Search Results for: missile crisis

“Referring to the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis as an example, [Rice] pointed out that the most successful preemptive actions in recent history did not involve military strikes. Referring to the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis as an example, she pointed out that military advice to launch a direct attack on the Soviet missile sites had been

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Georgii Kornienko was a Soviet diplomat who was an attaché at the Soviet embassy in Washington during Cuban Missile Crisis. Comprehensively prepare foreign policy decisions, taking into account all “objective and subjective factors;” also, understand your adversary’s position. In times of crisis, one should neither rush decisions nor stall. Do not to corner your opponent

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This page allows you to explore some of the raw evidence from the Cuban Missile Crisis. Here you will find primary sources such as historical photographs, key documents, and audio and video resources, all of which help bring the Crisis to life and show how it was experienced by key players.

The global nuclear order today could be as fragile as the global financial order was four years ago, when conventional wisdom declared it to be sound, stable, and resilient. In the aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis, President Kennedy concluded that the nuclear order of the time posed unacceptable risks to mankind. “I see the

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Fifty years ago, the Cuban Missile Crisis brought the world to the brink of nuclear disaster. During the standoff, President John F. Kennedy thought the chance of escalation to nuclear war was “between 1 in 3 and even,” and what we have learned in later decades has done nothing to lengthen those odds. Such a

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The question posed by this section of the site is: what can statesmen learn from the most dangerous confrontation in human history to better address challenges of war and peace today? Harvard’s Belfer Center has collected the lessons of many who have learned from the crisis. Soon, we will invite policymakers, scholars, students, and members

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 “I’d like to stress again the importance of what I see as Khrushchev’s uniqueness. As I pointed out earlier, his singular character and approached are central to explaining both why he placed missiles in Cuba so recklessly and why he took them out again so ready.” (p. 106) Lesson: Know your adversary. Their actions in

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“The Cuban Missile Crisis was the best thing to happen to us since the Second World War. It helped us avoid further confrontation with the Soviets; it resolved the Berlin issue; and it established a new basic understandings about U.S.-Soviet interaction. Sometimes the gambles you take pay off.” (p. 104) Lesson: The Cuban Missile Crisis

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“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). ————————————————————————–  “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

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“First… it appears that the U.S. nuclear command system was not so tightly coupled so as to prevent recovery from the serious nuclear weapons incidents that did develop during the crisis… The false warnings that did occur did not immediately or automatically produce a reaction that could not be terminated prior to war… The nuclear

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