Blogtrek

The Greatest Decision

I heard documentaries and other stories about President John F. Kennedy's life and his assassination. What struck me about it was the Cuban Missile Crisis. Looking back at what Kennedy did, I conclude that he made one of the best decisions ever made by a US President. Further, in so doing, he turned back demands on him that could have likely meant my early death at age 17 - and maybe yours, through a nuclear holocaust.

The problem started when Nikita Khrushchev wanted to counteract the presence of missiles in Turkey and Europe that were pointed at his country, the Soviet Union. He made the impetuous decision to put missiles in Cuba with the intent of rectifying that balance, knowing full well that the US would react strongly to such an incursion. It turned out to be his biggest blunder. But he went ahead with it, and started building missiles in Cuba.

This was soon discovered by US spy planes - satellites were up but not the type that could take aerial photographs of Cuba. The Joint Chiefs of Staff reported this to Kennedy and said that there was only one way to handle this - invade Cuba and overthrow Castro. Kennedy did not want to do this. He felt that this could cause the Soviet Union to retaliate with nuclear missiles. In fact, there already were missiles in Cuba that could have hit US targets. He did not want to do something which might cause the world to explode in thermonuclear holocaust.

But he did not want to back down. To allow Soviet missiles in Cuba would have seriously damaged our security. So he wanted to stand up to the Soviets but not cause a nuclear showdown. An invasion was not the way. Neither was doing nothing. He found a way of standing up to the Soviets that had the best chance of dealing with the situation. He ordered a blockade of Cuba. This did two things: it told the Soviets to stop building missiles in Cuba or else; and because it took time for Soviet ships with equipment to get to Cuba, and this is what made the decision so great, it gave Khrushchev plenty of time to think about what he was doing. Just as the ships got to the brink of the blockade, sure enough, Khrushchev backed down, allowing a treaty to be formulated and signed. I feel it was one of the most brilliant decisions ever made by our Chief Executive. Another fine point of this decision is that Kennedy rejected the advice of his military. In his previous endeavor with the military, the Bay of Pigs invasion, the brand new President listened to the Joint Chiefs and created a big fiasco.

The decision also humiliated Khrushchev and exposed to the world his mistake. He paid for it a year later when the Kremlin threw him out as Party Boss. The decision by Kennedy was a courageous one to make. There still could have been a nuclear holocaust. But by doing what he did, he took the best chance of preserving the existence of our civilization, and it still exists in part because of him. Hope that we have more leaders and decisions like his in the future.