President John F. Kennedy arrived in Dallas, Texas at 11:30 am on November 22, 1963 — sixty years ago this past week. It was a day intended to mark the beginning of a tour of the state in advance of the 1964 presidential election. Greeted by Governor John Connally, both men and their wives joined one another in an open-air limousine, embarking on a drive through the city where they were to be greeted by hundreds of thousands of onlookers. 

At approximately 12:29 pm, the motorcade entered Dealey Plaza as Nellie Connally, the governor’s wife, is remembered to have turned to the President and said, “Mr. President, you can’t say Dallas doesn’t love you.” Just seconds later, three shots rung out, two of them striking President Kennedy, tragically cutting his young life and promising presidency short. 

Lee Harvey Oswald, a self-professed Marxist, worked at the Texas School Book Depository, a building overlooking the motorcade route in Dealey Plaza, from where the shots were heard and later, where a rifle was found. Around 45 minutes later, Officer J.D. Tippit spotted and approached Oswald after being radioed of a suspect matching his description. After a brief conversation, Oswald shot Tippit multiple times, killing him. He then snuck into the Texas Theatre without purchasing a ticket in an attempt to hide from the police where he was arrested. Just two days later, Oswald was murdered by local nightclub owner Jack Ruby during his transfer to the Dallas County jail. This sparked numerous theories around the circumstances of the assassination. 

I will not take up space frivolously contemplating these theories, however, because I believe it is more meaningful to commemorate the recent 60th anniversary of Kenndey’s death by reflecting on his presidential legacy —- a legacy most fully expressed in his leadership throughout the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Enemies in Our Backyard

On October 14, 1962, an American U-2 plane took secretive photographs of Soviet nuclear missile sites being built on the island of Cuba. Just three years prior, Cuba had its United States-backed leader overthrown by Fidel Castro who instituted a Marxist government over Cuba, placing himself at the helm and immediately pledging loyalty to the Kremlin. Once the photos finished processing on October 16, President Kennedy was initially informed. 

What grew exceptionally concerning to Washington from this development was that the installation of nuclear missiles in Cuba would allow the Soviets to possess a first-strike capacity against the mainland of the United States. Recognizing the severity of this threat, the president established the Executive Committee of the National Security Council (Ex-Comm). This team consisted of the ordinary members of the National Security Council as well as any other men whom the president believed could provide valuable insight to deal with the crisis. 

Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara presented Kennedy with three differing approaches: 1) Diplomatic negotiations with the Soviet Union, 2) a naval quarantine around Cuba, or 3) airstrikes targeting the missile sites. The third option posed a risk of killing Soviet soldiers, which could lead to a counterattack on Berlin and a potential spiral into a third world war. A majority of the President’s military advisors spoke favorably of this approach and would continue to do so throughout the crisis. Despite their insistence, Kennedy opted for option number 2, a naval quarantine. Any Soviet ship that was approaching the island of Cuba was to be stopped, boarded, and examined for offensive weapons to be turned around if any were discovered.

Close Calls

On October 22nd, President Kennedy addressed the nation in an 18-minute speech revealing “unmistakable evidence” that the Soviets had been constructing nuclear missile sites within Cuba and demanded their removal. It was also during this televised broadcast where Kennedy spoke of his intention to proceed with a naval quarantine of the island which would go into effect three days later on the 25. When the day came, two Soviet freighters turned back toward Europe but a lone ship had continued on its course and crossed the quarantine line. As two American warships were readying themselves to intercept it, an action that very well could lead to a breakout of war, President Kennedy ordered that they let the ship pass. 

On the 27, U-2 pilot Major Rudolf Anderson was shot down while flying over the island nation. When his advisors then insisted he respond with a strike, the president remained firmly opposed, concluding that the incident must not have been directly ordered by Krushchev. That same day, a letter directly from the Soviet Premier was sent to President Kennedy demanding the withdrawal of United States missiles from Turkey, which had luckily been mainly utilized for show and were not operational in the first place. In response, Kennedy pledged not to invade Cuba after a Russian withdrawal. 

This proposition was relayed by the president’s brother, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, to Soviet ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin that same evening when an agreement was reached. The Soviet Union was to dismantle their missiles in Cuba in exchange for this pledge on behalf of President Kennedy to not invade the island nation along with the discreet removal of American missiles from Turkey months later as to not inflame the generals or press. At the end of these perilous 13 days which oversaw the military of the United States shifting itself to Defcon 2 — the stage before all-out war — the world avoided its closest ever encounter with nuclear devastation. 

He Kept the Peace

Throughout the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Kennedy administration faced pressure from not only domestic political rivals but from the military establishment to act against Cuba with hostility. The disaster that was the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion in 1961 — where Cuban exiles were trained by CIA operatives and sent to the island with the task of deposing Fidel Castro — likely intensified the desire to see more direct measures undertaken against Cuba despite the perilous ramifications to global peace that could accompany such a course of action. Brushing aside these internal pressures, John F. Kennedy stood in firm defiance of the military-industrial complex, warned by his predecessor Dwight Eisenhower to prevent the outbreak of nuclear war. He is quoted as telling his personal aide, “If we listen to them, and we do what they want us to do, none of us will be alive later to tell them they were wrong.” 

Dedicating his presidency to the deterrence of a militaristic ideology that had come to dominate most of American society after the conclusion of the Second World War, President Kennedy told close friends that he wanted the epitaph “he kept the peace” and that he was essentially a “peace at any price president.” His sheer dedication to this pursuit of peace in the face of immense disparity and uncertainty serves as a beacon of inspiration to all Americans, reminding us to stand tall in the face of adversity. 

A few months before his assassination in June of 1963, President Kennedy spoke on the pressing importance of maintaining peace in an increasingly untrusting world during the commencement ceremony of American University in Washington D.C. I will close with President Kennedy’s explanation of what constitutes a durable peace and encourage all those reading to reflect on its lasting importance 60 years later — when the world seems uneasy once again.

“What kind of peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children—not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women—not merely peace in our time but peace for all time.” – President John F. Kennedy at American University – Summer, 1963