The Cuban Missile Crisis:
background
After outlining how the
U.S. was taken over by a cabal of unbalanced individuals at
Roosevelt’s death, the Untold History goes on to document
some later consequences, starting with the shameful 1954 coup that
overthrew Guatemala’s democracy. This criminal action installed a
murderous regime for which the U.S. had no criticism so long as it
operated in ways that profited U.S. corporations, most particularly
United Fruit, many of whose directors did the revolving door thing
where they would work for the State Department then return to United
Fruit… I’d say serving two masters but actually it was only one.
The coup that overthrew Iranian democracy the same year is summarized
also and these two “incidents” serve to deconstruct the mythology
that the U.S. leadership wishes to promote democracy.
The book then goes on, in
a section titled JFK, to lay the ground for the telling of the
extremely close call the life system had with a lethal nuclear
exchange between the U.S. and Russia. In the early 50s, as today, no
one could get near the presidency who did not embrace the religion of
anti-communism. Eisenhower thus rejected Kruschev’s call for an
international meeting to create a formal framework for non-violent
conflict resolution and place nukes in the hands of an international
body. Ike wanted nukes as defense-on-the-cheap and seemed to think of
them as just another weapon in the arsenal. So an opportunity was
again squandered and the nuclear clock moved us a few beats closer to
armageddon. It’s possible that Kruschev’s proposal was sincere
but that thesis could have been tested rather than rejected. A reason
for rejection, that is consistent with what we know about U.S.
foreign policy, policy not rhetoric, would be that non-violent
conflict resolution is incompatible with domination and hegemony and
therefore at odds with prime U.S. goals. Another despicable act under
Eisenhower was the assassination of Prime Minister Patrice Lumamba of
the Congo, one of numerous historical characters who succumbed to the
rule, familiar to the mafia, that if you can’t be bought you can be
murdered. The elected Lumamba was replaced by a tyrant who ruled for
30 years, siphoning billions of the nation’s treasury into his own
pockets while keeping his citizens in line with the usual methods.
The freedom-loving USA had no problem with Joseph Mobutu, maintaining
friendly relations for the entirety of his long, bloody career. As if
any were needed, more evidence of U.S. duplicity.
What was true of many of
our closest allies was claimed about regimes which refused to
follow the dictates of the Godfather. Cuba was quickly isolated when,
after Castro’s successful revolution, policies were shifted away
from service to U.S. corporations and the mafia that was running
casinos, prostitution and other unsavory operations. Nationalizing
land and instituting other policies revealed the wicked “dictator’s”
evil plans to focus government on providing for the needs of the
people instead of global corporations – an unacceptable option.
Eisenhower appointed CIA veteran Edward Lansdale to organize the
overthrow of Castro’s regime. CIA director Dulles called Lumumba
the “Castro of Africa”, to utilize the already demonized Castro
to demonize the uncooperative prime minister. Now that he was
properly disposed of, the noble effort was turned back on Castro.
But there was opposition
afoot. Bertrand Russell and Albert Einstein organized prominent
scientists to sign a “”manifesto” in 1955
attempting
to awaken the public to the dangers of nuclear weapons. Similar
efforts were happening in Europe – a lesson for us perhaps, that
organized citizens can have an impact. These efforts set off a
reaction among the ah,.. reactionaries. Ike and his team, using
taxpayer funds of course, attempted to brand these efforts
unpatriotic and to propagandize the public back into the fold by
unleashing an “atoms for peace” campaign, including the infamous
promise that nuclear energy would be “too cheap to meter”. I put
that in quotes as a reminder that the pro-nuke folks, ah… LIE!.
Other irresponsible policies continued, including threatening the use
of nukes repeatedly, whenever it seemed there was a crisis. Adlai
Stevenson called for a test ban during his run for president,
unfortunately losing to Ike. But the pressure continued to build
leading eventually to a test ban under Kennedy. Part of the
irresponsible policies was to try to convince nations to believe that
they weren’t really with it, modern, unless they built some nuclear
plants – oblivious to the obvious proliferation dangers.
Rube
Goldberg-esque schemes were dreamed up to reverse hurricanes by
dropping a nuke in front of the on-coming storm, to dredge harbors
and other “evacuation” schemes, all accompanied by assurances
that the radiation would harmlessly settle. When Kennedy was elected
he was shocked to hear recommendations for a surprise all-out nuclear
attack on the Soviet Union put forth by his military leaders, one
claiming that if there were two U.S. citizens left standing and only
one Russian we would have “won”. These were our
guys making these proposals. We obviously didn’t need an “enemy”
abroad, we had all we needed in our own government. And we were
encouraged to believe, then as now, that questioning our leaders is
not patriotic.
The
range of opinion among U.S. leadership is so constrained that Ike,
despite his irrational policies, would be considered a moderate. He
signed onto a Single Integrated Operational Plan (SIOP) that his
advisors opined would cause millions of deaths if enacted. When he
came into office the U.S. arsenal stood at one thousand nukes. When
he left there were twenty thousand, soon to reach thirty thousand due
to his initiatives. Ike’s famous farewell address warning against
the Military Industrial Complex was giddily disingenuous given his
role in creating it, but never-the-less worth the read. Into this
context comes the great “liberal” JFK, opportunistically
attacking Ike and Nixon for allowing a fictitious missile gap
favoring the Soviet Union and policies that “coddled” Castro.
Like the case of southern politicians, existing bigotry was just too
tempting and effective not to use, whether the politician was bigoted
or not.
After
winning the presidency he asked his Secretary of Defense to research
the actual missile gap. The report documented a huge one but all in
the U.S. favor. At first Kennedy kept this secret in order to advance
military spending but later, when it was politically opportune, made
it public, to the consternation of the military “big spenders”.
He pronounced his top foreign policy goal to be the overthrow of the
Castro regime, appointing CIA veteran Edward Lansdale to lead the
effort. Lansdale asked the Joint Chiefs (the guardians of democracy
remember) for a list of justifications to invade Cuba. Items that
made the list: shooting down a planeload of vacationing students and
blaming Castro; blowing up planes and ammunition at Guantamano and
claiming it was an attack by Cuba; sinking a boatload of Cuban
refugees; shooting down a U.S. Plane over international waters;
Another, just a teensy bit less outrageous was to blame Castro if an
up-coming space mission failed. The U.S. Coerced the OAS
(Organization of American States – no, not Texas, Alabama etc;
American
states, as in South, Central and North America) to expel Cuba, not
too hard since most of those states were run by an elite that didn't
like the elite-questioning ideas sailing out of that island.
Another bit of background
for the Cuban Missile Crisis was Vietnam. Kennedy had said in the
early 50s that it was hypocritical for the U.S. to malign Russia for
invading Hungary but support the French in Indo-China. Yet he
supported Diem's cancelation of elections in violation of the Geneva
accords that required elections and reunification of the country,
north and south being only a temporary division. When it was clear
that the popular Ho Chi Mihn would easily win those elections the
U.S. demonstrated, once again, its limited commitment to democracy.
Kennedy objected not to Diem's oppressive rule but to his apparent
failure to defeat the Viet Cong. One would be tempted to utter the
phrase, “It all comes back on you.” when contemplating Kennedy's
acquiescence in the assassination of Diem. Instead of using Diem's
oppression as an excuse to exit Vietnam Kennedy increased aid and
military advisors, his vice-president Johnson publicly calling Diem
the “Winston Churchill of Asia.” To give Kennedy a break, like
Kruschev he was surrounded by Hawks, even fearing a coup if he veered
too far from the hysterical status quo. Resisting his advisors who
wanted U.S. troops Kennedy agreed instead to what came to be called
the Phoenix Program which was a forced resettlement of rural peasants
into barbed wire encampments, bounties of “suspected” Viet Cong,
and the agent orange defoliation project that victimized U.S.
personnel as well as Vietnamese.
The Crisis
When it was discovered
that Cuba had Russian nukes and were assembling the missiles to
deliver them the Joint Chiefs, led by General Curtis LeMay,
predictably wanted military attacks on the bases, claiming that
Russia would not respond, just as he had assured us that radiation
from nuclear projects would settle harmlessly. When Kennedy
suggested that Russia may not respond in Cuba but would in Berlin
LeMay said he'd welcome the opportunity to get rid of Russia once and
for all. Kennedy walked out of the meeting, appalled at the cavaliar
attitude his miltary advisors held toward nuclear war. Kruschev
suggested a face-saving compromise, removing U.S. missiles from
Turkey in exchange for removing the Cuban missiles and a U.S. promise
not to invade Cuba. Kennedy insisted that the Turkey component remain
secret so that he could be seen to have backed down the Communist
menace. Some advisors advocated for rejecting Kruschev's proposal,
apparently disagreeing with his statement that saving face is not
worth millions of lives. In a letter to Kennedy that actually moved
him, Kruschev described the innocents who would die if they did not
reach a solution. Still, Kennedy insisted on the secret component,
considering apparently his political future to be more important than
the fate of the earth. Kennedy even feared a military coup, not
unrealisitc considering the cavaliar attitude he witnessed.
Unfortunately this fateful decision left Kruschev humiliated and
within a year he was ousted, bringing the hawks to power - who
promptly decided that nuclear parity with the U.S. was the only way
they could achieve security. The assassination of Kennedy
accomplished the same on the U.S. end with consequences for
Indo-China and the arms race.
The “happy” ending to
the missile crisis was not preordained. It has been called the most
dangerous moment in history because it was. Egos and incidents
battered fate around for weeks. Two missiles were fired toward the
Marshal Islands from California in a test launch which was
interpreted by Air Defense as in-coming Russian missiles and, without
consulting with the president, high alert was established with SAC
bombers in the air, kept there by aerial refueling. The navy
discovered a Russian submarine off Cuba and began dropping depth
charges, unaware that it was a nuclear armed sub. The stressed out
Russian officers voted 2-1 to launch their warheads (it required 3 of
3) so one assertive officer saved the world from nuclear holocaust.
Just as there were U.S. hawks, so there were Russians and had there
been three we might not be here to discuss it.
Stone and Kuznik portray
a schizophrenic JFK, a leader obsessed with assassinating Castro yet
reaching out to discuss differences, a preacher of democracy,
tolerance and coexistence yet a supporter of brutal dictators... a
product of the post-Roosevelt “coup”, if not a captive of the
hawks certainly subject to their intimidating presence and pressure.
In his speeches can be found contradictory statements about his
intensions regarding Vietnam and the cold war and the authors think
they have evidence to explain his hawkish views as response to the
very real and powerful presence of hawks in his military, his own
advisors and the country at large... hell, his own self. Yet speeches
and conversations with aids support the idea that he wished to
transform relations with the Soviets, withdraw from Vietnam and
promote peaceful co-existence and he recognized that nuclear weapons
had changed everything, that we end war or we end our civilization.
These two forces battled within his psyche and within the nation. And
as with the coup-like transformation after Roosevelt, the hawks
grabbed power and ran with it. Their previous behavior speaks clearly
for them. This patriarchal faction was neither incapable or
disinclined to rid themselves of impediments to their dominance. If
they didn't organize the shooting in Dallas they certainly celebrated
the changes it portended.
We are at a primitive
stage in our evolution and it is not clear that we will mature fast
enough to avoid extinction via nukes, pollution or the related threat
of over-population. Carl Sagan's suggestion seems apt: if we
encounter alien visitors they will be peaceful, for any intelligent
species arising anywhere will eventually discover the dreaded atomic
knowledge and either perish by that discovery or end war by the
adoption of non-violent conflict resolution.
