Press Briefing Jan 1961

President John F. Kennedy's First Televised News Conference of January 25, 1961

President Kennedy begins the press conference with a statement concerning the scheduling of the Geneva negotiations for a nuclear test ban.

He then announces that the United States Government has decided to increase famine relief for the Congo and that the Soviet Union has released two members from the crew of the United States Air Force RB-47 aircraft.

Following the announcements the President answers questions from the press on a variety of topics including United States policy on nuclear disarmament negotiations, diplomatic relations with Cuba, and communications with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev.

Cuban missile crisis 14 days in October 1962

President Kennedy's 10/22/62 Cuban Missile Crisis speech is somewhat rare, because it is complete and unedited. Usually only small bits and pieces of the speech are presented on television and in documentaries. But this is the entire 18-minute address from start to finish.

JFK on the Cuban Missile Crisis - 1962 | Today in History |

Role United Nations in Cold War Crisis of Suez - Berlin - Cuba

Oct. 25, 1962 - Adlai Stevenson Confronts Soviet Ambassador at U.N. During Cuban Missile Crisis

Cuban missile crisis, 60 years on: new papers reveal how close the world came to nuclear disaster | The Guardian - 27 Oct 2022 |

In 1962, a Soviet submarine commander nearly ordered a nuclear launch, newly translated accounts show, with modern parallels over Ukraine all too clear

NATO positioning Jupiter nuclear tipped ballistic missile systems in Turkey

Some Thoughts On Turkey and the Cuban Missile Crisis

In  case anyone is wondering why I am bringing up Turkey in this context, part of Krushchev's motivation in stationing missiles in Cuba centered on a grievance that the U.S. had medium-range nuclear-tipped Jupiter missiles at a NATO base in Turkey, 130 miles from the Soviet border. Capable of hitting every major Soviet industrial center within about ten minutes they were deployed despite warnings from General Lauris Norstad, the Supreme Commander in Europe, that they were provocative to the Soviets, Secretary of the Treasury Douglas Dillon had said they were deployed in Turkey "because we had so many of them we did not know where to put them."  They became operational a few days before the Cuban Missile Crisis.

ARMAGEDDON
Book III of the First Strike Series

Presentation and discussion of photographic intelligence establishing the presence in Cuba of Soviet intermediate-range and medium-range missiles, mobile missile launchers and missile sites | 20 Oct 1962 |

Secretary McNamara concluded by explaining that following the blockade, the United States would negotiate for the removal of the strategic missiles from Cuba. He said we would have to be prepared to accept the withdrawal of United States strategic missiles from Turkey and Italy and possibly agreement to limit our use of Guantanamo to a specified limited time. He added that we could obtain the removal of the missiles from Cuba only if we were prepared to offer something in return during negotiations. He opposed as too risky the suggestion that we should issue an ultimatum to the effect that we would order an air attack on Cuba if the missiles were not removed. He said he was prepared to tell Khrushchev we consider the missiles in Cuba as Soviet missiles and that if they were used against us, we would retaliate by launching missiles against the USSR.

Atomic Gambit - The Cuban Missile Crisis 60 Years Later | JFK Library |

The conflict of Ukraine was possible due to weakness of the Russian Federation, not of the false narrative the ambition of a Greater Russian Empire ... doesn't jive with the facts. The prowess of American capitalism ... MAGA rooted in the lessons of the COVID-19 global pandemic. An opportunity to discard multilateralism, go ballistic on populism and nationalism ... scapegoating our ills on immigration. Setting a war narrative mirroring the facts of the real world. Employing tools of oppression of dissent, spreading disinformation, censorship and incorporate Big Tech into warfare.

The president would be assassinated in 13 months time … the second gunman was never found. Total political chaos would be seen in the year 1968 … a double political murder of MLK and RFK. Lyndon Johnson [kept Texas blue] left in disgrace, a party in disarray and the revenge of tricky Dick Nixon would become the 37th elected president. America changed and would never regain its prominence as leader of the Free World.

President-elect Richard Nixon declares victory in 1968

Massacres, war crimes and chemical warfare in Vietnam and Cambodia

So many similarities to the reign of Joe Biden 2021-2024 … losing Afghanistan, ending with two major conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine, hot wars with threat of further escalation.

Dwarfing American influence on the global stage.

One of many lessons forgotten …

JFK, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and “Knowing Your Enemy”