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Some food for thought for everyone.

Yesterday (the 28th) marks the 49th anniversary of the ending of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

If that hadn't turned out like it did, then on the 29th of October 1962*, the world, or at least all forms of life** could've ended.





* a date of profound significance to me for completely different reasons
** with the exception of rats and cockroaches.
  • Profile picture of the author Kurt
    On a related note...Jackie O had some tapes released recently. She wanted them released a while after her death...In them, she said that after the Bay of Pigs JFK cried in private.

    It was stressful times, to say the least.
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    • Profile picture of the author ThomM
      Originally Posted by Kurt View Post

      On a related note...Jackie O had some tapes released recently. She wanted them released a while after her death...In them, she said that after the Bay of Pigs JFK cried in private.

      It was stressful times, to say the least.
      I was only 9 years old at the time and I still remember the stress.
      In school we practiced 'duck and cover' daily in case of a nuclear attack.
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  • Profile picture of the author Roaddog
    Originally Posted by whateverpedia View Post

    Some food for thought for everyone.

    Yesterday (the 28th) marks the 49th anniversary of the ending of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

    If that hadn't turned out like it did, then on the 29th of October 1962*, the world, or at least all forms of life** could've ended.





    * a date of profound significance to me for completely different reasons
    ** with the exception of rats and cockroaches.
    Thanks for bringing up the date Whatever...
    there have been many since then, Not as widely published, no doubt.

    One I can personally vouch for....Jan-June. 1983 ....off Kamchatka.
    After the shoot down of the Korean jetliner...which (the Soviets said) they thought was a KC135 (US refueler(mostly)
    craziest game of chicken I have ever seen (to put it mildly)...involving 3 aircraft carrier 'groups' and all their support ships and everything the Soviets could launch.

    I went into it on another thread, so I won't do it here...suffice to say the only place I have EVER seen anything on that was the CIA website...
    In April-May 1983, the US Pacific Fleet held its largest exercises to date in the northwest Pacific. Forty ships, including three aircraft carrier battle groups, participated along with AWACS-equipped B-52s. At one point the fleet sailed within 720 kilometers (450 miles) of the Kamchatka Peninsula and Petropavlovsk, the only Soviet naval base with direct access to open seas. US attack submarines and antisubmarine aircraft conducted operations in protected areas ("bastions") where the Soviet Navy had stationed a large number of its nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs). US Navy aircraft from the carriers Midway and Enterprise carried out a simulated bombing run over a military installation on the small Soviet-occupied island of Zelenny in the Kuril Island chain
    However disregard the 400 mile off their shore BS...we had to be far closer than that.

    In the end,( of the cold war) I believe the Soviets just ran out of money...funny that.

    ....Also '83...another part of the extreme tension before the cold war was over...
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    • Profile picture of the author seasoned
      Originally Posted by Roaddog View Post

      Thanks for bringing up the date Whatever...
      there have been many since then, Not as widely published, no doubt.

      One I can personally vouch for....Jan-June. 1983 ....off Kamchatka.
      After the shoot down of the Korean jetliner...which (the Soviets said) they thought was a KC135 (US refueler(mostly)
      craziest game of chicken I have ever seen (to put it mildly)...involving 3 aircraft carrier 'groups' and all their support ships and everything the Soviets could launch.
      If it WERE a refueler, WHY would the russians be so excited? Until a plane is up there needing refueling, there is no harm. They could THEN react. So it sounds pretty funny.

      As to the bay of pigs, the idea was like Iran having enriched uranium. They are upset NOT because they might get obliterated by it, but because it makes the other side a little braver and a little more likely to EVENTUALLY try.

      The US is lucky in that it is far away from most big enemies. IT is what has prevented a lot of the garbage MOST nations have had to put up with. Russia is SO far away that they and the US have plenty of advanced notice, about the other, and can ensure that the other side is likewise obliterated. The cuban missile crises would have made it to where russia could have knocked out a lot of the US before anyone could really react. Frankly, if I ran cuba, I would have told Russia to FORGET IT! Cuba is relatively sovereign, and if the CMC ended up differently, Cuba would be GONE today! Either the US would have just destroyed it as a country, or made the land downright BARREN! EITHER could have QUICKLY been done, ESPECIALLY in light of the nuclear threat.

      Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author Thomas Wilkinson
    I was just short of my 16th birthday. I certainly hope the next 49 years doesn't go by that fast. I have a friend here in Tampa, now retired, that was a 19 year old Russian soldier in Cuba then. A couple of days before, their commander told everyone to write a last letter home to their families. They assumed that the U.S. was going to nuke the island. It was a scary time for the other side too.

    Thomas
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    • Profile picture of the author HeySal
      Originally Posted by Thomas Wilkinson View Post

      I was just short of my 16th birthday. I certainly hope the next 49 years doesn't go by that fast. I have a friend here in Tampa, now retired, that was a 19 year old Russian soldier in Cuba then. A couple of days before, their commander told everyone to write a last letter home to their families. They assumed that the U.S. was going to nuke the island. It was a scary time for the other side too.

      Thomas
      Kinda nice to remember that the guys on the other side are following orders and in jeopardy too. I had a friend from Russia my first year of college. While they got different news there from the news we got here - the people are all the same - nobody cares to fight just so a country can gain more territory. Mortal comes in all races and nationalities.
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  • Profile picture of the author TLTheLiberator
    I'm glad we had smart, caring, non-chestbeating leadership in the WH that worked around the "forces" driving the world towards nuclear annihilation.

    The situation still scared the crap out of people anyway, but at least it didn't escalate.

    A good movie that allegedly gets into the day to day of the situation is 13 Days, starring Kevin Cosner as the top political aide to the prez at the time.

    According to the movie, Mcnamarra, ( played by Alec Baldwin ) helped save the day by making sure the military folks on the ground ( this time water ) didn't mistakenly or otherwise start the fireworks that would lead to escalation.

    I was young but I felt something was wrong when my cartoons didn't come on.

    TL
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    • Profile picture of the author Thomas Wilkinson
      Originally Posted by TLTheLiberator View Post

      According to the movie, Mcnamarra, ( played by Alec Baldwin ) helped save the day by making sure the military folks on the ground ( this time water ) didn't mistakenly or otherwise start the fireworks that would lead to escalation.
      TL
      Robert McNamara showed himself as a real statesman during the Cuban crises. He later came to be blamed for the entire Vietnam War. (he wasn't) Some refer to it as McNamara's War. Many still regard him as a war criminal. Years later in his biography he apologized for his part and his sole defense was that he used the best information he had available and made the best decisions he was able to make. Having lived through that era I think he does bear much responsibility, but also LBJ (and many others) threw him under the bus after the TET offensive. History blames him for many things he had no control over or part in.

      Thomas
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  • In an Ironic, but lighter note: This is an excerpt from the bio on the creator of "Rocky and Bulwinkle" - Jay Ward.


    An eccentric and proud of it, Ward was known for pulling an unusual publicity stunt that happened to coincide with a major national crisis. Jay Ward bought an island in Minnesota near his home and dubbed it "Moosylvania," based upon the home of his most famous TV character Bullwinkle. He and publicist Howard Brandy crossed the country in a van, gathering signatures on a petition for statehood for Moosylvania. They then visited Washington, D.C. and attempted to gain an audience with President John F. Kennedy. Unfortunately, they arrived at the White House just at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis and were escorted off the grounds at gunpoint.


    Anyone remember this?

    Then - JFK was Assasinated a year later - November 22, 1963...
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  • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
    Originally Posted by whateverpedia View Post

    * a date of profound significance to me for completely different reasons
    I'll bite ... birthday?
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    • Profile picture of the author whateverpedia
      Originally Posted by Dennis Gaskill View Post

      I'll bite ... birthday?
      Got it in one. I was born on the day after it all ended. That's why I remember the anniversary each year.
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      • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
        Originally Posted by whateverpedia View Post

        Got it in one. I was born on the day after it all ended. That's why I remember the anniversary each year.
        Happy Birthday, slightly belated.
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  • Profile picture of the author Justin Says
    Originally Posted by whateverpedia View Post

    ** with the exception of rats and cockroaches.

    Referring to **, the cockroaches probably wouldn't survive.

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    • Profile picture of the author seasoned
      Originally Posted by Justin Lewis View Post

      Referring to **, the cockroaches probably wouldn't survive.

      Mythbusters Cockroaches outliving a nuclear blast - YouTube
      I guess you never watched "myth busters", huh? They will do things like check to see if heating a water heater up to much will make it explode AND, findig it not exciting enough, will load it with C4, and try.

      Those cockroaches were exposed to much MORE radiation than the outskirts of a nuclear blast would be exposed to. Some people in nagasaki and hiroshima lasted for MONTHS! Those cockroaches were exposed to more than enough to kill a person in a fw days TOPS.

      So they WOULD have lived while the people died. Of course, the MB DID prove other insects could fare better.

      Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author derekwong28
    I think it was completely wrong to assume that a skirmish between 2 nuclear superpowers would have inevitably led to the total nuclear war. The Soviets did not have the capability to overturn a US naval blockade. The issue was how they were going to respond and whether there were any pre-existing missiles in Cuba. Since then, there had been other conflicts such as Vietnam and Afghansitan where US and USSR could have come into conflict but they didn't. The less nuclear weapons around, the safer the world is.
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