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	February 20, 2008 How Close?: Cuban Missiles and the End of the World Trinity at Almogordo, 1945; Eniwetok, 1952; Soviet MRBM ranges, 1962
	My mother burnt red. My sister burnt red. And they became a few bones. --Kawasaki Sakue, age 11, Nagasaki survivor describing a funeral pyre     Slideshow of selected photographs (requires Microsoft Powerpoint) Background to the Bomb. Einstein’s Letter, 8/2/39. Manhattan Project J. Robert Oppenheimer, technical director. Leslie Groves, Army Corps of Engineers. Director, Manhattan Engineer District. 12/2/42 afternoon. Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory. December 1942, $500m appropriation. Hanford Oak Ridge Los Alamos Becoming the Shatterer of Worlds: The Trinity Test Alamagordo Range, Jornada Del Muerto 7/16/45, 5:30. Monday. Groves Memo to Secretary of War Stimson. J. Robert Oppenheimer thoughts. Video, 1965 We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him takes on his multi-armed form and says, "Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." I suppose we all thought that one way or another. Shattering Worlds: Hiroshima and Nagasaki Fire-Bombing Raids. Beg. March 1945. Potsdam, “unconditional surrender.” July 26 , 1945. Hiroshima: Little Boy, 8/6/45, 8:15 a.m. 70,000 died instantly. 70,000 by end of year. 5 sq. miles destroyed. Photos Grove Memo to Chief of Staff. Nagasaki: Fat Man, 8/9/45, 11:01 a.m. ~40,000 died instantly. 30,000 more in 5 months. Perhaps 140,000 eventually. Photos. Why the Bombs? End war? "Atomic diplomacy"? Smithsonian’s Enola Gay Controversy The Nuclear Age 3 Min. to Midnight: Soviet Bomb, 1949. 2 Min. to Midnight: US Fusion [H-Bomb] Bomb, 11/1/52. Soviet H-Bomb, 8/53. Midnight in Florence, SC. March 12, 1958. Video Hidden Midnight: Over 200 nuclear tests by US between 1945-1962. "The Facts About Fallout." How many bombs do you need? US/USSR comparative graph At height of stockpile in 1976, US had ~15,500 strategic warheads. 10,400 non-strategic warheads, and 26,000 stockpiled. USSR height, 1988, 12,117 strategic, 23,700 non-strategic, 35,817 stockpiled. USSR Graph 1986, 65,056 warheads worldwide between US, USSR, GB, France, and China. 2002, ~20k. US with about half, Russia about 8k. See Natural Resources Defense Council reports
	The Doomsday Clock. [from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists] Duck and Cover.   JFK and the Nuclear Age Inaugural Address. "Let every nation know . . . that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to ensure the survival and success of liberty." Missile Gap. Reality. January 1, 1959. Fidel Castro takes power in Cuba. May 1960. Cuba and USSR. Official diplomatic relations. April, 1961. Bay of Pigs. Vietnam. June 1961, Vienna summit with Khrushchev. August 1961, Berlin Wall. November 1961. Operation Mongoose. Interactive Map of Cuba Detailed timeline, here. October 14, 1962. U-2 surveillance reveals MRBM site construction in Cuba. October 16, 1962. CIA briefing. The Thirteen Days began. 11:45 a.m. The EXCOMM meets. October 18, 1962 IRBMs discovered. October 19, 1962 Airstrike? Blockade? Invasion? Airstrike put aside for blockade. Sorensen speech begun. JFK and General Curtis LeMay, "In a Pretty Bad Fix." http://tapes.millercenter.virginia.edu/clips/1962_1019_lemay/index.htm October 21, 1962. Quarantine approval. October 22, 1962 US gets support of France and Great Britain. Briefs key congressmen. US puts 1/8 of B-52 force in air around-the-clock. Move to Defcon 3 for time of speech. 10:40 a.m.: JFK and Dwight Eisenhower. "the damn Soviets will do whatever they want." http://tapes.millercenter.virginia.edu/clips/jfk_1_3/sample11.swf October 22, 1962 Calling Dr. Strangelove: Controlling the Outbreak of Nuclear War. http://tapes.millercenter.virginia.edu/clips/jfk_1_3/sample15.swf October 22, 1962. 6:00 p.m., Rusk informs Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin of the speech. 7:00 p.m., JFK's nationally televised announcement of quarantine. [listen] Khrushchev intends to defy. October 23, 1962. Castro readies Cuban military for war. October 24, 1962 10:00 a.m. Quarantine in effect. Several Soviet ships reverse course. Others slow. Rusk to Bundy: "we're eyeball to eyeball, and I think the other fellow just blinked." 10:00 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. ExComm meeting. Concern about contact with Soviet submarines--JFK discusses submarine sinking procedures. http://tapes.millercenter.virginia.edu/clips/jfk_1_3/sample07.swf to DEFCON 2 for first time ever. October 26, 1962 Aleksandr Fomin lunch with ABC News' John Scali. Khrushchev note and apparent agreement. Remove missiles for no quarantine and no invasion. Plans for airstrike, invasion, and post-invasion government continue. October 26, 1962 Adlai Stevenson, John McCone, and EXCOMM "Pointed . . . right at our hearts." "trade" or "take" the missiles out. http://tapes.millercenter.virginia.edu/clips/jfk_1_3/sample08.swf Ocotber 27, 1962 Belligerent Khrushchev note requesting missiles in Turkey be removed. JFK responded to first. October 27, 1962. ~ noon. U-2 pilot shot down. Apparently orders from local Soviet commanders. October 27, 1962 JFK and the ExComm on Missiles in Turkey http://tapes.millercenter.virginia.edu/clips/1962_1027_turkey/index.htm October 28, 1962. 9:00 a.m. Khrushchev radio message. Khrushchev agreed to first note. JFK, "I cut his b###s off." Castro upset. Back-channel agreement to remove Turkey missiles. December 5, 1962 JFK and Nuclear Bombs. "Ten million people lost" "We just drop it on their cities and destroy them and ruin the Russians." http://tapes.millercenter.virginia.edu/clips/1962_1205_nuclear/index.htm October 1963, Limited Test Ban Treaty in effect. No atmospheric tests. 1989. Russian revelations about 20 nuclear warheads in Cuba during crisis. 1992. Revelations that local Soviet commanders had authority to fire tactical nuclear warheads if invaded. FROGs [Free Over Ground rockets] February 19, 2008. Fidel Castro announces intention to step down after 49 years.
	maskirovka--denial and deception tactics. National Security Archive's site on the Cuban Missile Crisis
	Materials for this course were developed by the Presidential Recordings Program at the University of Virginia's Miller Center of Public Affairs. Site design and Flash transcript+audio design by David Coleman. Flash transcript+audio files by David Coleman, Marc Selverstone, and the Presidential Recordings Program. Audio courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration and the Presidential Libraries of Roosevelt, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon. For more resources on the White House tapes see www.whitehousetapes.org or click here or here.

 

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