October 28, 1962
The past six days have by far, been the most trying of my
presidency and perhaps my entire life. I
am proud of my fellow Americans for standing tall and starring down the threat
of nuclear devastation aimed squarely at our great nation by the communist
powers of the Soviet Union and Cuba.
Even before the end of the second World War, the new threat that
communism posed to democracy was palpable; where Truman contended with Stalin,
I would meet this threat in the form of Castro and Khrushchev. Although I am confident that my chosen course
of action in this Cuban missile crisis met the needs of my country and the
honorable standards of my office, I must take credit for my perceived weakness
at the summit in Vienna in 1961 in the eyes of Nikita Khrushchev. I felt bullied and hemmed in by the Red Scare
xenophobia of my contemporaries and several of my key generals. My response, with the support of Robert
McNamara, was meant to be one of carefully measured prudence to avoid
first-strike tactics or saber-rattling.
Unfortunately, this was misconstrued as weakness by the Soviets and in
response I over compensated with the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 as well as
attempting to intimidate Castro with the mock-invasion of an island in the
Caribbean. I must take ownership of how
these actions of intimidation led to the nuclear threat in Cuba and let history
judge me for them. I vow that I will
learn from these mistakes, be grateful for the peaceful outcome of this Cuban
crisis, and in the future I will exhaust every diplomatic approach possible in
order to avoid armed conflict with the communists. Presently, I am under pressure from my
military advisers to commit American ground forces to a war effort in
Vietnam. Even though I am in support of,
and have supported, financial aid and sending military advisors to help the
Vietnamese forces in their fight against the Viet Cong, the threat of nuclear
annihilation has strengthened my resolve to avoid sending our troops into
Vietnam at all costs. I know that this
will not make me popular with the republicans, my generals, and many patriotic
Americans; but I feel that the cost of a ground war would be too much to bear
for our great nation. I do not see a
clear victory and causing a nuclear war is not the heirloom that I seek to
leave for my children and the next generation of Americans. I will have to balance my resolve on the
matter with the need to get re-elected and that this will anger many, but even
though some may seek to strike me down, I will uphold what I know is in our
best interests.
“We don't have a
prayer of staying in Vietnam. Those people hate us. They are going to throw our
asses out of there at any point. But I can't give up that territory to the
communists and get the American people to re-elect me” – JFK, 1963 speaking
about the situation in Vietnam
