecessary fo
r furth
er m
ilitary action. S
ecretary M
cNam
ara, in a co
nfid
en-
tial re
po
rt, had
listed
the re
qu
ire-
meats: 2
50,0
00 m
en, 2
000 air so
rties ag
ainst th
e Vario
us targ
ets In C
uba
and 90,000 Marines and A
irborne in the invasion force. O
ne estimate of A
meri-
can casu
alties pu
t the ex
pected
figu
re over 25,000,
A T
em
pora
rily L
ight M
ood.
triii3. N
EX
T D
AY
, Tuesd
ay, o
ur
_1_ group met w
ith the President at 10
in th
e mo
rnin
g. T
here w
as ra certain
spirit o
f ligh
tness—
no
t gaie
ty c
er-
tainly
, but a feelin
g o
f relaxatio
n, p
er-hap
s. We h
ad tak
en th
e igrst step
, it w
asn't so b
ad an
d w
e were still aliv
e. Jo
hn M
eCone rep
orted
to o
ur co
in-
mitten
that as y
et there h
ad b
een n
o
gen
eral alert of th
e Soviet fo
rces in
Cuba or arennd the globe. In C
uba, the R
ussian
s were b
egin
nin
g to
camou-
flage th
e missile sites.. It
wa
s never
clear why th
ey w
aited u
ntil th
at late date to do so.
Th
e Presid
ent o
rdered
prep
aration
s to
pro
ceed fo
r a possib
le blo
ckad
e of
Berlin
. We also
discu
ssed in
detail
wh
at wo
uld
be d
on
e if a II-2 p
lane
were to
be sh
ot d
ow
n, ag
reeing
that—
after obtain
ing sp
ecific perm
ission
from the P
resident--bomber and fighter
plan
es would
destro
y a su
rface-to.air-
missile site. S
ecretary M
cNam
ara said
that su
ch an
attack co
uld
take g
lace w
ithin
two h
ou
rs after no
tification o
f the firing on one of our planes.
By
this tim
e, the relax
ed, lig
hter
mood
had
com
pletely
disap
peared
. It had taken only a few
minutes.
At th
e end o
f the m
eeting, th
e Presi-
den
t poin
ted o
ut th
at an attack
on o
ne
of th
eir. Installatio
ns m
igh
t very
well
brin
g an
attack ag
ainst o
ur airfield
s. H
e asked
for a rep
ort fro
m th
e mili-
tary as to
wh
ether o
ur o
wn
plan
es had
been
disp
ersed. W
hen
It was rep
orted
to
him
that o
ur p
hoto
grap
hy sh
ow
ed
that th
e R
ussia
ns a
nd C
ub
an
s had
in
ex
plic
ab
ly lin
ed
up
their p
lan
es
win
gtip
to w
ingtip
on C
uban
airfields,
mak
ing
them
perfect targ
ets, he- re-
quested Gen. T
aylor to have a fly
a photographic m
ission over our fields in F
lorid
a. "It would
he In
teresting If w
e h
av
e d
on
e th
e sa
me th
ing
," he re
. m
arked. We had. H
e examined the pie.
tures th
e nex
t day
and
ord
ered th
e Air
Force to disperse our-planes.
Rule
s of Q
uara
ntin
e
•
NI(If
CA
ME
BA
CK
about 0 O'clock
hat ev
enin
g. T
he O
AS
had
an.
Bounced its support, and the P
resident pre
pare
d th
e p
rocla
matio
n w
hic
h
'would put the quarantine into effect at
10 o'clock the next morning.
Din
ing th
e couree o
f this m
eeting,
we learned that an extraordinary M
EW
her o
f coded
messag
es had
been
sent
to all the Russian ships on their w
ay to C
uba. What they said w
e did not know
then, nor do ,we know
now, but it w
as clear th
at the sh
ips as o
f that m
om
ent
were still straig
ht o
n co
urse.
Th
e Presid
ent co
mp
osed
a letter to
IChrushehev asking him
to observe the q
uaran
tine leg
ally estab
lished
by
a vole ,o
f the O
AS
, mak
ing it clear th
at th
e Un
ited S
tates did
no
t wish
to fire
on an
y sh
ips o
f the S
oviet U
nio
n an
d
addin
g at th
e end: "I am
concern
ed
that w
e both
show
pru
den
ce and d
o
no
thin
g to
allow
even
ts to m
ake th
e situation m
ore difficult to control than It M
." W
e then discussed in detail the rules th
at were to
be g
iven
to th
e NaO
' for
intercep
ting
a merch
ant vessel
in th
e quarantine zone. T
o avoid a major m
il. itary
confro
ntatio
n If a v
essel refused
to
stop
, the N
avy
was to
sho
ot at its
rudd
ers and p
ropellers, d
isablin
g th
e vessel but hopefully avoiding any has of life or the sinking of the ship.
The P
residen
t then
expressed
con-
cern ab
out th
e board
ing o
f these v
es-sels if th
e Russian
s decid
ed to
resist. W
e could
anticip
ate a rough, fierce
fight and many casualties, lie said. S
ec-retary M
cNam
ara felt the vessel might
not have to
be b
oard
ed b
ut w
ou
ld,
with
in a reaso
nab
ly sh
ort p
eriod o
f tim
e, hav
e to b
e tow
ed in
to Jack
son
-ville or C
harleston. "W
hat would you do then," the P
res-id
ent said
, If we go through all of this
effort, an
d th
en fin
d o
ut th
ere's bab
y
food on it?"
"Th
e G
an
a o
f Au
gu
st'
OOU
RP
RO
BL
EM
S for diet day w
ere h
ardly
over. Jo
hn M
eCone re-
po
rted th
at Ru
ssian su
bm
arines w
ere beginning to m
ove into the Caribbean,
One had refueled the day before In the
Azo
res and w
as head
ed n
ow
tow
ard
Cuba. T
he President ordered the N
avy to give the highest priority to tracking th
e subm
arines an
d to
put in
to effect
the g
reatest possib
le safety m
easures
to p
rotect o
ur o
wn aircraft carriers
and other vessels. A
fter the m
eeting, th
e Freak
:lent.
Ted S
orensen, Kenny O
'Donnell and I
sal in his office and talked. "The great
dan
ger an
d risk
in all of this," he said
.4 a m
iscalculatio
n—
a mistak
e in
judgm
ent." A
short tim
e befo
re, he
hod read
Barb
ara Tuck
man
's book
'Th
e Gu
ns o
f Au
gu
st," and
he talk
ed
about th
e miscalcu
lations o
f the G
er-m
ans, the Russians, the A
ustrians, the F
rench and the British. T
hey somehow
seem
ed to
tunab
le into
war, h
e bald
, th
rough stu
pid
ity, in
div
idual id
iosy
n-
crasies, misu
nd
erstand
ing
s and
per-
son
al com
plex
es of in
feriority
and
grandeur.
Neither side w
anted war over C
uba, w
e agreed, but it was possible that el•
they
side co
uld
take a step
that—
for
reasons o
f "security
" or "p
ride" o
r "lace"—
wo
uld
requ
ire a respo
nse b
y
the o
ther sid
e, wh
ich. in
torn
, for th
e tim
e reasons of security, pride or face, w
ould bring about a counter.response and
even
tually
an escalatio
n In
to
armed
conflict- T
hat w
as what h
e w
anted to avoid. H
e did not want anyone to be able to
write, at a later d
ate, a book o
n "T
he -
Missiles o
f Octo
ber" an
d say
that th
e O
S- h
ad n
ot d
one all it co
uld
to g
re• serve the peace. W
e were not going to
misjudge, or m
iscalculate, or challenge th
e Oth
er side n
eedlessly
or P
reciln, ted
dy
pu
sh o
ur ad
versaries in
to
It course of action that w
as not intended or anticipated.
Afte
rward
, the P
resid
ent a
nd I
talked for a little while alone. H
e sug-gested I m
ight visit Am
bassador Doh-
- Win
and personally relate to him the
serious im
plicatio
ns o
f the
Russians'
duplicity
and th
e crisis they
had
ere,
Bled through the presence of their m
is-siles w
ithin Cuba. .
I called D
oliry
nin
. and
mad
e ar-ran
gem
ents to
see him
at 0:3
0 th
at sam
e Tuesday night. l F
iler with hirn in
hit off ice.on the third floor of the Rus-
sian E
mb
aisy. I- rev
iewed
with
him
th
e c
ircum
stances o
f the p
ast six
w
eeks w
hich had • brought -abo
ut th
is co
nfro
ntatiO
n. I p
oin
ted o
ut to
him
th
at, w
hen
I had
met w
ith h
im in
early
Sep
temb
er, he h
ad to
ld m
e that
the R
ussian
s had
no
t placed
any
lon
g-
rang
e missiles in
Cu
ba an
d h
ad n
o in
. ten
tions.of doing so in the future.
Dobry
nin
's answ
er was th
at he to
ld
me th
ere w
ere no m
issiles in C
uba,
that th
is was w
hat K
hru
slichev
had
said and, as far as he knew
, the re were
still no missiles in C
uba. He then asked
me w
hy P
residen
t Ren
net-1
y h
ad n
ot
told
Gro
myko th
e facts when
he h
ad
seen him the previous T
hursday, I rep
lied b
y saying th
ere was n
oth
-in
g th
e Presid
ent co
uld
tell Gro
myko
that G
rom
yko d
idn't alread
y k
now
—and, after all, w
hy didn't Groniyko tell
the P
residen
t? In
fact, Use P
resident w
as sho
cked
. that G
rom
yk
e's state-m
ents ev
en at th
at late date w
ere so
mislead
ing
. Do
bry
nin
was ex
tremely
concerned. A
s I left, t asked him if the
Soviet ships w
ere going to go through to
Cuba. H
e replied
that th
at had
been
th
eir instru
ction
s and
he k
new
of n
o
changes. I left th
e Ru
ssian E
mb
assy aro
un
d
10:15 p.m. and w
est back to the White
Ho
use. I fo
un
d th
e Presid
ent m
eeting
A
mb
assado
r Dav
id O
rmsb
y-G
ore o
f G
reat Britain
, an o
ld frien
d w
hom
he
trusted
noonday
. I related th
e ninver• setio
n to
bo
th o
f them
. Th
e Presid
ent
talked
about th
e possib
ility o
f arrang-
ing an imm
ediate summ
it with K
hrush-eh
ev b
ut fin
ally d
ismtssed
the id
ea, concluding that such a m
eeting would
he u
seless until K
hru
shch
ev first ac-
cepted, or a result of our deeds as well
as our statements, the U
.S. determ
ine.• L
ion
in th
is matter. B
efore a su
mm
it took place, and it should, the P
resident
done? H
is han
d w
ent u
p to
his fare and
covered
his m
outh
. He o
pen
ed an
d
closed lilt fist. H
is face seemed draw
n, h
is ey
es p
ain
ed
, alm
ost g
ray
. We
stared at each
oth
er across th
e table.
For a few
fleeting seco
nds, it w
as al. m
ost as th
ough n
o o
ne else w
as there
and he was no longer the P
resident. In
explicab
ly, I th
ought o
f when
he
was ill an
d alm
ost d
ied; w
hen
he lo
st h
is child
; wh
en w
e learned
that o
ur
old
est bro
ther h
ad b
een k
illed; o
f per-
son
al times o
f strain an
d h
urt. T
he
voices d
roned
on, b
ut I d
idn't seem
to
hear an
yth
ing
un
til I heard
the P
resi-dent say: "Isn't there som
e way w
e can avoid having our first exchange w
ith a R
ussian
subm
arine—
almost an
yth
ing
bu
t that?"
"No
, there's to
o m
uch
dan
ger to
ou
r sh
ips. T
here is n
o altern
ative," said
M
cNam
ara. 'Our co
mm
anders h
ave
been
instru
cted to
avoid
hostilities if
al all po
ssible, b
ut th
is Is wh
at we
must b
e prep
ared fo
r and th
is is what
we m
ust expect." •
We had com
e to the time of final de-
cision. "We m
ust expect that they will
close d
ow
n B
erlin—
mak
e the fin
al p
reparatio
ns fo
r that.," th
e Presid
ent
said. I felt w
e were o
n ih
e edg
e of a
precipice with no w
ay off. O
ne th
ou
sand
miles
away,
in th
e
vast expanse of the Atlantic O
cean, the final decisions w
ere going to he made
In th
e nex
t few m
inu
tes. Presid
ent
Ken
ned
y h
ad in
itiated th
e cou
rse of
even
ts, ho
t he n
o lo
ng
er had
con
trol
over them. H
e would have to w
ait—w
e w
ould have to wait.
`Dead
ill the W
ate
r' H
EN
IT W
AS
10:25—s m
essenger T
brought in a note to Jahn McC
une. "M
r. President, w
e have a preliminary
repo
rt wh
ich seem
s to In
dicate th
at so
me o
f the R
ussia
n sh
ips h
av
e
stopped
dead
in th
e water." A
short
time later, th
e report can
to th
at the 2
0
Ru
ssian sh
ips clo
sest to th
e barrier
had
stop
ped
an
d w
ere
dead
in th
e
water or had turned around. "S
o no ships will be stopped or inter.
netted
!' said th
e Presid
ent. I said
we
should make sure the N
avy knew noth.
ing was to he done, that no ships w
ere to be Interfered w
ith. Orders w
ould go out to the N
avy imm
ediately. "If th
e sh
ips h
av
e a
rden
t to tu
rn
around, w
e wan
t to g
ive th
em ev
ery
opportu
nity
to d
o so
. Get in
direct
touch
with
the E
ssex an
d tell th
em
not to
its an th
ing, b
ut g
ive th
e Rus-
sian v
essels on
op
po
rtun
ity to
turn
back. W
e must m
ove quickly because th
e limo Is expiring," said
the P
resi-dent.
tP, use. Mayan
CO
TO
-
MO
ND
AY
I• Russia intensifies luta-
site buildup in Cabe is defiance
of quarantine.
'Isn't th
ere
som
e w
ay w
e ca
n
avoid
havin
g o
ar firs
t ex-
ch
an
ge
with
to R
ussia
n s
ub
-m
arine—alm
ost anything but th
at?
' the
Pre
sid
en
t aske
d.
Here
, a U
.S. h
elic
op
ter h
av-
ers over a
So
viet sub
in th
e
Caribbean during th
e b
lock-
tide_