Theodore Sorensen

  • “We had won by enabling Khrushchev to avoid complete humiliation.” (p. 717)

Lesson: During crises, provide your opponent with a way out.

Kennedy (New York: Harper and Row, 1965).

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  •  “You heard the President [from video of Kennedy’s 1963 “American University” speech] say that we must not force an adversary into a choice between a humiliating retreat and nuclear war, and that is a description of why he chose the blockade, put the ball in Khrushchev’s court instead of bombing him and giving him no real choice… [JFK] had seen enough of war, and he was determined not to have another one.”

Lesson: Provide a way out for adversary in crises.

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  • “[JFK] not only reached out to the United Nations, he reached out to our allies and sent high-level statesmen to brief the British Prime Minister, the German Chancellor and the most obstinate of all, the president of France Charles de Gaulle, and… we were sharing the evidence…”

Lesson: Important to have allied support in crises; necessary to share evidence and intelligence.

“45th Anniversary of Cuban Missile Crisis” (presentation, JFK Jr. Forum at Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Cambridge, MA, October 17, 2007).

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  • “There are several misconceptions about what occurred, and the wrong lessons have been drawn as a result. I don’t believe, for example, that we were ever set for an immediate air strike or invasion.” (p. 25)

Lesson: Cuban Missile Crisis was far from over: U.S. could have turned up pressure on Cuba.

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  • “Getting the right men at the top of our government is key, and in our country it has clearly been proven that getting the right man is extremely difficult.” (p. 285)

Lesson: Make sure you have competent and/or experienced individuals leading your government.

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  • “The first lesson of the Cuban Missile Crisis is the importance of avoiding crises in the first place.” (p. 285)

Lesson: Best way to solve crises: avoid them.

Cited in James G. Blight and David Welch, On the Brink: Americans and Soviets reexamine the Cuban Missile Crisis (New York: Hill and Wang, 1989).

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