As a seven-year old, I had no understanding of the gravity of the Cuban Missile Crisis. To me, and my classmates, it was kind of a game. We’d hear an alarm go off in the school and we’d all dive under our desks as we’d been taught and cover our heads with our arms...probably to keep the radiation from getting to us if the initial nuclear warhead didn’t. It probably would have, though.
The Soviet Union had moved over forty mid-range nuclear missiles into Cuba in early October of 1962. For a week, only the leaders in Washington were aware of the situation, but the rest of the world became aware when President Kennedy entered into every American home with the news during a short TV broadcast. As I look back on it now, my parents...and all adults...must have been terror-stricken. Bunkers were dug in back yards and grocery stores were being emptied of any and all non-perishable food items and other essential supplies people thought they would need to survive life after an all-out nuclear war. And we were so close to this happening. The warheads installed in Cuba could reach all major areas of the United States in less than 30 minutes. The United States military, on the order of the President, had moved to Defcon Two, which is defined as the final step before nuclear war. Twenty-three B-52 bombers with nuclear arsenals were flying in close proximity to the Soviet Union, prepared to obliterate that country should a nuclear war begin and the United States Navy had instituted a blockade of Cuba and was prepared to turn back and Soviet vessel heading for that country.
As frightening as all this was to the leaders and citizens of this country...and the rest of the world, for that matter...thankfully, we did not know about an incident on one of four Soviet submarines steaming for Cuba. All four had a ‘special weapon’ on board...a nuclear armed torpedo...and with final authority to launch that weapon. One of the four subs upon being discovered by the U.S. Navy, initiated launch procedure. Three men needed to agree to conduct the launch, the captain of the sub, the political officer on board, and the commander of the four-sub fleet. The first two were ready to launch their missile, but the commander refused to begin WWIII and likely the end of humanity as we know it today. Not until 2002, the fortieth anniversary of the Crisis did this information become known to the rest of the world. Those of us in the second grade at St. Joseph’s grade school in Bristol, Ct. had been seconds away from actually hearing those sirens for real and would have been ducking under those desks though we know now that it would have been a vain effort.
Thank God for immense courage in a strange and electric situation filled with more tension and pressure than the human psyche is designed to endure. The Russian officer simply had to agree with his countrymen...the easier route...but instead chose to think and wonder if those orders were something he should carry out. He chose life for us all and I believe I am writing this blog today because he did. Eventually, the Russians would turn around ships they had headed for Cuba with the intention of running the blockade. Premier Khrushchev, the initiator of the Crisis, would ask for concessions from the Americans concerning warheads in Turkey. Kennedy, against the advice of all his advisors, would agree to remove these antiquated arms and Khrushchev would then turn around his ships and agree to the removal of all weapons in Cuba. The thirteen-day crisis that shook the world to its core would end.
I skipped a workout day to nurse a throbbing head. Advil and a Cuban Missile Crisis special worked wonders. Tomorrow’s weather calls for sunshine and temperatures in the seventies. I’ll be riding if all goes well.
No comments:
Post a Comment