Tag: President Kennedy

Cuban Missile Crisis: Day Six

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Cuban Missile Crisis: Day Six

Sunday, October 21, 1962: After attending Mass at St. Stephen’s Church with Mrs. Kennedy, the President meets with General Walter Sweeney of the Tactical Air Command who tells him that an air strike could not guarantee 100% destruction of the missiles.

 

“Secretary Dillon recalled that we sent United States missiles to Europe because we had so many of them we did not know where to put them” (National Security Council Minutes).

“And in the present days of strain, it is well to remember that no country’s leader supported the U.S. more forcefully than did France. General de Gaulle said, ‘It is exactly what I would have done,’ adding that it was not necessary to see the photographs, as ‘a great government such as yours does not act without evidence.’ Chancellor Konrad Adenauer of West Germany voiced his support as well, and the Soviet Union was prevented from separating the U.S. from Europe. (John Diefenbaker, Prime Minister of Canada, was greatly concerned with how to convince the rest of the world” (40-41).

Works Cited:

“Cuban Missile Crisis: Day 6 – Oct 21.” John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, 21 Oct 2017. http://microsites.jfklibrary.org/cmc/oct21/

Kennedy, Robert F. Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis. New York: Norton, 1971.

“Minutes of the 506th Meeting of the National Security Council.” John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, 21 October 2017. http://microsites.jfklibrary.org/cmc/oct21/doc1.html

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Cuban Missile Crisis: Day Five

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Cuban Missile Crisis: Day Five

“I had heard the military take positions, which if wrong, had the advantage that no one would be around at the end to know” (38).

 

Saturday, October 20, 1962: President Kennedy returns suddenly to Washington and after five hours of discussion with top advisers decides on the quarantine. Plans for deploying naval units are drawn and work is begun on a speech to notify the American people.

“The President arrived back at the White House at 1:40 P.M. and went for a swim. I sat on the side of the pool, and we talked. At 2:30 we walked up to the Oval Room” (38).

Works Cited:

“Cuban Missile Crisis: Day 5 – Oct 20.” John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, 20 Oct 2017. http://microsites.jfklibrary.org/cmc/oct20/

Kennedy, Robert F. Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis. New York: Norton, 1971.

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Cuban Missile Crisis: Day Four

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Cuban Missile Crisis: Day Four

Friday, October 19, 1962: President Kennedy leaves for a scheduled campaign trip to Ohio and Illinois. In Washington, his advisers continue the debate over the necessary and appropriate course of action. Before President Kennedy left the White House, he made his brother, Bobby, promise to call him “if and when he should cut short his trip and return to Washington” (May 123).

“We meet all day Friday and Friday night” (Kennedy 37).

Image result for cuban missile crisis day 4 meeting

 

Listen: 9:45 am Meeting with the Join Chief of Staff

Works Cited:

“Cuban Missile Crisis: Day 4 – Oct 19.” John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, 19 Oct 2017. http://microsites.jfklibrary.org/cmc/oct19/

Kennedy, Robert F. Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis. New York: Norton, 1971.

May, Ernest R, and Philip D Zelikow, editors. The Kennedy Tapes: Inside the White House During the Cuban Missile Crisis. New York: Norton, 2002.

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Cuban Missile Crisis: Day Three

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Cuban Missile Crisis: Day Three

Thursday, October 18, 1962: President Kennedy met with Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko (yes, Thirteen Days states this happened on Wednesday, the 17th). Kennedy, as was agreed upon earlier, refrained from letting Gromyko know that he knew about the missiles in Cuba.

Gromyko asserted: “Soviet aid to Cuba is purely defensive and does not represent a threat to the United States.”

Kennedy then read his warning from September 4th, reminding Gromyko that “gravest consequences” should Soviet offensive weapons appear in Cuba.

Meanwhile, Kennedy’s ExComm Cabinet members met, discussed, and argued over what their best course of action would be. Eventually, they landed on two major decisions: A military action or a blockade. The memo above intends to explain their options and who stood where on each point.

Listen: 1:10 am Cabinet Meeting(& Cont.)& Kennedy Summarizes Late-Night Meeting

Works Cited:

“Cuban Missile Crisis: Day 2 – Oct 18.” John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, 18 Oct 2018. http://microsites.jfklibrary.org/cmc/oct18/

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Cuban Missile Crisis: Day Two

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Cuban Missile Crisis: Day Two

 

Wednesday, October 17, 1962: American military units begin moving to bases in the Southeastern U.S. as intelligence photos from another U-2 flight show additional sites; and 16 to 32 missiles. President Kennedy attends a brief service at St. Matthew’s Cathedral in observance of the National Day of Prayer.

 

 

In the later afternoon, President Kennedy met with Soviet Foreign Minister, Andrei Gromyko – a long-standing appointment. In the meeting, Gromyko assured the President that the USSR was in no way providing Cuba with weapons that “could ever constitute a treat to the United States” (32). In reply, President Kennedy reminded Foreign Minister Gromyko of the stance the U.S. would take in the event the Soviet Union should place missiles or offensive weapons within Cuba – a message he’d made on September 24th.

“Gromyko assured him this would never be done, that the United States should not be concerned. After touching briefly on some matters, he said good-by. . . .The President of the United States, it can be said, was displeased with the spokesman of the Soviet Union. . . .” (32-33).

Works Cited:

“Cuban Missile Crisis: Day 2 – Oct 17.” John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, 17 Oct 2017. http://microsites.jfklibrary.org/cmc/oct17/

Kennedy, Robert F. Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis. New York: Norton, 1971.

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Cuban Missile Crisis: Day One

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Cuban Missile Crisis: Day One

At 8:45 AM on Tuesday, October 16, 1962, President Kennedy, still in his pajamas, had his breakfast interrupted by National Security Advisor, McGeorge Bundy. Bundy came to alert the president “that a major national crisis was at hand” (JFK Library).  During reconnaissance flights two days earlier, done by the United States military surveillance aircraft, photographs had been taken that showed conclusive evidence of a Soviet missile base under construction in Cuba, a near 90 miles from the coast of Florida.

15 minutes later, President Kennedy was on the phone with his Attorney General brother, urging him to come straight away to the White House: They had a major emergency on their hands.

What followed were discussions with major members of Kennedy’s Cabinet as well as members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other important advisors.

“Discussions [began] on how to respond to the challenge. Two principal courses [were] offered: an air strike and invasion, or a naval quarantine with the threat of further military action. To avoid arousing public concern, the president maintained his official schedule, meeting periodically with advisors to discuss the status of events in Cuba and possible strategies” (JFK Library)

[Below: Map showing the full range of the Cuban missiles]

Listen: 11:50 am Cabinet Meeting & 6:30 pm Cabinet Meeting

[Also: The Norton Anthology The Kennedy Tapes, provides transcripts for all essential meetings]

Note: Everything is curtesy of the JFK Library, who has, by the way, an amazing interactive day-by-day account of the Crisis. I highly recommend checking it out. You can find audio, pictures, schedules, etc. Last year, I checked it out during all 13 days. It’s a great way to learn more about the most dangerous 13 days in American history.

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Today in History: September 6, 1961 – Kennedy Urges Americans to Build Bomb Shelters

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Today in History: September 6, 1961 – Kennedy Urges Americans to Build Bomb Shelters

 

In a letter to the members of the Committee on Civil Defense of the Governors’ Conference, President Kennedy laid out how both government, business, and private citizens could insure the best protection possible against the effects of a thermonuclear attack. At the same time, he laid out how the Federal Government, state governments, industry, and other institutions could work together to ensure the work was done. And done well.

He explained that a large number of casualties would come from radioactive fallout. These could extend downwind some several hundred miles.

His goal: For the Federal Government to move forward “to bring into operation fallout shelter space for large groups of people under very austere condition. Many homeowners, communities, and business firms can and will provide more adequate and better located shelter space for their own needs” (Source).

Kennedy’s plans would prove useful as a mere year and 10 days later, the world would come shockingly close to nuclear holocaust.

[Below: The Kennedy fallout shelter. Located on Peanut Island, the shelter would likely have been used by President Kennedy & his top advisers in the event of a nuclear holocaust]

Image result for kennedy fallout shelter

 

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Today in History: September 25, 1961 & 2018 – Addresses Before the UN General Assemblies

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Today in History: September 25, 1961 & 2018 – Addresses Before the UN General Assemblies

Today, President Trump addressed the UN General Assembly. It was a very dignified speech – a speech about peace and freedom and the survival of America.

Today also marks the 57th anniversary of President Kennedy’s first address before the UN General Assembly. He, too, talked about peace and freedom and the survival of America. Go figure.

I won’t spend time comparing and contrasting the two speeches, as this isn’t a Current Events or Rhetoric class. Though, that might be fun, but both gave a good 40 minute speech (and it’s late). However, I invite you to give both a listen. Draw your own conclusions. And, you never know, there may be some future Trivia Questions in these speeches somewhere.

Hey! That’s as good as promising an upcoming quiz. Maybe I should have spent time comparing and contrasting their rhetoric. 😉

Image result for president kennedy un general assembly 1961

Image result for president trump un general assembly 2018

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Listen: President Kennedy’s 1961 UN Speech

Listen: President Trump’s 2018 UN Speech

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Today in History: September 12, 1962 – Kennedy’s “We Go to the Moon” Speech

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Today in History: September 12, 1962 – Kennedy’s “We Go to the Moon” Speech

On September 12, 1962, at Rice University in Houston, Texas, President Kennedy gave his famous “We Go to the Moon” speech. Here at USA-eVote, we realized that with Trump’s talk of making the Space Force the newest branch of the military, it was important to remind Americans that Trump is not the first president to realize the seriousness of the “Space Race”

In his 1962 speech, Kennedy reminded us that this country was not built by men who looked forward, not backward. That “[t]hose who came before us made certain that this country rode the first waves of the industrial revolutions, the first waves of modern invention, and the first wave of nuclear power, and this generation does not intend to founder in the backwash of the coming age of space” (Source). During the Cold War, we Americans couldn’t take the risk that Communist Russia would make it to space before us. We had no idea what their plans were for space, should they win the race. Kennedy wanted us to be the leading nation in space. He wanted Americans to be the ones to decide if this new sea, as he referred to it, would be a land of peace or a new war zone. Sound familiar?

Again, Kennedy offered up what would become a famous challenge to Americans: 

We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.

Image result for we go to the moon speech

 

President Kennedy promised Americans that we would not only win the Cold War (something that he saw as moral – aka, a Christian state vs. an atheist one), but we would also win the Space Race.

Today, if you go to any Air & Space museum, you’ll see clips of this famous speech, most likely the clip of “We do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” Today, we link the success of Space to President Kennedy. But, as he implored of us 56 years ago today, there’s more to be done!

He admitted that this was “in some measure an act of faith and vision, for we do not now know what benefits await us,” but, he continued, we must be bold. And so we must be today, as well. For, after all, “space is there, and we’re going to climb it, and the moon and the planets are there, and new hopes for knowledge and peace are there. And, therefore, as we set sail we ask God’s blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked” (Source).

If Kennedy were alive today, he’d want us to keep up the mission, wouldn’t he? He’d want us to be bold and to get the work done.

Image result for we do these things not because they are easy

 

Speech: We Go to the Moon

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Berlin Crisis Speech (1961)

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On July 25, 1961, President Kennedy addressed the American people on radio and television about the Berlin Crisis. He stated that:

A theme of many of Kennedy’s speeches was “peace through strength.” But he also promised that we would never surrender to gain that peace. We would only win the battle through a strong military and a strong weapons arsenal. In this speech he reminded us: “To sum it all up: we seek peace–but we shall not surrender. That is the central meaning of this crisis, and the meaning of your government’s policy. With your help, and the help of other free men, this crisis can be surmounted. Freedom can prevail–and peace can endure” (Source).

Watch Kennedy’s Berlin Crisis speech in it’s entirety here.

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