Word: cuba
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...apparently thought it worth the gamble. He evidently banked on U.S. acquiescence or, at least, confusion and hesitation. This was the major miscalculation. Only seven weeks ago he had boasted to Austria's Vice Chancellor, then visiting Moscow, that Russia would ignore any possible U.S. blockade of Cuba. But once he realized the possible cost of doing so, he acted with breathtaking speed...
...Khrushchev was obviously afraid that if he hesitated the U.S. would invade Cuba or destroy the bases; a backdown after such action would be far more humiliating than a retreat before. For years to come, political scientists will be studying and restudying the rapid exchange of messages between the Kremlin and the White House, as Khrushchev tried to forestall U.S. action and salvage what he could...
...three main proposals that came from the Kremlin, the first will doubtless make the most fascinating reading for future scholars. In essence, it flatly offered to get Moscow's missiles out of Cuba if the U.S. agreed to drop any plans to invade. To date no one except top Kremlin and Washington officials knows what else it contained, because after its arrival on the night of Oct. 26. President Kennedy classified it top secret. From the accounts of those who have seen it, it was an unusual document, written in short sentences, obviously at top speed, and with great...
...more curious in the light of the second message, which was broadcast by Moscow Radio next morning, before Kennedy had even answered the first one. This new proposal abruptly upped the ante by proposing U.S. evacuation of its bases in Turkey for a Soviet dismantling in Cuba...
This helped explain the series of events that had taken place in Turkey itself earlier in the week, after Kennedy's first television announcement of the Cuba missiles threat. Out of the blue, Soviet Ambassador Nikita Ryzhov sought an audience with Foreign Minister Feridun Erkin, confronted him with a blunt demand for immediate withdrawal of U.S. missiles and NATO installations in Turkey. Premier Ismet Inonu himself drafted the note of rejection. Next Ryzhov arrived with a second, blunter ultimatum: Withdraw the U.S. bases or the Soviet Union will put Turkey's cities first on the list for annihilation...