Existing comment:
Friday, October 19:
Analysts at the National Photographic Interpretation Center came to the following conclusions after studying the reconnaissance photos:
-- 2 MRBM sites (medium-range ballistic missiles had a target range of approximately 1,000 miles) were already operational and that eight more would be operational within a week.
-- 2 sites intended for IRBMs (intermediate-range ballistic missiles with a target range of approximately 2,200 miles) would be operational within 6 to 8 weeks.
On Friday morning, the President assembled his military advisers, the Joint Chiefs of Staff. A blockade alone would be a weak response, they argued; Air Force Chief of Staff General Curtis LeMay characterized that strategy as "appeasement" -- an emotionally charged term that referred to British and French acquiescence to Nazi territorial demands in Europe in the 1930s. The terms had also become synonymous with cowardice. The Joint Chiefs urged swift military action.
Throughout the Cuban Missile Crisis, President Kennedy and others were convinced that the Soviet deployment of missiles in Cuba was linked to the presence of the United States in West Berlin. President Kennedy believed that if the United States were to take military action against the missile sites in Cuba, the Soviets would respond with military action in West Berlin, a city he had vowed to protect. "The Cuba-Berlin connection is what makes our problem so difficult," the President said, at one point. If the Soviets were to take Berlin by force, he said, he would have no alternative but to fire nuclear weapons in response. The fate of Berlin dominated many of the Ex Comm's discussions. |