Search Results for: missile crisis
“The superpowers share one overriding interest: the prevention of catastrophic nuclear war….Thus, the superpowers have a powerful interest in communicating their interests clearly, understanding their respective needs, clarifying the norms and principles governing their behavior in the international arena, and doing their best to ensure that potential conflicts are identified and defused well in advance.”
“I agree with Bob McNamara’s main conclusion that it’s more important to avoid crises than to plan to deal with them. I agree that it’s important to try to emphasize Soviet thinking, and to try to understand it as far as you can.” (p. 101) Lesson: Avoid crises and try to understand adversary’s thinking. ————————————————————————–
There were real fundamental differences between the views of the hawks, including myself, and the views of those who were reluctant to take strong military actions….They had differing perceptions of the risk involved in the use of force in the nuclear age. I didn’t believe there would be any Soviet military reaction to an airstrike
“For the president of the French Republic, the Cuban missile crisis first and foremost marked the end of the postwar era of the Cold War. Having been forced to retreat before American power, in de Gaulle’s view the Soviet Union would be unlikely and unable to risk any such confrontation again for a long time
“It is remarkable how little the basic parameters of the dispute about the lessons of the Missile Crisis have changed over the past quarter-century: either there are many lessons, chiefly emphasizing the need for flexibility, managerial precision and caution in the face of great danger; or there are no lessons, because the nuclear danger of
“We talk an awful lot about the American conventional and nuclear superiority and its importance in forcing the outcome. If we’d had that, we could have just invaded and overwhelmed Cuba. Well, why didn’t we? It was because a small, ragtail nuclear deterrent on the other side was a powerful deterrent to us.” (25-26) Lesson:
“The use of nuclear weapons in a new war would mean the end of humanity…Each and every government in the world has the obligation to respect the right to life of each and every nation…In a nuclear war the “collateral damage” would be all humanity. Let us have the courage to proclaim that all nuclear
“Already we are beginning to see the inexorable process by which historical events when they recede far enough into the past, take on an antiquarian quality and gradually lose their visceral potency. Consider the American Civil War…with every passing year we look upon the Civil War with greater and greater detachment…So it will be with
“It is impossible to win a nuclear war, and both sides realized this, maybe for the first time.” (p. 283) Lesson: No real victory can come from nuclear war. ————————————————————————– “The question of superiority – you had an advantage that was sixteen or seventeen to one, and despite this fact, you could not use it.
Speaking to the House Appropriations Subcommittee: “We are engaged in very intensive diplomacy… My reading of what happened with President Kennedy is that it’s exactly what he did. It was high-stakes diplomacy. It was pushing hard to get the world community to understand, going to the UN, making a presentation, getting international opinion against the