Authors: Stacey Bredhoff, with message by David S. Ferriero (Archivist of the United States)
Title: “To the Brink: JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis”
Publication: 2012, The Foundation for the National Archives,
Washington DC, ISBN 978-0-9841033-9-6, 90 pages, full sized, gloss, paperback,
very heavily illustrated, sold at the Gift Shop at the Archives in Washington
DC for $19.95.
The book contains illustrations based on the exhibits at the
Archives, where no photography is permitted.
All the major intelligence memos, conversation transcripts, and CIA
assessments are included. There are
multiple photographs of the sites in Cuba and even of a model fallout shelter.
The Administration had been concerned about possible Soviet
activity in Cuba ever since Kennedy took office and the Bay of Pigs failed. It had called up Army reservists in September
1962 for a year of active duty. It’s a
little surprising that it took until Oct. 16 for the first official evidence of
Soviet missiles to reach the president.
Mrs. Kennedy was in Middleburg, VA on Oct. 16 and rejoined JFK on that
day, six days before the crisis was made public by Kennedy’s famous speech
Monday evening Oct. 22.
The booklet also contains photographs of CIA assessments of
the personalities of Castro and of Khrushchev. The CIA was particularly concerned about
Castro’s egotism, narcissism and even the nihilism known in today’s terrorists. That personality pathology certainly
contributed to the bellicose nature of Castro’s behavior. Castro had assumed that the US would invade
Cuba immediately, but was willing to see Cuba sacrificed to see capitalism
obliterated in nuclear war. Castro
seemed to want the end to come out of spite. Khrushchev had badly miscalculated that the US
could tolerate the presence of missiles in Cuba, since the Soviets had “tolerated”
the outdated missiles in Turkey.
The booklet has a picture of the DEFCON-3 elevation telegram
on Oct. 23.
Here is a CSPAN video on the tapes that Kennedy made of the
conversations.
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