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The Cold War: What We Saw #5 · May 15, 2023 · 58m

Part 5: Thirteen Days in October

Bill Whittle

The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 — the closest humanity came to nuclear annihilation. Whittle narrates the 13 days when Kennedy and Khrushchev brought the world to the brink and then pulled back.

Canon

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Kennedy's restraint during the missile crisis was learned courage — he rejected his advisors' unanimous recommendation to bomb Cuba
Whittle documents how every senior military advisor and most of Kennedy's cabinet recommended immediate air strikes on Cuba. Kennedy refused. The courage to override unanimous expert advice required extraordinary independence of judgment.
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The back-channel between Kennedy and Khrushchev shows that personal relationships between adversaries can prevent catastrophe
Whittle reveals that Kennedy and Khrushchev communicated through unofficial channels (Robert Kennedy to Soviet Ambassador Dobrynin) because official channels were too slow and too public. The personal relationship saved the world.
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