Search Results for: missile crisis
“In the nuclear age it is impossible not to be honest and moral, because both sides are interested in survival.” (p. 258) Lesson: Fear can drive both sides to moral action in the nuclear age. ————————————————————————– “We have to establish more general levels of contacts. After the crisis, we established the hot line.” (p. 260)
“Members of Congress should learn from the Cuban Missile Crisis. Our commander in chief needs political space to do what’s necessary to prevent a new war in the Middle East. Lesson: In foreign policy crises, often President and decision-making team will need time and space to deliberate over decisions before pursuing one course of action.
“Most of the time [the Soviet Union and the United States] are competing. Examples are the 1962 Cuban crisis and the 1973 Arab-Israeli episode. In the former, the threat of nuclear escalation was explicit, in the latter implicit. In each case, the two parties were in direct communication with each other, maneuvering for advantage in
“Why do people have the strategic cultures or traditions that they do? Their cultures emerge from the intense emotional experiences through which they have passed, experiences that created vivid and enduring memories that readily spring to mind. Munich, Pearl Harbor, the Cuban missile crisis, and the war in Vietnam were such experiences. When future, or
“Miscalculations, mistakes and unknowns, combined with nuclear weapons that made the Missile Crisis so dangerous, can happen today. The world has changed, but our nuclear weapons practices have not caught up.” Lesson 1: Missile Crisis illustrates the likelihood that something could go wrong during a crisis. Lesson 2: Despite end of Cold War, Missile Crisis
“There are many historical examples which demonstrate military evasion of civilian control over military operations. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, the U.S. Navy ran its blockade according to its traditional methods, disregarding President Kennedy’s instruction… American civilian policymakers may have the least influence over the most escalatory operations.” (32) Lesson: Be wary in international crises:
“Understand your enemy’s real views, especially on nuclear weapons.” Walter Pincus, “Cuban missile crisis still a teachable moment” (WP, 10/22/12)
[Cuban Missile Crisis]: “a goodie bag from which politicians and policy-makers grab whatever lesson they need at the moment.” Lesson: Avoid cherry-picking lessons just in order to justify current policy decisions. Michael Peck, “The Cuban Missile Crisis: What Would JFK Say About Obama, Romney?” (Forbes, 10/25/12)
“There are five areas which are seen as preventing us from drawing useful lessons. Why is it that some of these lessons [from 13 Days] still hold and others do not?…Because some things don’t change all that much. One of these is human psychology; people still react to stress, fear, and fatigue the way they
“The uses made of history appear to have contributed, demonstrably, to the high quality of analysis and management apparent during the missile crisis. Right or wrong, Kennedy had the wherewithal for reasoned and prudent choice, and resort to history helped produce it.” (16) Lesson: Kennedy and his advisors used historical examples to help understand the