BOSTON - A cautious US President John F. Kennedy repeatedly resisted calls from his military advisers for an attack on Cuba during the 1962 missile crisis, according to White House recordings released yesterday.
Declassified and released to the public exactly 34 years after the October 1962 confrontation, the recordings include meetings in the Oval Office and Cabinet Room from October 18th-29th, just after spy plane photographs revealed the former Soviet Union was installing offensive nuclear missile sites in Cuba.
In a meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Defence Secretary Robert McNamara, Kennedy concluded that an air strike against Cuba would give the Soviets a "clear line" to invade Berlin. Minutes later, US Chief of Staff Gen Curtis LeMay compared a proposed naval blockade with the appeasement of Nazi Germany before the second World War.
By October 23rd, the president decided on the blockade around Cuba to force the Soviets to dismantle the nuclear sites and remove all offensive weapons from the island.
