The executive committee of the national security council commonly referred to as simply the executive committee or excomm was a body of united states government officials that convened to advise president john f. October 26, 1962 to november 15, 1962 the national security. This file contains additional information such as exif metadata which may have been added by the digital camera, scanner, or software program used to create or digitize it. Cuban missile crisis world history free pdf download.
Lbj, the excomm, and the cuban missile crisis research. Cuban missile crisis chronology 1 november 18, 1962 january 1992 includes list of abbreviations compiled for the cuban missile crisis, 1962. Kennedy meets with members of the executive committee of the national security. The excomm for executive committee of the national security council was a special group set up by president kennedy during the height of the cuban missile crisis. The results of this study show if inter and intragroup conflicts within excoom made such impact on decision making outcome. The united states finally decided to first blockade rather than immediately attack cuba to prevent the soviet union from finishing installation of missiles that could reach the continental united states. Transcript of cuban missile crisis meetings, 27 october 1962. As assistant secretary of defense during the cuban missile crisis, nitze was among the hawkish members of excomm, urging an immediate military strike, as he believed the soviet missiles in cuba dramatically altered the strategic nuclear balance. Crisis lesson plan 4 web resources on the cuban missile crisis 5 road to the white house activity 7 freedom 7 space capsule a t 8. On october 20, president kennedy decided on a blockade of cuba by the u. During the cuban missile crisis johnson was present at most excomm meetings. I believe the movie was pretty accurate and got almost all of the imortant events into it. Evidence of events outside the excomm supports the contention that domestic political concerns shaped cuba decision making. On october 18, kennedy met with soviet minister of foreign affairs, andrei gromyko, who claimed the weapons were for defensive purposes only.
Kennedy and the secret cuban missile crisis meetings provides a narrative approach to the excomm transcripts. A period of increased cooperation and reduced tensions known as detente began almost immediately after the cuban missile crisis and continued throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Bundy considered the october 27th meeting especially important, as it was the meeting which immediately preceded excomm s resolution of the 1962 cuban missile crisis. Thirteen days details the many meetings of the john f. Jordan explains the history behind the peak of all this panic the thirteen days of the cuban missile crisis. Cuban missile crisis for thirteen days in october 1962 the world waitedseemingly on the brink of nuclear warand hoped for a peaceful resolution to the cuban missile crisis. Cuban missile crisis geography application region answers. Harvard kennedy schools belfer center has created this site as a resource for the cuban missile crisis. New information about the missile crisis has come to light now which challenges the prevailing view about cubas importance. Lessons drawn from the cuban missile crisis, or interpretations of it, continue to. Batista was uniquely very on par with the us, fitting in with us diplomacy and influences, his overthrow was what rekindled uss interested in cuba. While participants and historians of the crisis never tire of recalling its details and its dangers, the majority of the generation that lived through it, and subsequent generations, never became emotionally. Based on your research how accurate do you believe the movie is. Read online cuban missile crisis geography application region answers altitude flybys over cuba on october 24, 1962 the us led blockade on cuba goes into effect, but its not the be the.
The book was released in 1969, a year after his assassination. New books on the cuban missile crisis the fourteenth day. A memoir of the cuban missile crisis is a nonfiction account of the cuban missile crisis of 1962, written by robert f. The ambiguous role of nuclear weapons in the resolution of the cuban missile crisis introduction. Foramen in time of crisis the saturday evening post.
Cuban missile crisis cold war conflict during october 1962, between the u. Given such action, few in that room had any doubt that. Navy to prevent further shipments of military supplies to the island. The cuban missile crisis, one of the most studied events in international relations, is widely believed to be the closest the world has come to thermonuclear war. The most dramatic moments of that crisisthe famed thirteen dayslasted from october 16, 1962, when president kennedy first learned that the soviet union was constructing missile launch sites in cuba, to october 28, when soviet premier nikita khrushchev. Similarly, military doctrine and civilian policy are lagging behind rapid technological change, and there are few international or bilateral agreements relating to the application and deployment of these new capabilities. The role of nuclear weapons during the cuban missile crisis.
I woould say the closet would be when the blockade went into effect. The cuban missile crisis belfer center for science and. Kennedy, members of his cabinet, and his advisors discussing the situation of the soviet union in cuba, later known as the cuban missile crisis. The cuban missile crisis after fifty years sciencedirect. The cuban missile crisis, excomm, united states, inter and intra group. We will focus on what the cuban missile crisis teaches us about how policy is developed and implemented in a crisis. The cuba missile crisis thirteen days 1 thirteen days. As the national interest is naturally produced during reality construction, excomms constructed reality of the cuban missile crisis favours the u. Committee of the national security council, also known as the excomm. It is just over thirty years since, as historian at the jfk library, i listened for the first time to the then classified recordings of the cuban missile crisis white house meetings of the executive committee of the national security council excomm. Executive committee of the national security council.
The new press, 1992, 1998 chronology of cuban missile crisis compiled for presidents foreign intelligence advisory board pfiab. Designed to help policymakers, students, and interested citizens draw lessons from these critical events half a century ago, this site not only provides background on the crisis that brought the world to the brink of nuclear disaster in october 1962 but also offers tools to understand how. Further reading cuban missile crisiscuban missile crisis. This item is a transcript of the meetings held in the cabinet room between president john f. Pdf the cuban missile crisis and politics as usual researchgate. Notes taken by paul nitze at excomm meeting during cuban missile crisis and copied by ellsberg. Comm of october 27, 1962, just before the resolution of the cuban missile crisis, were transcribed by mcgeorge bundy and were edited and annotated by. It was composed of the regular members of the national security council, along with other men whose advice the president deemed.
According to most accounts of the cuban missile crisis, president john f. The cuban missile crisis, also known as the october crisis of 1962 spanish. Project muse the eleventh hour of the cuban missile. And having now confirmed and completed our evaluation of the evidence and our decision on a course of action, this government feels obliged to report this new crisis to you in fullest detail.
An introduction to the excornrn transcripts james g. Tucked away in the files of the prepresidential papers at the lbj library is a fascinating little collection of handwritten notes he made during the excomm meetings of the cuban missile crisis and its aftermath. The cuban missile crisis of october 1962 arguably was the closest the world has come to nuclear war since the beginning of the nuclear era in 1945, and for that reason alone has been the focus of notable theatrical and literary products as well as scholarly analysis. The immense secondary literature on the cuban missile crisis of october 1962 tends to overlook the u. Shamus miller is a sophomore at wellesley high school. Cia special national intelligence estimate, major consequences of certain u. Ouranalysis also highlights the relations between irand historiographies of world politics, between the theories and models we build and the empirical ground those. The characteristics of these new missile sites indicate two distinct types of installations. The cuban missile crisis revisited and reinterpreted 3 the core mythology enveloping and distorting our understanding of the missile crisis has been that produced by the selfserving assertions of robert kennedys thirteen days, created at a time when the new york senator was gearing up to run for the presidency and was thus keen to do all he could to develop a statesmanlike image. As we come up towards the 50th anniversary of the cuban missile crisis, there are several new books coming out commemorating the crisis, adding new information and interpretation, and taking fresh looks at what history remembers as the most dangerous crisis of the nuclear age. President kennedys decision to impose a blockade in the cuban. He thought the blockade could be a valuable first step, combined with other political and military actions, and helped prepare plans to implement it. In october 1962, an american u2 spy plane secretly photographed nuclear missile sites.
Not wanting to expose what he already knew and to avoid panicking the american public,kennedy did not reveal that he was already aware of the missile buildup. Dod, transcripts, secret, notes taken from transcripts of meetings of the joint chiefs of staff, octobernovember 1962. Sep 14, 2012 as we come up towards the 50th anniversary of the cuban missile crisis, there are several new books coming out commemorating the crisis, adding new information and interpretation, and taking fresh looks at what history remembers as the most dangerous crisis of the nuclear age. While participants and historians of the crisis never tire of recalling its details and its dangers, the majority of the generation that lived. Project muse the eleventh hour of the cuban missile crisis. Kennedy learned that the soviet union was building bases in cuba for ballistic missiles that could.
Excomm and politburo the cuban missile crisis euroasia mun 2014 training and development conference page 3 letters from the undersecretariesgeneral dear participants, i have the utmost pleasure and honour of welcoming you to euroasia mun 2014. The pentagon, opposed to any film that might undermine public enthusiasm for nuclear weapons, refused to cooperate. Key precuban missile crisis documents and information foreign relations documents and resources of kennedy administration 19611963 vol vi foreign relations of the united states. Mar 26, 20 the ambiguous role of nuclear weapons in the resolution of the cuban missile crisis introduction. Decolonizing the cuban missile crisis, and by extension the discipline, is not easy to do. President kennedys decision to impose a blockade in the. Building consensus in the excomm after the decision. In addition, while a major topic of this debate is the cuban missile crisis, the crisis will deal with the cold war as a whole, so dont exclusively read up on the cuban missile crisis. The cuban missile crisis was the signature moment of john f. Talk at the brink presents an image of kennedys response to the cuban missile crisis that is sharply at odds with previous scholarship, and has important implications for our understanding of decision making, deliberation, social interaction, and historical contingency. For three decades, analysis of the cuban missile crisis was dominated by a discursive framing produced in the. Excomm meeting, cuban missile crisis, 29 october 1962. Stern, as an historian, chief librarian of the kennedy library for over two decades, and a compelling storyteller, captures personality and contextual nuances, adding rich. Soviet and cuban leaders reached out to kennedy and told.
The most dramatic moments of that crisis the famed thirteen dayslasted from october 16, 1962, when president kennedy first learned that the soviet union was constructing missile launch sites in cuba, to october 28, when soviet premier nikita khrushchev. The national security councils executive committee excomm, made up of the president and a select group of his advisers, debated u. The cuban missile crisis excomm georgetown preparatory school. Aug 15, 2011 as the national interest is naturally produced during reality construction, excomms constructed reality of the cuban missile crisis favours the u. The excomm is most famous for its meetings during the cuban missile crisis. Afterward students can discuss how the events in the film compared to what they have learned in this lesson. The executive committee of the national security council cuban missile crisis president john f. Teachers who have additional time to devote to this subject might want to show their students the 2000 hollywood film thirteen days, which is a dramatization of the cuban missile crisis. Authorities in washington and at the library granted bundy access to the tape recordings given his role with excomm. Executive committee of the national security council excomm. But the cuban missile crisis did not replicate on the beach, and so thoughts about a cuban missile war passed unobtrusively into history. Blight i o n l y now are we gaining access to some important documents that offer us a rare glimpse of u. As during the cuban missile crisis, new military technology is disrupting traditional means of deterrence.