John F. Kennedy: President on the Ropes

Part 5 of a series chronicling the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962

Profile of JFK

The American president elected in 1960 was everything his Soviet opposite was not: JFK was younger by 23 years; he was the eldest son of one of America’s wealthiest families; and he had been educated at Choate and Harvard. How could such profoundly dissimilar leaders from such profoundly different cultures correctly interpret each other’s words and intentions?

1961 was a “Mean Year” for JFK

JFK himself called it that — and he was right. Here’s how it had gone for the young president:

Mid-April 1961: JFK and the United States were flayed worldwide for their thinly veiled attempt to overthrow the government of Cuba, a sovereign nation.  The invading force of Cuban exiles trained, equipped, and transported by the American military was cut to pieces as they landed at the Bay of Pigs by Soviet-trained Cuban troops. In addition to bringing down international condemnation on the new administration, the Bay of Pigs created bitter distrust between the White House, on the one hand, and the Pentagon and the CIA on the other: each side blamed the other for the failed operation. Both were right.

Early June 1961: at a summit conference in Vienna, the bullying Soviet premier warned the American president (yet again) that if the allies did not pull out of Berlin, they would be thrown out. Khrushchev also warned JFK that any more hostile moves toward Cuba might tempt the USSR to make its own hostile moves toward U.S. assets in Europe. Khrushchev specifically mentioned Turkey and Iran, where the U.S. had recently placed missiles aimed into the heart of the Soviet Union.

In August 1961, with Khrushchev’s approval, East Germany’s puppet government began constructing the Berlin Wall, a move that caught the Kennedy administration flatfooted. In the end, Washington tacitly accepted the odious wall.

In October 1961, U.S. and Soviet tanks confronted each other when the East Germans began restricting passage through “Check Point Charlie,” one of the last remaining openings in the Wall. Once again the U.S. tacitly accepted the Soviets’ unilateral action.

During 1961, therefore, the Kennedy administration had either humiliated itself (Bay of Pigs) or been humiliated by the Soviets (the Vienna Summit, the Berlin Wall, Check Point Charlie).

Looking Ahead to 1962

Here are the ingredients waiting to be mixed together when 1962 began:

The two superpowers continued their long-standing confrontation over Berlin. 

In November, Kennedy authorized a new secret operation called MONGOOSE “to help Cuba overthrow the communist regime.” MONGOOSE will be discussed in later posts.

A Pentagon estranged from and contemptuous of the White House also wanted to overthrow Castro, but by direct military intervention if necessary.

Fidel Castro was now allied with and protected by the Soviet Union.

Khrushchev had not yet solved his Berlin and missile gap problems. The pressure to do so would not go away by itself.

But Khrushchev had seen enough of Kennedy in action, particularly over Berlin, to reach some conclusions about how the young president would react to future tests.

Now — when shaken or stirred, what sort of brew would these ingredients produce?

If you have questions or comments, contact the author at phufstader@sbcglobal.net or post in the comment section.

Sources

On Kennedy generally, see Michael R. Beschloss, The Crisis Years: Kennedy and Khrushchev 1960-1963. New York: Edward Burlingame Books (an imprint of Harper Collins Publishers), 1991.

For a brief summary of the Vienna Summit, see Lawrence Chang and Peter Kornbluh eds., The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962: A National Security Archive Document Reader. New York: The New Press, 1998, 2-3.

For detailed analysis of Berlin crises, see Frederick Kempe, Berlin 1961: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and the Most Dangerous Place on Earth. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2011.