- “One of the important and very difficult lessons from the crisis is that it took time for people to work out the possibilities, to see options that they didn’t see, even for President Kennedy to cool down, because he was prepared in the initial sessions to resort to an immediate attack. And that’s a difficult lesson because there is almost no chance that any president of the United States will have that leisure to deal with a crisis in the future…Presidents just must not allow themselves to be hustled by the media into premature decisions.”
Lesson: During crisis, necessary to have deliberate and thoughtful discussions on possible solutions.
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- “One of the important and very difficult lessons from the crisis is that it did take time. It took time for people to work out the possibilities, to see options that they didn’t see – even for President Kennedy to cool down, because he was prepared in the initial sessions to resort to immediate attack. I say it’s a difficult lesson because there is almost no chance any president of the United States will have that leisure to deal with a crisis in the future; and the importance of presidents and their advisors internalizing the lesson from this crisis that David Gergen was articulating to some students a couple nights ago that presidents just must not allow themselves to be hussled by the media into premature decisions. To say, ‘I’ve got to think about this.’”
Lesson: Decision makers must have time to develop and consider many options for dealing with international crises, and must not allow themselves to be pushed into premature decisions.
“Thirteen Days and the Cuban Missile Crisis” (presentation, JFK Jr. Forum at Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Cambridge, MA, February 20, 2001).
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