Tweet
Russia was planning on putting pressure on West Berlin. When we complained, the Soviet plan was to then threaten us with the nukes in Cuba. (Do you want to lose West Berlin or do you want to lose Miami?)
Plus, Krushev had threatened to bury us.
We weren't planning any offensive moves against the USSR and the Soviets knew it. (I don't know if they knew Kennedy wanted to Jupiters out of Turkey; they did know the Jupiters were obsolete.)
Plus, Krushev had threatened to bury us.
We weren't planning any offensive moves against the USSR and the Soviets knew it. (I don't know if they knew Kennedy wanted to Jupiters out of Turkey; they did know the Jupiters were obsolete.)
That's a bit wrong. The Jupiter missiles (which would be able to hit Moscow within 16 minutes from their placement in Turkey) were placed in 1961. Missiles in Cuba was a direct response to that. Also there was a fear that the US was planning an invasion of Cuba and nukes would have been a deterrent on that.
Of course if the US had tried to invade and take over Cuba, the Soviets would probably counter with taking Berlin (Turkey would have been harder).
Also welcome to the politics of the Cold War. Someone a bit more experienced probably could have navigated the straights a bit easier, gotten everything done and not humiliated Khrushchev in the process (by not making the removal of missiles from Turkey public... as a result people thought the US forced the USSR to back down for no gain).
proposed what became the Civil Rights Act of 1964
Which is nice, but if he didn't die, there is no way that it would have gotten past Representative Howard Smith (D-VA)
Though speaking of imperialists, you failed to mention how the Kennedy administration backed a coup in Iraq, which put the Baath party in power and purged the country of leftists.
Comment