Hey Harvard
The magic of television never ceases to amaze me.
I to lived through that period of time i remember the tension in the air.I remember my mother and many crying when Kennedy was shot.The most charismatic president of all time.He like all the Kennedy's could do no wrong.A shame such a young man such a great leader R.I.P.

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Originally posted by ocpeddler: I don't care if we never get their sugar.

The USA protects its sugar lobby.
What I am mean by that is that it does not import sugar from anywhere.

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Originally posted by ocpeddler: I don't care if we never get their sugar.

I don't know if its the sugar or how it is grown but the rum made in Cuba is the best there is same holds true for there cigars.

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Oh yeah now i got it silly me.
Its like that conspiracy thing about the assignation of JFK.
Thanks to the Warren commission it was made perfectly clear that Oswald acted alone.
Now how many of us believe that one.
I would guess just about as many who believe the found memoirs.

Explain, please. I'm not at all clear on the connection you're trying to make between JFK assassination conspiracy theories, the Warren Commission and the memoirs Khrushchev and his son published.

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If America had not botched the bay of pigs and was friendly with the government in charge.
The Russians would have been forced to shove the missiles up there a**
They would not have been welcomed in Cuba.

Well, yeah, of course. But the Bay of Pigs operation was botched and we weren't able to install a friendly government on the island. Instead, Cuba remained a client state of the Soviet Union and JFK -- who you referred to as "such a great leader" a couple of posts ago -- was faced with a certain set of realities to deal with as a result.

But the fact remains that the Soviet missiles in Cuba were a desperate response to the growing imbalance in our favor in strategic missile development and deployment, and meant to be both a lever by which to pry our own ICBMs out of Europe, and a deterrence to our using them preemptively against the Soviets.

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Well, yeah, of course. But the Bay of Pigs operation was botched and we weren't able to install a friendly government on the island. Instead, Cuba remained a client state of the Soviet Union and JFK -- who you referred to as "such a great leader" a couple of posts ago -- was faced with a certain set of realities to deal with as a result.

As i said in my earlier posts.
Kennedy caused his own troubles.
The Soviet Union and America lost nothing.
The only losers were the Cuban people who where at the time nothing more than pawns in a big chess game between two super powers.

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The Soviet Union and America lost nothing.

It's interesting. The crisis, which frightened the bejesus out of both sides, produced a number of things in the wake of its outcome.

Three months later, the U.S., in addition to agreeing not to invade Cuba, did dismantle its strategic missiles in Turkey and Italy (which JFK had secretly agreed to do through a back-channel side deal). Many historians - not all, but several - think this made the outcome of the crisis a clear victory for the Soviets.

A direct communications link between Washington and Moscow (the "Hot Line") was established. Khrushchev forced Castro to release all 1,200 prisoners captured at the Bay of Pigs in exchange for food and medicine (and cash). In 1963, the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty between the two countries was signed. China accused the Soviets of being a "paper tiger" and the growing rift between the two countries became irreparable. The Soviet Union became resolutely determined to achieve parity with the U.S. in nuclear weaponry, which our intelligence indicates they did by 1972, while the outcome of the crisis so convinced the U.S. that the Soviets wouldn't go to war over another communist country that we were encouraged to undertake our incursions into Vietnam and Nicaragua.

All a result of the Cuban missile crisis.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Jack White,

As i said, until i saw this, and perhaps since i am father and have kids, i could only feel partial of the urngency that most of you probably remember. a delicate but important part of country's history for sure.