Kennedy's Last Days: The Assassination That Defined a Generation by Bill O’Reilly Read Free Book Online Page A

medium-range bomber planes are on that island, just 90 miles from the United States. Each of the airplanes is capable of launching nuclear weapons from thousands of feet in the air. The medium-range ballistic missiles could travel as far as Arkansas.

JFK with McGeorge Bundy, special assistant to the president for national security. [JFK Presidential Library and Museum]
    The nuclear bombs the planes and missiles carry could kill 80 million Americans in a matter of minutes. Millions more would die later from the radioactive fallout.
    The president has dealt with crisis after crisis since taking office 21 months ago. But nothing—not the Bay of Pigs, not civil rights, not the Berlin Wall—can even remotely compare with this.
    JFK orders McGeorge Bundy to immediately schedule a top-secret meeting of the national security staff. He then phones Bobby, telling him that “we have some big trouble. I want you over here.” The president decides not to deviate from his normal schedule; he doesn’t want the news about this “second Cuba” to get out quite yet. He has several good reasons for this. One is that he doesn’t want to panic the American public. He needs to learn about the situation and make a plan for moving forward before talking to the press.
    Another reason has to do with JFK’s political best interests. The president long ago assured the American public that he would not allow the Soviets to install offensive weapons in Cuba. Now Nikita Khrushchev, the premier of the Soviet Union, is calling Kennedy’s bluff.

One of many conversations during the Cuban missile crisis. Here, Kennedy talks with Maxwell D. Taylor, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Robert S. McNamara, secretary of defense. [JFK Presidential Library and Museum]
    The final, and by far the most important, reason the president doesn’t want word leaking out about the missiles in Cuba is that he does not want the Russian leadership to know that he is on to their secret.

Labeled U.S. spy plane photo of launch sites being prepared in Cuba. [© Bettmann/Corbis]
    So on the morning of October 16, Kennedy leaves the residence and walks down to the Oval Office to start his day.
    Two hours later, the top-secret meeting to talk about the Soviet missiles begins. Kennedy takes a seat at the center of the table, not the head. Bobby sits across from him, as does LBJ. Eleven other men are in attendance, all handpicked for their expertise and loyalty to the president.
    Photos taken by U-2 spy planes show that the Soviet missiles are being prepared for launch. Experts think that the nuclear warheads, the bombs that the missiles and planes will carry, are on Soviet ships heading for Cuba. So the main objective is to prevent these ships from reaching Cuba and unloading the bombs. The group presents various military opinions. The first is a limited air strike. The second is a broader air strike, on a broader number of targets. The third is a naval blockade of Cuban waters to keep the Soviet ships away.

The ExComm group meets to discuss the situation in Cuba. [JFK Presidential Library and Museum]
    Bobby, who has listened quietly throughout the 70-minute meeting, finally speaks up, suggesting that a full-scale invasion of Cuba might be necessary. It is the only way to prevent Russian bombs from ever being placed on Cuban soil.

JFK, in his rocking chair, meets with Soviet foreign minister Andrei Gromyko, on Kennedy’s right, on October 18, 1962. The Soviet ambassador to the U.S. is on Gromyko’s right. White House Secret Service agent Frank Yeager stands behind the photographers. [JFK Presidential Library and Museum]
    Even as military force seems like the only solution, JFK is still troubled by the question of motive. Why is Nikita Khrushchev trying to provoke the Americans into war?
    The president doesn’t know the answer. But two things are apparent: Those missiles must be removed and, far more important, those nuclear warheads cannot be allowed to reach