"UNTIL HELL FREEZES OVER"

STEVENSON GRILLS ZORIN ON SOVIET MISSILES IN CUBA

New York City (JFK+50) On October 25, 1962, Ambassador Adlai Stevenson questioned Ambassador Valerian Zorin about his denials that the Soviets had placed nuclear missile sites in Cuba.  The questioning came during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council here in New York.

Mr. Stevenson asked...

"Do you deny that the USSR has placed...medium and intermediate range missiles and sites in Cuba?  Yes or no -- don't wait for the translation--yes or no?

Mr. Zorin answered...

"Continue with your statement.  You will receive your answer in due course."

Mr. Stevenson responded...

"I am prepared to wait for my answer until hell freezes over..."

SOURCE

"One Minute to Midnight:  Kennedy, Khrushchev and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War," by Michael Dobbs, Alfred Knopf, New York, 2008.

 

 

UN Security Council

New York City

October 25, 1962

US Government Photo

 
 

"THE NEW FRONTIER SUMS UP WHAT I INTEND TO ASK OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE"

JFK ACCEPTS DEMOCRATIC NOMINATION

Los Angeles (JFK+50) On July 15, 1960, Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts accepted the nomination of the Democratic Party for President of the United States here in Los Angeles.  The Senator was introduced by Adlai Stevenson of Illinois whose name had been placed in nomination for president at the 1956 convention by JFK.

Senator Kennedy, who gave his acceptance speech at the Los Angeles Coliseum,

thanked the delegates for the platform which was titled "The Rights of Man." JFK described it as "our goal and...our first principle."

JFK was the first Roman Catholic candidate for President since Alfred E. Smith in 1928.  In reference to the religious issue JFK said...

"I hope that no American...will...throw away his vote by voting either for me or against me because of my religious affiliation.  It is not relevant.  My decisions on any public policy will be my own, as an American, as a Democrat, and as a free man."

In reference to his Republican opponent in the general election, Senator Kennedy said...

"Mr. Nixon may feel that it is his turn now, after the New Deal and the Fair Deal, but before he deals, someone's going to cut the cards."*

JFK spoke about the American pioneers who "gave up their safety, their comfort and sometimes their lives to build the new West."  He said that some might believe that all the frontiers have been conquered, but...

"We stand today on the edge of a New Frontier--the frontier of the 1960s, the frontier of unfilled hopes and unfilled threats.

JFK described his New Frontier this way...

"The New Frontier of which I speak is not a set of promises.  It is a set of challenges.   It sums up not what I intend to offer the American people, but what I intend to ask of them."

*Chris Matthews says that Nixon was watching JFK's speech on television, telling those around him that JFK was performing poorly, his speech above people's heads and his delivery too fast.

SOURCES

"Jack Kennedy:  Elusive Hero," by Chris Matthews, Simon and Schuster, New York, 2011.

"John F. Kennedy Democratic National Convention Acceptance Address, The New Frontier," American Rhetoric:  Online Speech Bank, www.americanrhetoric.com/

JFK Accepts Nomination

July 15, 1960

JFK Library Photo

TERRIFIC, I NEVER KNEW ADLAI HAD IT IN HIM

STEVENSON GRILLS ZORIN AT UN

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On the tenth day of the Cuban Missile Crisis, fifty-five years ago, October 25, 1962, Soviet ambassador to the United Nations Valerian Zorin refused to answer United States UN ambassador Adlai E. Stevenson's question....

"Do you...deny that the USSR has placed and is placing, medium and intermediate range missiles and sites in Cuba?"

Zorin was waiting to hear the translation of Stevenson's question from English to Russian in his earpiece when Stevenson added...

"Yes or no---don't wait for the translation--yes or no?"

Zorin, taken aback by Stevenson's tactic, replied in Russian...

"I am not in an American courtroom, sir, and I do not wish to answer a question put to me in the manner in which a prosecutor does."

Stevenson countered...

"You are in the courtroom of world opinion right now, and you can answer yes or no. You have denied that they exist, and I want to know if I have understood you correctly."

Zorin replied...

"Continue with your statement. You will receive your answer in due course. Do not worry."

Ambassador Stevenson, obviously frustrated by Zorin's lack of candor, said...

"I am prepared to wait for my answer until hell freezes over, if that's your decision."

The United States then presented the photographic evidence to prove to the world the Soviet Union had indeed installed nuclear weapons in Cuba.

President John F. Kennedy, concerned about Stevenson's ability to stand-up to Zorin, was watching on television as he sat in his rocking chair in the Oval Office.

When it was over, JFK turned to his aides and said...

"Terrific. I never knew Adlai had it in him."


*Valerian Zorin (1902-1986) joined the Communist party in 1922 and graduated from the Communist Institute of Education in 1935.  He was ambassador to Czechoslovakia from 1947-1955. VZ, who won 3 'Orders of Lenin', was Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and UN ambassador from 1956-1965.  He was ambassador to France from 1965-1971.  

SOURCES

"'Let Us Begin Anew':  An Oral History of the Kennedy Presidency, by Gerald S. and Deborah H. Strober, Harper Collins Publishers, New York, 1993.

"One Minute To Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev and Castro On The Brink of Nuclear War" by Michael Dobbs, Alfred Knopf, New York, 2008.

UN Security Council

October 25, 1962

PD-USGOV photo

YES OR NO?--DON'T WAIT FOR THE TRANSLATION

JFK+50:  Volume 6, No. 2109

STEVENSON GRILLS ZORIN AT UN

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On the tenth day of the Cuban Missile Crisis, fifty-four years ago, October 25, 1962, Soviet ambassador to the United Nations Valerian Zorin refused to answer United States UN ambassador Adlai E. Stevenson's question....

"Do you, Ambassador Zorin, deny that the USSR has placed and is placing, medium and intermediate range missiles and sites in Cuba?"

Zorin was waiting to hear the translation of Stevenson's question from English to Russian in his earpiece, when Stevenson said...

"Yes or no---don't wait for the translation--yes or no?"

Zorin, seemingly taken aback by Stevenson's tactic, replied in Russian...

"I am not in an American courtroom, sir, and I do not wish to answer a question put to me in the manner in which a prosecutor does."

Stevenson countered...

"You are in the courtroom of world opinion right now, and you can answer yes or no. You have denied that they exist, and I want to know if I have understood you correctly."

Zorin replied...

"Continue with your statement. You will receive your answer in due course. Do not worry."

Stevenson, obviously frustrated by Zorin's lack of candor, said...

"I am prepared to wait for my answer until hell freezes over, if that's your decision."

When a speaker at the United Nations uses the word "hell,"  you know the situation is bad.

The United States then presented the photographic evidence to prove to the world the Soviet Union had indeed installed nuclear weapons in Cuba.

President John F. Kennedy, concerned about Stevenson's ability to stand-up to Zorin, was watching on television as he sat in his rocking chair in the Oval Office.

When it was over, JFK turned to his aides and said...

"Terrific. I never knew Adlai had it in him."

In an oral history, Joseph Sisco** says that while Adlai had a  prepared speech, his phrase 'until hell freezes over' was "totally ad libbed...there was nothing like that in the text."


*Valerian Zorin (1902-1986) joined the Communist party in 1922 and graduated from the Communist Institute of Education in 1935.  He was ambassador to Czechoslovakia from 1947-1955. VZ, who won 3 'Orders of Lenin', was Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and UN ambassador from 1956-1965.  He was ambassador to France from 1965-1971.  

**Joseph J. Sisco (1919-2004) was raised in Chicago and graduated from Knox College in Galesburg, IL in 1941.  He was in the army in WWII and earned a Masters and Doctoral degree at the University of Chicago in 1947 and 1950.
In 1950, Sisco became a CIA officer and in 1951 joined the State Dept.  He was Henry Kissinger's chief deputy during the period of shuttle diplomacy in the 1970s.


SOURCES

"'Let Us Begin Anew':  An Oral History of the Kennedy Presidency, by Gerald S. and Deborah H. Strober, Harper Collins Publishers, New York, 1993.

"One Minute To Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev and Castro On The Brink of Nuclear War" by Michael Dobbs, Alfred Knopf, New York, 2008.

Adlai E. Stevenson

June 23, 1961

Library of Congress Photo

UN Security Council

October 25, 1962

PD-USGOV photo

STEVENSON WAITS FOR ANSWER "UNTIL HELL FREEZES OVER"

Thursday, October 25, 1962

STEVENSON WAITS FOR ANSWER "UNTIL HELL FREEZES OVER"

New York City (JFK+50) With the missile crisis into its 10th day, the temperature shot up from hot to a boil at the United Nations today when US ambassador Adlai Stevenson posed this question to Soviet ambassador Valerian Zorin:

"Do you...deny that the USSR has placed...medium & intermediate range missiles in Cuba?

Yes or no....

Don't wait for the translation (into Russian)....yes or no?"

Zorin*, obviously taken aback by the tone of Stevenson's question, responded:

"I am not in an American courtroom, sir, continue your statement.  You will receive your answer in due course."

Without batting an eye, Adlai Stevenson shot back:

"I am prepared to wait for your answer until hell freezes over, if that's your decision."**

But Stevenson had the evidence to present to Zorin & the UN Security Council.  Enlarged U2 photographs showing the nuclear missile sites in Cuba were shown.

                    UN Security Council 
                       October 25, 1962
                        PD-USGOV photo

*Michael Dobbs writes that Zorin was "tired...ill" & uninformed by Moscow.  Zorin took the standard Soviet diplomatic stance of denial.

**JFK, watching on television, said following Stevenson's statement, "Terrific. I never knew Adlai had it in him."

                       Adlai Stevenson
                          June 23, 1961
             Library of Congress Photo


Sources:  Michael Dobbs, One Minute to Midnight, 2008.

James M. Lindsay, TWE Remembers, 10/25/2012.

DAY #2: CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS

DAY #2: CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On Wednesday, October 17, 1962, President Kennedy received a letter from UN Ambassador Adlai Stevenson.

The ambassador called upon JFK to talk directly to Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev concerning the nuclear missiles sites we had discovered in Cuba.

Mr. Stevenson also said in the letter that, in his opinion, JFK "should have made it clear that the existence of nuclear missile bases" in Cuba or anywhere else in the world, "is NEGOTIABLE." 

A copy of the letter, declassified & available at the JFK Library website, reads:

"Because an attack would very likely result in Soviet reprisals...it is important that we have as much of the world with us as possible.  To start...a nuclear war is bound to be divisive at best & the judgments of history seldom coincide with the tempers of the moment."

According to today's posting by James M. Lindsay on "The Water's Edge," * EXCOMM met at 8:30 a.m. in the State Department on Oct. 17, 1962.

Note:  EXCOMM was actually created by the signing of a National Security  memo by JFK on Oct 22.  Mr. Lindsay, who prefers Excom, says that while this is true, he refers to all meetings the week before as Excom meetings because they included the same men, sometimes without the presence of JFK, 

Mr. Lindsay writes that while the President was not there, CIA director, John McCone was.

He also says that at this meeting most of the participants believed Khrushchev had put the missiles in Cuba with the intention of putting pressure on the U.S. position in West Berlin.

According to Lindsay, McGeorge Bundy, JFK's adviser on national security, left this meeting early to go over to the White House to brief the President.

Lindsay also says that JFK directed John McCone to go to Gettysburg to brief former President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who recommended a military strike on Havana.

*"TWE Remembers: JFK Solicits Ike's Advisers, Cuban Missile Crisis Day 2" at www.blogs.cfr.org) Mr. Lindsay tells me that his favorite source on the topic is "Essence of Decision" by Graham Allison.  

MISCONCEPTIONS OF THE MISSILE CRISIS

In THE KNOXVILLE NEWS-SENTINEL, Sunday, October 14, 2012, an article titled "Cuban missile crisis misconceptions endure" by Peter Orsi of Associated Press appeared.

There are 3 misconceptions which Mr. Orsi identifies*:

1. The crisis was a triumph of U.S. brinksmanship.
2. Washington won, Moscow lost.
3. The crisis lasted just 13 days.

*There are 2 other misconceptions identified in the online version:

4. It was a high-seas showdown
5. It was an intelligence coup for the CIA

JFK+50 will discuss today the 4th misconception.

IT WAS A HIGH SEAS SHOWDOWN

Mr. Orsi argues that the Cuban Missile Crisis is largely seen through the famous quote of Secretary of State Dean Rusk made as word came through that the Soviet ships had turned back:

 'We stood eyeball to eyeball, & the other fellow just blinked."

But according to Peter Kornbluh, in the November 2012 issue of Cigar Aficionado...

"This thing about eyeball to eyeball, it never was.  That confrontation (on the high seas between US & Soviet ships) never took place.

Mr. Orsi adds that Rusk's comment was made on October 24th, a day AFTER Khrushchev recalled his ships.