A STEP CLOSER TO NUCLEAR WAR

PRESIDENT KENNEDY SPEAKS TO THE NATION ON SITUATION IN CUBA

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On Monday, October 22, 1962, President John F. Kennedy addressed a national television audience of more than 100 million to announce his decision to set up a quarantine or naval blockade to prevent further shipments of nuclear missiles by the Soviet Union to Cuba.

The address, which began at 7 p.m. Washington time, came on the seventh day of what would be known as the Cuban Missile Crisis. 

JFK said...

"A strict quarantine on all offensive military equipment under shipment to Cuba is being initiated--all ships...bound for Cuba...will, if found to contain cargoes of offensive weapons be turned back.

It shall be (our) policy to regard any missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union."

The President also called for involvement by the United Nations Security Council or the Organization of American States.

JFK concluded his address by saying the goal of the United States was not...

"the victory of might, but vindication of right--not peace at the expense of freedom, but both peace & freedom, here in this hemisphere, and, we hope, around the world.  God willing, that goal will be achieved."

During the address, the Strategic Air Command* went to DEFCON-3 or Defense Condition 3...just two steps from nuclear war.  Later, the status would go to DEFCON 2 for the first time in history.

*Strategic Air Command (1947-1992) was responsible for Cold War command & control of 2 of the 3 components of U.S. military strategic nuclear strike forces.

SAC Shield 

ONE SWITCH STOOD BETWEEN U.S. & CATASTROPHE

NUCLEAR DISASTER NARROWLY AVERTED

Goldsboro, North Carolina (JFK+50) On January 23, 1961, just three days after President John F. Kennedy's inauguration, a B-52 bomber carrying two 3.8 megaton hydrogen bombs crashed during a routine Strategic Air Command training mission.

The bomber, which took off from Seymour Johnson AFB near Goldsboro,  began leaking fuel and then lost its right wing.  As the plane broke apart, the two bombs came loose and plunged to the ground.

The USAF kept this secret for years until 1969 when a document* written by Parker F. Jones, supervisor of the Nuclear Weapons Safety Department at the Sandia National Laboratories**, revealed that all safety mechanisms on the nuclear weapons failed save one, a low-voltage switch.  Mr. Jones wrote...

"One simple, dynamo-technology, low-voltage switch stood between the United States and a major catastrophe."

*"How I learned to mistrust the H-Bomb"

**SNL are operated by the National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia.  It was founded in 1948 & has a budget of $2.4 billion. Locations include Albuquerque, NM & Livermore, CA.

SOURCES

"Document Reveals 1961 Nuclear Close-Call over North Carolina", by Christopher Klein, September 24, 2013, www.history.com/

"Report:  U.S. comes close nuclear disaster in 1961", by Cassandra Vinograd, September 21, 2013, The Washington Post, www.washingtonpost.com/

Building 800

Sandia National Laboratories (1951)

NOT PEACE AT THE EXPENSE OF FREEDOM, BUT BOTH PEACE & FREEDOM

JFK+50:  Volume 6, No. 2106

CRUNCH TIME IN CUBA:  JFK ANNOUNCES BLOCKADE

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Fifty-four years ago tonight, Monday, October 22, 1962, the world came to the brink of nuclear war as President John F. Kennedy announced his decision to set up a naval blockade to prevent further shipments of nuclear missiles by the Soviet Union to Cuba.

The address, which began at 7 p.m. Washington time, came on the seventh day of what would be known as the Cuban Missile Crisis. 

JFK said:

"A strict quarantine on all offensive military equipment under shipment to Cuba is being initiated--all ships...bound for Cuba...will, if found to contain cargoes of offensive weapons be turned back.

It shall be (our) policy to regard any missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union."

JFK concluded his address by saying the goal of the United States was not...

"the victory of might, but vindication of right--not peace at the expense of freedom, but both peace & freedom, here in this hemisphere, and, we hope, around the world.  God willing, that goal will be achieved."

During the address, the Strategic Air Command went to DEFCON-3 or Defense Condition 3...just two steps from nuclear war.  Later, the status would go to DEFCON 2 for the first time in history.


NUCLEAR WARHEADS INSTALLED ON F106s

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) At 4:37 p.m (EDT) on October 22, 1962, General John Gerhart*, commander-in-chief of the North American Defense Command, gave the order to install nuclear weapons on F106 fighter jets which were then deployed to airfields in remote areas.

The action, directed from the White House, was part of the response by the Kennedy administration to the buildup of Soviet nuclear missile sites in Cuba.
The nuclear weapons installed were MB-1 "Genie" air-to-air missiles, each with a 1.5 kilaton warhead.

*General John K. Gerhart (1907-1981), born in Saginaw, Michigan, graduated from the University of Chicago & Harvard Business School.  He commanded B-17s in WWII & became 1st Deputy Chief of Staff at Air Force HQ before his appointment to NADC commander by JFK.
                

General John K. Gerhart

United States Air Force

USAF Photo

MISSILE CRISIS DAY 9

JFK+50:  Volume 5, No. 1753

SAC ORDERS ALERT TO DEFCON-2

Omaha, Nebraska (JFK+50) Fifty-three years ago today, October 24, 1962, General Thomas Power of the Strategic Air Command, headquartered here in Omaha, ordered his forces to DEFCON-2, one step from "imminent nuclear war".  The General also broadcast an alert message on non-scrambled, open radio channels.

DEFCON-2 is the highest alert level ever ordered by the United States military. On September 11, 2001, the United States armed forces were ordered to Defcon-3 or medium military readiness.

    CHART OF DEFCON RATINGS

 DEFCON 5 Lowest military readiness
 DEFCON 4 Increased intelligence watch 
 DEFCON 3 Medium military readiness
*DEFCON 2 War readiness
 DEFCON 1 Nuclear war imminent

General Thomas Power

Strategic Air Command

"WE STOOD EYEBALL TO EYEBALL"

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) 53 years ago today, October 24, 1962, began the ninth day of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the closest the world has come to nuclear war.

The Executive Committee of the National Security Council met at 10 a.m. in the Cabinet Room at the White House.The meeting began with CIA Director John McCone reporting that 22 Soviet ships were heading for the Quarantine Line 500 miles east of Cuba.

Later, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara relayed information that two Soviet ships, Kimovsk and Yuri Gagarin, were approaching the line with a Soviet submarine in between.

When John McCone broke the news that six Soviet ships had "either stopped or reversed direction,"  Secretary of State Dean Rusk said:

"We stood eyeball to eyeball and the other fellow just blinked."

In the evening, JFK enjoyed a private late night dinner with Mrs. Kennedy and close friends including journalist Charles Bartlett.  When Mr. Bartlett proposed a toast to celebrate the day's events, the President said....

"You don't want to celebrate in the game this early."

According to Michael Dobbs, evidence now available proves the Soviet "turnaround" was actually done on Tuesday morning, October 23, 1962, or 24 hours before the EXCOM meeting of the 24th.

Dobbs says that historians  "failed to use these records to plot the actual positions of Soviet ships on the morning of Wednesday, October 24, 1962."

SOURCES

Michael Dobbs, One Minute to Midnight, 2008.

James M. Lindsay, TWE Remembers, 10/24/2012.

EXCOM Meeting

October 1962

Photo by Cecil Stoughton

JFK Library Photo