Download or read book Living the Cuban Missile Crisis written by Donna Searle McLay and published by Dorrance Publishing. This book was released on 2023-06-16 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: About the Book In her vivid first-hand account, author Donna Searle McLay recounts the uncertainty, the confusion, and the intimate details of the voyage of several thousand civilians as the families of U.S. Navy and Marines stationed in Cuba were evacuated to Norfolk, Virginia, in October, 1962, at the beginning of the Cuban Missile Crisis. President John F. Kennedy and Russian Premier Nikita Khrushchev agreed that nuclear war was not an option, and thus ended an international crisis, but only after days and weeks of behind-the-scenes meetings and concurrent wide-spread concerns by all.

Download or read book Living Through the Cuban Missile Crisis written by William S. McConnell and published by Greenhaven Press, Incorporated. This book was released on 2005 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During thirteen tense days in October 1962, and only ninety miles from the coast of Florida, the Soviet Union constructed nuclear missile silos and shipped nuclear warheads to Communist Cuba bringing both superpowers to the brink of a nuclear war. This volume examines the missile crisis from the perspective of U.S. citizens, includes articles that highlight the public response, and provides primary documents such as speeches and communiquis to which the public had access through news media during the crisis period.

Download or read book When Angels Wept written by Eric G. Swedin and published by Potomac Books, Inc.. This book was released on 2010-08-31 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1961 at the Bay of Pigs, CIA-trained and -organized Cuban exiles aiming to overthrow Fidel Castro were soundly defeated. Most were taken prisoner by Cuban armed forces. Fearing another U.S. invasion of its new ally, the Soviet Union sneaked into Cuba strategic missiles tipped with nuclear warheads and Soviet troops armed with tactical nuclear weapons. However, a U-2 spy plane flight would soon find the Soviet missile sites, thus sparking the famous missile crisis. For thirteen terrifying days, the world watched nervously as the two superpowers moved toward escalation, holding the world's fate in their hands. Finally, Nikita Khrushchev blinked. He agreed to withdraw the weapons from Cuba in return for John F. Kennedy's pledge not to invade the island. But what if it had not turned out this way? What if the U-2 flight had been delayed? If the confrontation had set off a nuclear war, what would have happened to the United States and Soviet Union in 1962? What kind of account would a historian have written in a world scarred by nuclear war? Eric G. Swedin draws on research made available after the Soviet Union's collapse to examine what could have happened. Top U.S. military officers all urged stronger action against Cuba than the naval blockade, including a bombing campaign and even a full-scale invasion. Unknown to the Americans, meanwhile, the Soviet Union had tactical nuclear weapons in Cuba and were prepared to use them. The 1962 crisis had many possible outcomes. Positing an alternate history helps us better appreciate the dangers of that tense time. Such counterfactual speculation shows what the Cuban missile crisis could have wrought and how it was truly one of the most important moments of the twentieth century.

Download or read book The Cuban Missile Crisis in American Memory written by Sheldon M Stern and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2012-09-05 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Marshals irrefutable evidence to succinctly demolish the mythic version of the crisis . . . sober analysis.” —The Atlantic This book exposes the misconceptions, half-truths, and outright lies that have shaped the still dominant but largely mythical version of what happened in the White House during those harrowing two weeks of secret Cuban missile crisis deliberations. More than a half-century after the event, it is surely time to demonstrate, once and for all, that Robert F. Kennedy’s Thirteen Days and the personal memoirs of other ExComm members cannot be taken seriously as historically accurate accounts of the ExComm meetings. This book, from the first historian to listen to and evaluate the White House tapes made during the crisis, does exactly that. “Stern is not alone in questioning the precision of the transcripts offered, but he has made the most painstaking attempt to clarify what was really said and done.” —Journal of American History

Download or read book Thirteen Days A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis written by Robert F. Kennedy and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2011-04-25 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A minor classic in its laconic, spare, compelling evocation by a participant of the shifting moods and maneuvers of the most dangerous moment in human history." —Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. During the thirteen days in October 1962 when the United States confronted the Soviet Union over its installation of missiles in Cuba, few people shared the behind-the-scenes story as it is told here by the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy. In this unique account, he describes each of the participants during the sometimes hour-to-hour negotiations, with particular attention to the actions and views of his brother, President John F. Kennedy. In a new foreword, the distinguished historian and Kennedy adviser Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., discusses the book's enduring importance and the significance of new information about the crisis that has come to light, especially from the Soviet Union.

Download or read book Awaiting Armageddon written by Alice L. George and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2004-07-21 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For thirteen days in October 1962, America stood at the brink of nuclear war. Nikita Khrushchev's decision to place nuclear missiles in Cuba and John F. Kennedy's defiant response introduced the possibility of unprecedented cataclysm. The immediate threat of destruction entered America's classrooms and its living rooms. Awaiting Armageddon provides the first in-depth look at this crisis as it roiled outside of government offices, where ordinary Americans realized their government was unprepared to protect either itself or its citizens from the dangers of nuclear war. During the seven days between Kennedy's announcement of a naval blockade and Khrushchev's decision to withdraw Soviet nuclear missiles from Cuba, U.S. citizens absorbed the nightmare scenario unfolding on their television sets. An estimated ten million Americans fled their homes; millions more prepared shelters at home, clearing the shelves of supermarkets and gun stores. Alice George captures the irrationality of the moment as Americans coped with dread and resignation, humor and pathos, terror and ignorance. In her examination of the public response to the missile crisis, the author reveals cracks in the veneer of American confidence in the early years of the space age and demonstrates how the fears generated by Cold War culture blinded many Americans to the dangers of nuclear war until it was almost too late.

Download or read book Cuban Missile Crisis written by R. Conrad Stein and published by Enslow Publishers, Inc.. This book was released on 2008-10-01 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Enhanced with sidebars and colorful maps, each book in this engaging series focuses on an event or era in American history, spanning from the time before Columbus' arrival to the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Download or read book Kennedy Tapes Concise Edition written by Ernest R May and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2002-02-05 with total page 580 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: October 1962: the United States and the Soviet Union stood eyeball to eyeball, each brandishing enough nuclear weapons to obliterate civilization in the Northern Hemisphere. It was one of the most dangerous moments in world history. Day by day, for two weeks, the inner circle of President Kennedy's National Security Council debated what to do, twice coming to the brink of attacking Soviet military units in Cuba -- units equipped for nuclear retaliation. And through it all, unbeknownst to any of the participants except the President himself, tape was rolling, capturing for posterity the deliberations that might have ended the world as we know it. Now available in this new concise edition, The Kennedy Tapes retains its gripping sense of history in the making. Book jacket.

Download or read book DEFCON 2 written by Norman Polmar and published by Turner Publishing Company. This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The closest we've ever come to the end of the world "DEFCON-2 is the best single volume on the Cuban Missile Crisis published and is an important contribution to the history of the Cold War. Beyond the military and political facts of the crisis, Polmar and Gresham sketch the personalities that created and coped with the crisis. They also show us how close we came to the edge without becoming sensationalistic."—Larry Bond, bestselling author of Dangerous Ground Spy-satellite and aerial-reconnaissance photos reveal that one of the United States's bitterest enemies may be acquiring weapons of mass destruction and the means to use them against the American homeland. Administration officials refuse to accept intelligence professionals' interpretation of these images and order an end to spy missions over the offending nation. More than a month later, after vicious infighting, the president orders the spy missions to resume. The new photos reveal an array of ballistic missiles, capable of carrying nuclear warheads and striking deep within U.S. territory. It appears that the missiles will be fully operational within one week. This is not a plot setup for a suspense novel; it is the true story of the most terrifying moment in the 45-year Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union: the Cuban Missile Crisis. DEFCON-2 tells this tale as it has never been told before—from both sides, with the help of hundreds of recently declassified U.S. and Soviet documents, as well as interviews with numerous former spies, military figures, and government officials who speak out here for the first time.

Download or read book The Fourteenth Day JFK and the Aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis The Secret White House Tapes written by David Coleman and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2012-10-08 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Describes what was going on in the Oval Office as the highly-charged events leading up the Cuban Missile Crisis unfolded, as well as the immediate aftermath, based on secret recordings made by President Kennedy.

Download or read book Nuclear Folly A History of the Cuban Missile Crisis written by Serhii Plokhy and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2021-04-13 with total page 426 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The definitive history.…With his masterly book, Mr. Plokhy has sounded a warning bell." — The Economist A harrowing account of the Cuban missile crisis and how the US and USSR came to the brink of nuclear apocalypse. Nearly thirty years after the end of the Cold War, today’s world leaders are abandoning disarmament treaties, building up their nuclear arsenals, and exchanging threats of nuclear strikes. To survive this new atomic age, we must relearn the lessons of the most dangerous moment of the Cold War: the Cuban missile crisis. Serhii Plokhy’s Nuclear Folly offers an international perspective on the crisis, tracing the tortuous decision-making that produced and then resolved it, which involved John Kennedy and his advisers, Nikita Khrushchev and Fidel Castro, and their commanders on the ground. In breathtaking detail, Plokhy vividly recounts the young JFK being played by the canny Khrushchev; the hotheaded Castro willing to defy the USSR and threatening to align himself with China; the Soviet troops on the ground clearing jungle foliage in the tropical heat, and desperately trying to conceal nuclear installations on Cuba, which were nonetheless easily spotted by U-2 spy planes; and the hair-raising near misses at sea that nearly caused a Soviet nuclear-armed submarine to fire its weapons. More often than not, the Americans and Soviets misread each other, operated under false information, and came perilously close to nuclear catastrophe. Despite these errors, nuclear war was ultimately avoided for one central reason: fear, and the realization that any escalation on either the Soviets’ or the Americans’ part would lead to mutual destruction. Drawing on a range of Soviet archival sources, including previously classified KGB documents, as well as White House tapes, Plokhy masterfully illustrates the drama and anxiety of those tense days, and provides a way for us to grapple with the problems posed in our present day.

Download or read book An Overview Of The Cuban Missile Crisis written by Quincy Parnell and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2021-04-24 with total page 142 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nobody who lived through this time will every forget it. The author provides a fascinating account of what life was like in the USSR during the Cold War's most dangerous year, 1962, when Soviet leader Khrushchev brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. Ironically, the year had begun quite differently: upon arriving in Moscow, he found himself spending evenings with poet Robert Frost, choreographer George Balanchine, composer Igor Stravinsky and other American notables amid a U.S.-Soviet "honeymoon" launched by Khrushchev. The honeymoon didn't last long: in October, the Cuban missile crisis erupted. With the Kremlin's imposition of a news blackout, the veteran Time-Life correspondent plunged into canvassing elite and public attitudes and deciphering the regime's intentions. Muscovites were often unbelieving: spread missiles around the world? "Why would we ever do a thing like that?" Khrushchev's colleagues in the leadership would soon be asking the same question, resulting in his ouster two years later. This is a well-written and interesting account of one's man experience in Moscow during the Cuban Missile Crisis. If you were living during that time, it's very cool to remember the names and events as you're reading this. If you don't know anything about the Crisis, this is a good book to read to give you first-hand insight.

Download or read book The Stories Untold About The Cuban Missile Crisis written by Ami Bausley and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2021-04-24 with total page 142 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nobody who lived through this time will every forget it. The author provides a fascinating account of what life was like in the USSR during the Cold War's most dangerous year, 1962, when Soviet leader Khrushchev brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. Ironically, the year had begun quite differently: upon arriving in Moscow, he found himself spending evenings with poet Robert Frost, choreographer George Balanchine, composer Igor Stravinsky and other American notables amid a U.S.-Soviet "honeymoon" launched by Khrushchev. The honeymoon didn't last long: in October, the Cuban missile crisis erupted. With the Kremlin's imposition of a news blackout, the veteran Time-Life correspondent plunged into canvassing elite and public attitudes and deciphering the regime's intentions. Muscovites were often unbelieving: spread missiles around the world? "Why would we ever do a thing like that?" Khrushchev's colleagues in the leadership would soon be asking the same question, resulting in his ouster two years later. This is a well-written and interesting account of one's man experience in Moscow during the Cuban Missile Crisis. If you were living during that time, it's very cool to remember the names and events as you're reading this. If you don't know anything about the Crisis, this is a good book to read to give you first-hand insight.

Download or read book High Noon in the Cold War written by Max Frankel and published by Presidio Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An examination of the Cuban Missile Crisis analyzes the roles, objectives, and actions of John Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev during the October 1962 showdown between the U.S. and Soviet Union.

Download or read book Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis written by Cath Senker and published by Raintree. This book was released on 2013-06-20 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How did John F. Kennedy protect his country from a nuclear threat and avoid the outbreak of a new world war? What choices did he have, what support and advice did he receive, and how did his decisions affect history and his legacy? This book looks at a momentous event from the Cold War, showing how one of the world's most charismatic leaders chose to follow a brave course of action.

Download or read book Prelude to Leadership written by John F. Kennedy and published by Regnery. This book was released on 1997-05-01 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Prelude to Leadership is the private diary of John F. Kennedy when he was a 28-year-old reporter in Europe. It offers a short yet intimate look into the mind of the man who was to become the 35th President of the United States. As World War II was ending and the Cold War was just beginning, a young naval hero decommissioned before war's end because of his crippling injuries, traveled through a devastated Europe. During the trip, John F. Kennedy kept a diary, never before published. As the diary makes clear, that European trip was a turning point in the future President's life. It was on this trip that Kennedy first confronted the "long twilight struggle" for the preservation of Western freedom that would define his Presidency. In these few months an agenda for a Presidency began to be forged, and the closing pages of the diary make clear that it was at this moment in time that Kennedy began laying plans for his first run for Congress , the first step in his journey to the White House.

Download or read book Sad and Luminous Days written by James G. Blight and published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. This book was released on 2007-02-08 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In October 1962 school children huddled under their desks and diplomats feverishly negotiated as the world sat on the brink of nuclear war. The Cuban Missile Crisis was the most dangerous moment in modern history and resulted in a changed worldview for the United States, the Soviet Union, and Cuba. In tracing the developments of the missile crisis and beyond, Sad and Luminous Days presents and interprets a heretofore unavailable (and largely unknown) secret speech that Castro delivered to the Cuban leadership in 1968. In it, Castro reflects on the crisis and reveals the distrust and bitterness that characterized Cuban-Soviet relations in 1968. Blight and Brenner frame the annotated speech with an examination of the missile crisis itself, and an analysis of Cuban-Soviet relations between 1962–1968, ending with an epilogue that highlights the lessons the missile crisis offers us in the current search for security and a stable world order. Sad and Luminous Days sheds new light on Cuban-Soviet relations and should be required reading not only for Cold-War scholars and historians, but also for anyone intrigued by the drama of the thirteen momentous days in October 1962.