Dylan's review
Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis by Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Kennedy, as both brother and Attorney General to President John Kennedy, does a masterful job of explaining the US Administration’s internal deliberations and decisions during the Cuban missile crisis. Many members of my generation do not, perhaps, understand the gravity of the situation, and how a 45 year old president was able to calmly deliberate on the facts, assemble an Executive Committee full of experience, ability and deliberative dissent, and make a decision that protected the world from nuclear holocaust.
While protecting the American public, both Kennedy's remained ultra-sensitive to the impact of United States Military actions on the rest of the world, including Berlin, Turkey and Italy, to name a few potential Soviet targets. It was fascinating to read about the mixed messages that the US Administration received from Khrushchev-- occasionally claiming there were no missiles, and at other times avoiding specifics and arguing forcefully for Cuba's right to arm ...more
While protecting the American public, both Kennedy's remained ultra-sensitive to the impact of United States Military actions on the rest of the world, including Berlin, Turkey and Italy, to name a few potential Soviet targets. It was fascinating to read about the mixed messages that the US Administration received from Khrushchev-- occasionally claiming there were no missiles, and at other times avoiding specifics and arguing forcefully for Cuba's right to arm ...more
