The President was faced with the knowledge that a country hostile to the United States was deploying weapons of mass destruction that would have been a direct threat to the nation. The President in this case was John Kennedy, and the year was 1962. I recently ran across Robert Kennedy’s account of this event – Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
The events do not require much retelling. In October, 1962, the U.S. learned that the Soviet Union was installing missile sites in Cuba with the capability of launching nuclear weapons against the United States. Such weapons would change the balance of power in the nuclear age by potentially allowing a first strike against the U.S. with little forewarning. No President could allow such a situation to continue. The military and hawkish politicians demanded an immediate air strike against the installations. President Kennedy chose otherwise. His decisions, based on the advice he received from his advisers and his own instincts, stand in sharp contrast to the decisions that led to the disastrous Iraq War and can serve as a continual guide today and into the future.
The President’s brother, Robert, was recognized as his closest adviser; and his advice helped avoid what could easily have spiraled out of control. To the idea that the U.S. would unleash an aerial assault against Cuba (no one thought to sell is as “shock and awe”), Robert Kennedy wrote:
“More importantly, like others, I could not accept the idea that the United States would rain bombs on Cuba, killing thousands and thousands of civilians in a surprise attack. Maybe the alternatives were not very palatable, but I simply did not see how we could accept that course of action for our country.” p.15
He then placed the situation in historical and ethical terms:
“With some trepidation, I argued that, whatever the validity of the military and political arguments were for an attack in preference to a blockade, America’s traditions and history would not permit such a course of action. Whatever military reasons he (Dean Acheson) and others could marshal, they were nevertheless, in the last analysis, advocating a surprise attack by a very large nation against a very small one. This, I said, could not be undertaken by the U.S. if we were to maintain our moral position at home and around the globe. Our struggle against Communism throughout the world was far more than physical survival – it had in its essence our heritage and our ideals, and these we must not destroy.“ pp. 16, 17
“The strongest argument against an all-out military attack, and one no could answer to his (President Kennedy’s) satisfaction, was that a surprise attack would erode if not destroy the moral position of the United States throughout the world.” P. 27
Recognizing the importance of a truly united front, the President’s actions received unanimous support from the Organization of American States. He also got support from the major allies Britain, Germany, and France. (Yes, that France and that Charles DeGaulle.) p. 29
President Kennedy also had a knowledge of history, the lessons of which he applied to this situation. He had read Barbara Tuchman’s The Guns of August. ”’The great danger and risk in all of this,’ he said, ‘is a miscalculation – a mistake in judgment.’” “…he talked about the miscalculations of the Germans, the Austrians, the French, and the British. They seemed to somehow tumble into war, he said, through stupidity, individual idiosyncrasies, misunderstandings, and personal complexes of inferiority and grandeur.” p. 40
“That was what he wanted to avoid. He did not want anyone to be able to say the U.S. had not done all it could to preserve the peace.” p. 40
The President’s actions in first establishing that a real threat in fact existed, and then taking a series of steps, while forceful, were designed to avoid conflict. His recognition of America’s place in history and reluctance to rush headlong into war stand in obvious contrast to later presidential actions. The result of his actions was that the immediate threat was removed, and America’s standing in the world was enhanced. The contrasts with later presidential actions could not be more pronounced.