Word: cuba
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...speech of extraordinary gravity, President Kennedy told the nation Monday night that the United States was imposing a naval and air quarantine on Soviet military shipments to Cuba. This is a frightening and dangerous decision, but anyone concerned for the safety of this country and the peace of the entire world should recognize that it was a decision that had to be made...
...President has received intelligence reports and aerial photographs which document the existence of an offensive missile capacity in Cuba. In view of Kennedy's go-slow attitude in the past and the gravity of his words Monday night, neither his appraisal of the military danger nor the resulting commitment of the United States to action can reasonably be disputed...
...President made clear, the situation in Cuba now goes beyond the question of United States-Cuba relations. The American blockade is not directed against Castro, because Castro poses no military threat to our security. It is directed against the Soviet Union, and it is the Soviet Union which must have bear the responsibility for any breach of the peace which may occur...
...demand that the Cuban government purge itself of Soviet military presence within 48 hours or face American military action would have been both naive and dangerous. On September 13, President Kennedy assured the American people that the United States was ready to move against Cuba if and when the evidence indicated that "an offensive threat does exist." He stressed that the presence of an offensive missle capacity or the development of a Soviet military base would constitute such a threat...
Whether Castro is a Soviet puppet or not is no longer the issue. It would certainly be dangerous to delay action in the Caribbean in the hope of proving once and for all that Cuba is subservient to Moscow, if that delay might give the Russians the impression that we don't really mean what we say. Offering "rapprochement" in the form of a diplomatic ultimatum would not only seem hypocritical to both Cuba and the Soviet Union, but could also involve them in a serious miscalculation of American willingness to honor stated commitments...