DAY SEVEN |
October 22, 1962 |
“U.S. military forces worldwide, with the exception of the United States Air forces in Europe, are placed on DEFCON three" (Chang and Kornbluh).
“The president said he had given up the though of making an air strike only yesterday morning… he said an air strike had all the disadvantages of Pearl Harbor. It would not insure the destruction of every strategic missile in Cuba and would end up eventually in our having to invade” - National Security Minutes of October 22, 1962 (U.S. Department of State).
"President Kennedy phones [British Prime Minister] Macmillan... During the crisis, the two leaders remain in close contact, speaking with each other over the telephone as often as three times a day” (Chang and Kornbluh).
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“I would not be candid and I would not be fair with you if I did not say that we are in as grave a crisis as mankind has been in” -Secretary Rusk (Chang and Kornbluh).
"President Kennedy writes to Nikita Khrushchev, Premier of the Soviet Union, prior to addressing the American public on live television" (JFK Library).
"John F. Kennedy's letter to Nikita Khrushchev":
“The one thing that has most concerned me has been the possibility that your Government would not correctly understand the will and determination of the United States in any given situation.” |
"Kennedy speaks on television, revealing the evidence of Soviet missiles in Cuba and calling for their removal. He also announces the establishment of a naval quarantine around the island until the Soviet Union agrees to dismantle the missile sites and to make certain that no additional missiles are shipped to Cuba. Approximately one hour before the speech, Secretary of State Dean Rusk formally notifies Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin of the contents of the President's speech" (JFK Library).
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End of "Kennedy's Speech to the Nation" (Clouds over Cuba).
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"Kennedy's speech to the nation":
“The government, as promised, has maintained the closest surveillance of the Soviet military buildup on the island of Cuba. Within the past week, unmistakable evidence has established the fact that a series of offensive missile sites is now in preparation on that imprisoned Island. The purpose of these faces can be none other than to provide a nuclear strike capability against the Western Hemisphere.”
“This urgent transformation of Cuba into an important strategic base... constitutes an explicit threat to the peace and security of all that Americas.”
“It is difficult to settle or even discuss problems in an atmosphere of intimidation. That is why this latest Soviet threat… must and will be met with the determination.”