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Of Thirteen Days: A Memoir Of The Cuban Missile Crisis By Robert F. Kennedy

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Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis is a political novel that was published in 1969 and was written by Robert F. Kennedy. It is a personal account of the events of the Cuban Missile Crisis from Robert Kennedy’s perspective. Throughout the story JFK approached the handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis by, “placing ourselves in the other country’s shoes” to understand why the Soviets had done what they had done and what they would do in response to U.S. actions. This mindset dictated his decisions on invading Cuba or the Soviet Union, initiating the blockade, responding to Major Anderson’s death, and other courses of action throughout the Crisis. Throughout all of his decisions, Kennedy successfully demonstrated the mindset of …show more content…

An invasion of Cuba would place the U.S in the position of the aggressor, and a bigger, more developed country, attacking a much smaller country would not look good on the world stage. As Robert Kennedy stated, “The strongest argument against the all-out military attack, and one no one could answer to his satisfaction, was that a surprise attack would erode if not destroy the moral position of the United States throughout the world (pg. 49).” This course of action was brought up multiple times as well. First in the initial findings of the weapons, and again after the U-2 was shot down. Both times though, President Kennedy took time to understand all the risks and prepare as necessary. As Robert Kennedy put it, “The President turned to us all: "We are going to have to face the fact that, if we do invade, by the time we get to these sites, after a very bloody fight, they will be pointed at us. And we must further accept the possibility that when military hostilities first begin, those missiles will be fired (pg. 85).”” Kennedy knew that the ensuing battle of an invasion would be a bloody effort and that it was a worse case course of action. It would also drag NATO into war, which President Kennedy even noted in his decision-making. “They[NATO] did not realize the full implications for them. If we carried out an air strike against Cuba and the Soviet Union answered by attacking …show more content…

He had been a U-2 pilot shot down and killed by a SAM site in Cuba. This action would almost mean war for the United States and Soviet Union. As put by Robert Kennedy, “There was the knowledge that we had to take military action to protect our pilots. There was the realization that the Soviet Union and Cuba apparently were preparing to do battle (pg.97).” The President was pressured to begin retaliation and take out SAM sites in Cuba. Doing this would begin the hostility that Kennedy and Khrushchev wanted to avoid. But during this time, President Kennedy still asked those questions: What response could we anticipate? What were the implications for us (pg. 99)? His ultimate decision was to not attack, and instead respond to the letter from

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Sheldon M. Stern’s book The Week the World Stood Still gave eye opening information into the secrets of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the ‘inner sanctum of the Kennedy administration during the Cuban Missile Crisis, arguing convincingly that Kennedy acted with great caution during one of the great showdowns of the cold war.’ Sheldon strongly believed that JFK had made the correct decisions while he was in the risky situation including Cuba and their missiles. Writing the book was easy for Sheldon, as he was a historian at the John F. Kennedy library. He had access to the recordings that Kennedy had taken many years ago.

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The Kennedy administration would give it another try in 1961 and 1962 with Operation Mongoose which would even further put strain on the United States and Cuban relationship. During the one year period Operation Mongoose and the Cuban Missile Crisis would take center stage. It was brought to the attention of the administration by way of a U-2 spy plane that the Soviet Union was supplying materials and constructing nuclear missile sites on the island of Cuba. (Figure 2, Atomic Archive)

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Kennedy’s record with foreign affairs was imperfect. His decisions towards Cuba had major flaws, which could have led to a nuclear war. His biggest failure as president was the Bay of Pigs invasion that took place in April of 1961. It was meant to be a mission to overthrow Fidel Castro. However, the 1400 American trained Cuban invaders were outnumbered by Castro’s troops and “surrendered after less than 24 hours of fighting” (History.com).

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Kennedy’s speech was influential because of the three main aspects were executed so successfully. He informed them about what the missiles were like, what they were capable of, and the steps America and several other countries would take in retaliation to the nuclear weapons in Cuba. He conveyed pathos through his words of compassion towards the Cuban captives and feeling for their pain. He asserted his feelings of confidence of the United States and his firmness of not backing down; the country would go to war if they must. Structure was punctualized by having three main topics, all paragraphs are the same length, with the exception of three small

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Kennedy’s decision to put the quarantine in place was sagacious and helped to bring peace to the world. Kennedy’s final and riskiest decision of the Cuban Missile crisis was responding only to the first letter. However, by doing this, he secured a great deal not only for America, but for Cuba, and Turkey as well. Since John F. Kennedy acted with decisiveness, cunning, and bravery, Cuba became an independent state, the American-Soviet relationship improved, and most importantly, the Cuban Missile Crisis did not escalate into a nuclear

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As a result Kennedy was willing to use force which was minimum but necessary (Source C). However Kennedy was still hopeful that peace could be found as he ended this letter, later by stating that he hopes that the Russian government would refrain from any action which would have deepened the crisis. This

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On 28 January 1961, President Kennedy was briefed, together with all the major departments, on the latest plan (code-named Operation Pluto), which involved 1,000 men landed in a ship-borne invasion at Trinidad, Cuba, about 270 km (170 mi) south-east of Havana, at the foothills of the Escambray Mountains in Sancti Spiritus province. The reason they wanted to do it that way was because Trinidad had good port facilities, it was closer to many existing counter-revolutionary activities, it had an easily defensible beachhead, and it offered an escape route into the Escambray Mountains. When that scheme was rejected by the State Department, the CIA went to propose a new plan. On 4 April 1961, President Kennedy then approved the Bay of Pigs plan, because it had an airfield that did not need extending to handle bomber operations, it was farther away from large groups of civilians than the Trinidad plan, and it was less "noisy" militarily, which would make any future denial of direct US involvement more

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Disaster Averted Can anyone imagine waking up every morning for two weeks not knowing if the world you knew before it is still standing, or if thousands of lives have just banished with the click of a button somewhere in your nation? This was John F. Kennedy’s reality during the Cuban Missile Crisis. President Kennedy gave the speech Cuban Missile Crisis Address, from his office, to be televised and transmitted through radio by thousands of American citizens, Cuban people, and international leaders all over the globe. John F. Kennedy’s Cuban Missile Crisis address to the nation speech solidifies his legacy among the people of the United States of America because he is able to demonstrate his capacity to confront this issue, ease the American

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The U.S. saw Fidel Castro as a leader who could not be trusted because of his ties close to communism. The Bay of Pigs was the U.S. government’s way to attempt to control the country of Cuba. When the U.S. backed invasion failed and became a public affair, Kennedy gave a speech on why he thinks it is necessary to act now against the “Dictatorship regime”, he Says, “Secondly, it is clear that this nation, in concert with all the free nations of this hemisphere, must take an even closer and more realistic look at the menace of external Communist intervention and domination in Cuba… The evidence is clear, and the hour is late. We and our Latin friends will have to face the fact that we cannot postpone any longer the real issue of the survival of freedom in this hemisphere”

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During the Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis took place. It was when two superpowers were close to causing a nuclear war. Its main origin was when the United States invaded Cuba, on April 10, 1961; which is also known as the Bay of Pigs invasion. After the invasion, previous Prime Minister; Fidel Castro of Cuba, was ‘paranoid’ because he felt like America was planning another attack. So in order to protect his nation, he sought military and economic help from the Soviet Union.

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In an attempt to overthrow Castro and prevent the spread of communism throughout Latin America, Kennedy was forced to implement “a watered down plan inherited from the Eisenhower administration” , which involved using CIA trained Cuban rebels to encourage an anti-Castro uprising which would then appear as an internal uprising. This resulted in what historian Theodore Draper described as a “perfect failure” On April 17th 1961, 1500 rebels landed on the Bahia de Cochinos however invaders were swiftly captured or killed and as Kennedy refused to send in USA troops and cancelled a planned air strike in order to feign lack of American involvement, the plan ended in “total humiliating defeat” . Kennedy was enraged that he had signed what he had seen as an “unworkable plan” and that he had “allowed himself to be swept along by sheer bureaucratic momentum” . Despite this he took full responsibility for the failed operation stating in a news conference on March 21st 1961, that while “victory has a hundred fathers, defeat is an orphan” .

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