- “The great concern of Kennedy and the great concern probably of Khrushchev, too, was the issue of command and control – that somewhere down the line, someone might act on his own. The issue of command and control was so desperately important, and Kennedy understood this and took every precaution to make sure that nothing would go wrong down the line.”
Lesson: To minimize errors, ensure complete command and control of decision-making apparatus during a crisis.
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- “We were very lucky to have leaders in the United States and the Soviet Union of wisdom and restraint.”
Lesson: We lucked out- avoid crises like this in the future.
“On the Brink: The Cuban Missile Crisis” (speech at JFK Library and Foundation, Boston, MA, October 20, 2002).
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