Lessons of the Cuban Missile Crisis
The BBC has a very interesting article today, written by a historian who researched the Cuban Missile Crisis in great detail.
As it usually is, he found that things were not quite as they seemed, or as we were told. The most interesting - and important and scary - aspect is that even the American and Soviet leaders themselves did not necessarily have timely or accurate information.
Luckily, Kennedy at least was smart enough to realize that this was likely to be the case, and took it into account. Money quote:
Kennedy knew that letting the crisis escalate would be extremely dangerous, because things were almost guaranteed to get out of control.
The Crisis happened long before I was born, so I don't remember any of it. Maybe some of you do? If so, what was it like? Was it really something that people were taking very seriously at the time? Did everyone breathe a sigh of relief when the crisis was over?
As it usually is, he found that things were not quite as they seemed, or as we were told. The most interesting - and important and scary - aspect is that even the American and Soviet leaders themselves did not necessarily have timely or accurate information.
Luckily, Kennedy at least was smart enough to realize that this was likely to be the case, and took it into account. Money quote:
Fortunately, Kennedy did not believe his own spin. His own prior experience - both as a US Navy lieutenant in World War II and the Bay of Pigs fiasco in 1961 - had taught him to react sceptically to the assurances of the military brass.
Kennedy knew that letting the crisis escalate would be extremely dangerous, because things were almost guaranteed to get out of control.
The Crisis happened long before I was born, so I don't remember any of it. Maybe some of you do? If so, what was it like? Was it really something that people were taking very seriously at the time? Did everyone breathe a sigh of relief when the crisis was over?
