Friday, October 26, 1962
The White House
The brothers sat together, breakfast between them. Bobby had slept at his office again, knew that with the Excomm meeting set once more for 10 a.m., there wasn’t much point in taking a chance with Washington’s morning traffic. A short walk to the White House at least meant he could enjoy a real breakfast.
He finished eating, said to Jack, “Your cook is first-rate. Best eggs Benedict I’ve had in a while. Ethel doesn’t even make the attempt anymore. The kids like it simple. They’re ecstatic over pancakes.”
Kennedy laughed, stuffed a final bite into his mouth.
“A piece of advice. Don’t call Chef Verdon a cook. Those people are a little touchy about that sort of thing. Jackie was fortunate enough to find him, and we use him for just about everything, not just state dinners. Most of my meals used to be prepared by Navy stewards, but after one too many servings of white beans, Jackie put a stop to that.”
Bobby sat back, hoisted his coffee cup.
“Salutes to Jackie.”
Jack leaned back now, reached for a newspaper scattered on the floor behind him.
“I assume you saw Walt Lippmann’s column in the Post.”
The smile was gone now, and Bobby shook his head.
“No. Haven’t seen a paper at all yet.”
“Here. Read this.”
“There are three ways to get rid of the missiles already in Cuba. One is to invade and occupy Cuba. The second way is to institute a total blockade, particularly of oil shipments, which would in a few months ruin the Cuban economy. The third way is to try … to negotiate a face-saving agreement … The only place that is truly comparable with Cuba is Turkey … The Soviet military base in Cuba is defenseless and the base in Turkey is all but obsolete. The two bases could be dismantled without altering the world balance of power.”
Bobby lowered the paper, said, “I don’t suppose we needed him talking publicly about Turkey. But he makes sense. This is an idea that’s been lurking in the background with the Excomm for a while.”
Kennedy slid his plate aside.
“Yeah, fine. He makes sense. Too much sense right now. I don’t need reporters, even sage old farts like Lippmann telling me what I ought to do. It’s too damned easy for someone with opinions to broadcast their logical points of view without any repercussions. I’m sure Khrushchev will have his hands on a copy of the Post before long, and read the same damn thing.”
“What’s the harm? Lippmann used the right term … face-saving. Isn’t that what we’ve been trying to figure out with Khrushchev? You said yourself, we have to give him room to maneuver. We still don’t know what he’s having to deal with in the Kremlin. I can’t believe there’s any way he simply surrenders and hauls those missiles back to Russia. We have to give him something he can claim some kind of victory over, some kind of plum.”
Kennedy stood now, paced across the room.
“Lippmann is a smart man. There are a lot of smart men in this town. But being smart means you don’t throw away your ace in the hole. Right now, if we tell Khrushchev we’ll pull our missiles out of Turkey, it’s all we’ve got to give. Do you trust Khrushchev to do what he says he’ll do? The one thing we’ve determined without any doubt is that the Russians are capable of lying through their teeth. We offer to pull our missiles out of Turkey, and Khrushchev reneges on removing his missiles from Cuba, and all we’ve done is give away the store. There are no more bargaining chips. And what about the Turks, the government there, or the rest of our NATO allies? If we’re in a hurry to pull missiles out of Turkey, those people will entirely be in their rights to say we sold out our allies, just to make our own borders safer. It could weaken the entire NATO alliance, especially with countries like Greece and Italy, as well as Turkey. Some of those people aren’t all that friendly to us even now, and if they feel like we’ve pulled the rug out, they might start looking for another kind of alliance. Maybe with the Soviets. I’m sure Khrushchev would promise Turkey the world if he thought he could split those people away from NATO. So, you see? Lippmann’s logic sounds wonderful. But there’s more to think about than just a simple tit-for-tat trade.”
“Jesus, Jack. That’s why you’re the boss. I guess … we just keep the idea in the back of our heads. We still don’t know what Khrushchev’s planning with his shipping. You’re right. It’s too soon to toss Khrushchev a bone like Turkey, especially with his submarines scurrying all over the place near our quarantine line.”
Friday, October 26, 1962
The White House, Cabinet Room
“The ship was the Bucharest, and we determined to our satisfaction that it was an oil tanker, with no capability of housing offensive weapons. It was allowed to cross the quarantine line earlier.”
Kennedy nodded toward McNamara, said, “So, it is apparent that Khrushchev hasn’t told all of his ships to turn around and go home.”
McNamara seemed surprised at Kennedy’s remark.
“Actually, Mr. President, we’re not sure any of the Soviet vessels have headed for home. Just that some have changed course away from the quarantine line. Others are sitting dead in the water, so of course, we’re not sure what their captains are being ordered to do. There’s a lot of wait-and-see.”
Behind McNamara, Bobby said, “So, we allowed the Bucharest to pass unsearched?”
McNamara glanced back at Bobby, then said, “Yes. She was not searched. I realize there were some among you who insisted we halt the ship and board her. I also realize that the intention was to send a strong message to Khrushchev of our resolve and the seriousness of the quarantine. But this did not appear to be an appropriate target for that kind of aggressive statement. She was hailed, and responded appropriately, indicating her cargo only to be petroleum.” He paused, read from a piece of paper. “In addition, there was an East German passenger ship, the Volkerfreund, said to be carrying some fifteen hundred civilians, plus a number of soldiers. In both cases, the ships were granted time to respond to our hails, presumably to allow their captains to seek instructions from Moscow. The Volkerfreund was also allowed to pass, unsearched. There were no incidents.”
Bobby said, “Well, that’s something to be thankful for.”
Kennedy pointed a finger at McNamara.
“You make damned sure the Navy understands that there will be no incidents, without my authority. No gunfire, no shooting off rudders, unless the order comes from here. I don’t want to have a sunken ship tossed into the mix with everything else we’re dancing around. And I sure as hell don’t want us to kill a bunch of Russian sailors.”
McNamara responded, “Certainly. I’ve made that clear to Admiral Anderson and stressed that he should do the same to his senior commanders. There will be no loose cannons out there.”
Bobby looked around the room, most of the men in agreement, said, “Are we certain the Soviets have turned away any ship that might be suitable for inspection? Can we assume they have blunted the sword of the quarantine by keeping their freighters well back?”
McNamara said, “Unfortunately, no. We are monitoring several ships that are drawing closer to the quarantine line. We have no way to predict what will happen, but I will make sure we’re doing everything we can to avoid surprises.”
Kennedy thought for a moment, said, “We have to board a ship. We have to give the message to the entire world that we’re serious here. If the Soviets keep pushing … well, they’re testing us, seeing what kind of resolve we have. We’ve gone well out on a pretty dangerous limb with this quarantine, but we can’t play around, allow every damn ship that challenges us to pass through. What the hell’s the point of that?”
McNamara nodded.
“I agree. They’re definitely going to test us at some point. If it’s not with a freighter carrying missiles, it will be something more innocuous.”
Bobby said, “I can’t believe they’d send a ship into the line loaded with missiles. It’s just asking for escalation, and it will confirm all our claims. No, I agree, they’ll send a ship through that might or might not seem fairly harmless, just to see what we’ll do, whether or not we’ll stop it.”
Kennedy looked at McNamara.
“Make sure everybody down there is prepared for that. And make sure everybody’s got their orders straight, that the orders have to come from here. Are we clear on that?”
“Perfectly, sir.”
McCone spoke up, said, “Excuse me, Secretary McNamara, but I need to bring up a different topic. Our low-level flyovers over Cuba are taking place daily. Those jets are hanging as low to the deck as they can, and taking some good photos of the missile sites and airfields. It has been determined that the Soviets are uncrating a number of medium bombers, their IL-28s. Clearly, they aren’t trying to hide any of that, and sure as hell, they’re not making any effort to pack anything up for a trip home.”
Bundy laughed, said, “I would imagine having those jets scream past over the treetops scares the hell out of anybody on the ground. That has to be driving Castro nuts.”
McCone said, “With all due respect, sir, it’s not a laughing matter. We’re hearing that Castro is ordering his antiaircraft batteries to take down our jets anytime there’s an opportunity. The Soviet SAMs are worthless against low-flying jets, but Castro has a substantial number of conventional antiaircraft batteries. We need to stay lucky.”
Rusk spoke now, scanned a piece of paper.
“Mr. President, if I may, U Thant continues to press us on the issue of pausing the quarantine. From what we can tell, Khrushchev is kissing up to U Thant by responding positively to his entreaties, however, neither the UN nor the Soviets have addressed the issue of the removal of the missiles from Cuba. The only proposal U Thant is sticking to is that everybody just pauses. However, despite Khrushchev’s apparent willingness to do just that, the work is continuing on the bases in Cuba.”
Kennedy said, “Well, with all due respect to U Thant, unless the Soviets agree to begin dismantling their missile launchers and pack up their missiles, the idea that we should all step back and take a breath is an issue that’s going nowhere.”
Rusk said, “Agreed, sir.”
Kennedy scanned the room, said, “I want to comment on Adlai’s performance at the UN. It is no secret that he and I are not the best of friends and that I have had some difficulties with his input to this group. However, I admit to being very pleased and very surprised by the strength of his remarks to Ambassador Zorin. It certainly made for good television. I have telephoned him and offered him sincere compliments. However, one thing I did not mention to him was that, although his dramatics went down well to the American people, his insistence that we wait until hell freezes over for a Soviet response is not what I would have intended. I am hopeful that we receive substantial responses and action of a positive nature well before there are icicles in Cuba.”