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A war appeared imminent,

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00:00:17,903 --> 00:00:20,480
a first strike might take
place at any time.

3
00:00:22,458 --> 00:00:24,201
I said to myself:

4
00:00:24,321 --> 00:00:27,133
if Cuba is in such an
unfortunate war...

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00:00:27,253 --> 00:00:28,973
we will disappear from the map.

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00:00:35,211 --> 00:00:37,566
Robert Kennedy came to me and said,

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00:00:38,166 --> 00:00:40,800
'Mr. Ambassador, the situation
is very tense.

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00:00:42,465 --> 00:00:45,049
Your missiles have just
shot down our plane.

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00:00:46,206 --> 00:00:48,269
Our generals demand that we retaliate.

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00:00:48,947 --> 00:00:51,169
I If we start bombing,
you will fight back.

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00:00:52,126 --> 00:00:53,838
What can we do?'

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00:00:56,909 --> 00:00:58,787
It was a perfectly beautiful night,

13
00:00:58,907 --> 00:01:00,699
as fall nights are in Washington.

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00:01:00,938 --> 00:01:02,982
I walked out of the president's
Oval Office,

15
00:01:03,102 --> 00:01:04,225
and as I walked out,

16
00:01:04,345 --> 00:01:07,228
I thought I might never live to
see another Saturday night.

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00:01:50,542 --> 00:01:52,783
Throughout the 1940s and '50s,

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00:01:52,903 --> 00:01:56,603
the Caribbean island of Cuba
had been America's playground;

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00:01:56,723 --> 00:01:59,023
beaches, booze and casinos.

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00:01:59,143 --> 00:02:00,841
Havana had it all.

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00:02:05,766 --> 00:02:09,321
Cuba's land and industry were
owned almost entirely

22
00:02:09,441 --> 00:02:11,603
by American corporations.

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00:02:11,954 --> 00:02:14,545
We considered it part of the
United States practically,

24
00:02:14,665 --> 00:02:20,129
just a wonderful little country over
there that was of no danger to anybody,

25
00:02:20,270 --> 00:02:23,048
as a matter of fact was a rather
important economic asset

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00:02:23,168 --> 00:02:25,031
to the United States.

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Cuba's leader, Fulgencio Batista,
was a brutal dictator.

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00:02:34,714 --> 00:02:36,852
His people were turning against him.

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00:02:39,974 --> 00:02:42,601
After years of guerrilla fighting
in the mountains,

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00:02:42,721 --> 00:02:46,300
a charismatic 33-year-old lawyer,
Fidel Castro,

31
00:02:46,663 --> 00:02:50,174
entered Havana on the
8th of January, 1959.

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00:03:00,919 --> 00:03:03,607
The triumph of the revolution
was an example of order.

33
00:03:05,740 --> 00:03:07,570
There was no looting,

34
00:03:07,690 --> 00:03:09,968
no one was dragged along the streets,

35
00:03:10,912 --> 00:03:13,333
there were no murders, no crimes.

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00:03:14,231 --> 00:03:16,073
There was perfect order.

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00:03:19,029 --> 00:03:20,847
In this perfect order,

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00:03:20,967 --> 00:03:23,893
over 500 members of the former
regime were accused

39
00:03:24,080 --> 00:03:25,768
of crimes against the people,

40
00:03:25,888 --> 00:03:27,827
tried and executed.

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00:03:43,915 --> 00:03:46,060
Fearing the rise of a new dictator,

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00:03:46,180 --> 00:03:49,666
thousands fled to exile
in the United States.

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00:03:50,833 --> 00:03:53,749
But to most people Castro was a hero.

44
00:04:00,522 --> 00:04:03,795
The revolution promised to provide
jobs for the people.

45
00:04:06,184 --> 00:04:08,829
It promised honesty in
the administration

46
00:04:08,949 --> 00:04:11,064
which had never existed in Cuba.

47
00:04:13,184 --> 00:04:16,443
There were health programs which
had never existed before,

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00:04:18,063 --> 00:04:21,467
education programs which
had never existed before.

49
00:04:24,467 --> 00:04:26,034
Most important of all,

50
00:04:26,154 --> 00:04:29,016
Castro nationalized millions
of acres of land

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00:04:29,136 --> 00:04:30,858
held by American companies

52
00:04:30,978 --> 00:04:32,332
gave it to the people.

53
00:04:38,365 --> 00:04:40,700
Eager to tell the world
of his revolution,

54
00:04:40,820 --> 00:04:44,797
Castro flew to New York to
speak at the United Nations.

55
00:04:47,115 --> 00:04:49,926
President Eisenhower was
too busy to see him.

56
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But Nikita Khrushchev,
the Soviet leader,

57
00:04:53,335 --> 00:04:55,910
was delighted to embrace
a new revolutionary

58
00:04:56,701 --> 00:04:58,928
and offered him economic assistance.

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00:05:02,424 --> 00:05:05,116
Cuba decided to buy oil
from the Soviet Union,

60
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which would be cheaper.

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00:05:07,430 --> 00:05:10,264
The country could get also credit
from the Soviet Union,

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00:05:10,384 --> 00:05:13,538
who were willing to help us.

63
00:05:13,658 --> 00:05:17,202
But the American companies
refused to refine the oil.

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With nowhere to refine the Soviet oil,

65
00:05:23,173 --> 00:05:25,995
Castro was faced with
economic disaster.

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00:05:26,965 --> 00:05:31,349
He sent in his militia and took over
the foreign refineries in Cuba.

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America's retaliation was swift.

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00:05:42,961 --> 00:05:44,870
"At his White House press conference,

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President Eisenhower announces

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00:05:46,726 --> 00:05:49,507
that Cuba's assigned share of
the United States sugar market

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00:05:49,627 --> 00:05:51,910
has been cut by 95 percent

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00:05:52,030 --> 00:05:53,796
in reply to what Ike called

73
00:05:53,916 --> 00:05:56,569
Fidel Castro's deliberate policy
of hostility."

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00:05:59,982 --> 00:06:01,177
As tension mounted,

75
00:06:01,492 --> 00:06:05,855
Castro nationalized a further billion
dollars worth of American investments.

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00:06:08,936 --> 00:06:12,988
An irate President Eisenhower
declared a complete trade embargo

77
00:06:13,316 --> 00:06:16,308
and ordered the CIA to
recruit Cuban exiles.

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00:06:16,710 --> 00:06:19,981
They would be trained to
destroy Castro's regime.

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00:06:22,766 --> 00:06:25,345
Government agencies of the
United States began

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training people to bomb Cuba

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00:06:27,324 --> 00:06:29,950
and to burn the sugar cane fields.

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00:06:31,537 --> 00:06:35,387
They used small planes with incendiary
devices to set fire to the fields.

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00:06:38,818 --> 00:06:43,054
It was very serious, this was
the only wealth we had.

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00:06:47,074 --> 00:06:49,657
They carried out a dirty war
against our country.

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00:06:50,025 --> 00:06:54,852
Guerrilla units were active in every
province, even in Havana.

86
00:07:02,978 --> 00:07:04,633
Over a hundred people died

87
00:07:04,753 --> 00:07:08,902
when "La Coubre," a freighter unloading
arms and ammunition from Belgium,

88
00:07:09,022 --> 00:07:11,496
exploded in Havana harbor.

89
00:07:12,881 --> 00:07:16,473
CIA sabotage was suspected,
but never proved.

90
00:07:18,401 --> 00:07:21,185
Castro turned to the Soviet Union
for help.

91
00:07:22,798 --> 00:07:25,845
Perhaps he might have taken
a different line

92
00:07:26,045 --> 00:07:32,886
had the Americans been more mild
towards him than they actually were.

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00:07:34,738 --> 00:07:39,205
The Cold War was in its full bloom.

94
00:07:39,325 --> 00:07:47,342
So whatever was unpleasant to the
Americans was welcomed in this country,

95
00:07:47,462 --> 00:07:49,574
and vice versa I would say.

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00:08:13,296 --> 00:08:15,773
At a secret base in the Guatemalan
jungle,

97
00:08:15,893 --> 00:08:20,905
American CIA agents had been training
Cuban exiles to invade Cuba.

98
00:08:23,532 --> 00:08:26,270
This, they thought, would be
the impetus

99
00:08:26,390 --> 00:08:30,134
for the Cuban people to rise up
and overthrow Castro.

100
00:08:30,855 --> 00:08:34,931
The plan was presented to the new
president, John F. Kennedy.

101
00:08:37,096 --> 00:08:40,857
Kennedy felt that a plan that
he had inherited,

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00:08:40,977 --> 00:08:45,651
in which a band of Cuban exiles were
to liberate their own country,

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00:08:45,771 --> 00:08:48,064
was one he could hardly
turn his back on.

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00:08:48,184 --> 00:08:51,479
Surely the United States
should help get rid

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00:08:51,599 --> 00:08:54,651
of a communist dictatorship
in our hemisphere.

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00:08:56,705 --> 00:08:59,657
The CIA badly misled
the new president,

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00:08:59,777 --> 00:09:03,964
promising him an easy victory and
an end to the Cuban problem.

108
00:09:04,414 --> 00:09:06,312
Kennedy agreed to the invasion,

109
00:09:06,432 --> 00:09:10,960
but demanded crucial changes
to hide America's involvement.

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00:09:13,756 --> 00:09:16,253
Just three days before the
planned invasion,

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00:09:16,373 --> 00:09:20,143
Kennedy denied any possibility
of American intervention.

112
00:09:20,626 --> 00:09:23,156
"There will not be, under
any conditions,

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00:09:23,671 --> 00:09:26,656
an intervention in Cuba by the
United States armed forces,

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00:09:27,122 --> 00:09:29,713
and this government will do
everything it possibly can,

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00:09:30,168 --> 00:09:31,426
and I think it

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00:09:31,546 --> 00:09:34,976
can meet its responsibilities, to make
sure that there are no Americans

117
00:09:35,096 --> 00:09:38,082
involved in any actions
inside Cuba."

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00:09:39,210 --> 00:09:40,558
As Kennedy spoke,

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the invasion force was gathering.

120
00:09:44,570 --> 00:09:46,625
An advance wave of American bombers

121
00:09:46,745 --> 00:09:49,903
planned to destroy Castro's
air force on the ground.

122
00:09:50,513 --> 00:09:54,138
The president, worried that this
might reveal Washington's role,

123
00:09:54,411 --> 00:09:57,078
ordered the operation scaled down.

124
00:10:00,370 --> 00:10:02,709
On April the 15th, 1961,

125
00:10:02,829 --> 00:10:04,644
just six American bombers,

126
00:10:04,811 --> 00:10:07,486
disguised in the colors of
the Cuban air force,

127
00:10:07,606 --> 00:10:11,768
took off from Nicaragua for a crucial
attack on Cuban airfields.

128
00:10:22,140 --> 00:10:26,553
But with so few bombers, only three
Cuban planes were destroyed.

129
00:10:27,250 --> 00:10:29,208
Seven civilians were killed.

130
00:10:34,302 --> 00:10:36,378
As they buried those who had died,

131
00:10:36,498 --> 00:10:39,063
Castro, seeking Soviet support,

132
00:10:39,183 --> 00:10:42,183
finally declared that the revolution
was socialist.

133
00:10:58,302 --> 00:11:00,803
We prepared ourselves to resist
an invasion

134
00:11:00,923 --> 00:11:05,196
against all the forces we knew the
Americans had at their disposal."

135
00:11:07,619 --> 00:11:10,937
The following day, just 1,500 exiles,

136
00:11:11,189 --> 00:11:13,494
equipped with American arms
and ammunition,

137
00:11:13,614 --> 00:11:18,685
arrived at the Bay of Pigs, 125 miles
to the south of Havana.

138
00:11:23,081 --> 00:11:25,244
"We were the happiest men
in the world,

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00:11:25,364 --> 00:11:28,748
because we had the opportunity
to return to Cuba, our homeland,

140
00:11:29,572 --> 00:11:32,260
to fight to rescue freedom
and democracy

141
00:11:32,363 --> 00:11:35,462
so that our country could be
for all Cubans."

142
00:11:37,954 --> 00:11:42,290
American planes were to protect the
invasion force as they hit the beach.

143
00:11:42,410 --> 00:11:45,614
But Kennedy, now faced with
international condemnation

144
00:11:45,734 --> 00:11:47,181
for the initial bombing,

145
00:11:47,301 --> 00:11:49,331
canceled the air support.

146
00:11:55,404 --> 00:11:57,965
Castro's remaining air force
quickly destroyed

147
00:11:58,085 --> 00:12:00,894
the ships carrying vital
ammunition supplies.

148
00:12:02,574 --> 00:12:06,405
Mistakenly believing that this was
a full-scale American invasion,

149
00:12:06,525 --> 00:12:09,102
Cuba mobilized all its forces.

150
00:12:14,566 --> 00:12:16,930
The worst moments were
at the beginning.

151
00:12:17,187 --> 00:12:19,536
We didn't have much information
about the enemy;

152
00:12:20,630 --> 00:12:24,420
we didn't know if they were
1,000, 3,000 or 10,000;

153
00:12:25,173 --> 00:12:28,305
we didn't know what types of
weapons they might have;

154
00:12:28,425 --> 00:12:31,173
we didn't know if this was
a total invasion."

155
00:12:38,606 --> 00:12:41,507
Without American air support
or resupply,

156
00:12:41,712 --> 00:12:45,077
the invasion force was outnumbered
and outgunned.

157
00:12:53,579 --> 00:12:57,943
Within 72 hours, the invaders
were either captured or dead.

158
00:13:03,528 --> 00:13:07,170
"I did not realize that the mission
was impossible until the last day,

159
00:13:07,290 --> 00:13:09,229
almost at the end:

160
00:13:10,701 --> 00:13:12,625
We trusted in our allies;

161
00:13:13,227 --> 00:13:16,509
we never thought they would
forsake us or abandon us.

162
00:13:17,517 --> 00:13:21,980
We didn't think that they could betray
the commitment they had with us."

163
00:13:23,138 --> 00:13:26,910
Jack Kennedy was devastated
by the fiasco at the Bay of Pigs,

164
00:13:27,030 --> 00:13:28,996
and he said it was a fiasco.

165
00:13:29,116 --> 00:13:33,728
He was not accustomed to failure
in politics or in life.

166
00:13:34,796 --> 00:13:37,611
He was more distraught than
I'd ever seen him.

167
00:13:37,856 --> 00:13:40,711
'How could I have been
so stupid?' he said.

168
00:13:44,245 --> 00:13:47,748
Castro had survived
and humiliated Kennedy.

169
00:13:48,751 --> 00:13:51,357
The CIA was told to think again.

170
00:13:51,667 --> 00:13:54,847
Our job was to start to
come up with new plans,

171
00:13:54,959 --> 00:13:56,545
not a Bay of Pigs type plan,

172
00:13:56,665 --> 00:14:00,962
but new plans to quote, get rid of
Castro and the Castro regime, unquote.

173
00:14:02,559 --> 00:14:04,443
Everything was suggested;

174
00:14:04,563 --> 00:14:05,883
from assassination,

175
00:14:06,003 --> 00:14:09,060
to spraying LSD into
a television studio

176
00:14:09,204 --> 00:14:12,010
to make it seem as
if Fidel had gone mad.

177
00:14:14,387 --> 00:14:17,076
Whatever they tried Castro
took in his stride.

178
00:14:17,679 --> 00:14:19,790
More secure within his own country,

179
00:14:19,910 --> 00:14:23,689
he sought to export revolution
to the rest of Latin America.

180
00:14:26,583 --> 00:14:31,066
Alarmed by this prospect, America
kept up the pressure on Castro.

181
00:14:32,922 --> 00:14:34,862
In the spring of 1962,

182
00:14:34,982 --> 00:14:37,457
a "practice invasion" of
a Caribbean island

183
00:14:37,577 --> 00:14:40,579
was mounted by 40,000
American marines.

184
00:14:43,384 --> 00:14:46,339
We did that purposely to make
Castro pay more attention to that

185
00:14:46,459 --> 00:14:49,325
than causing trouble in Latin
and Central America.

186
00:14:50,547 --> 00:14:53,962
But the Cubans and the Russians,
they told us later,

187
00:14:54,082 --> 00:14:58,866
believed that the United States
really did intend to attack Cuba

188
00:14:58,986 --> 00:15:01,569
and therefore Castro kept saying,
'I need some help.'

189
00:15:04,335 --> 00:15:07,863
Castro's pleas inspired the
Soviet leader Khrushchev

190
00:15:07,983 --> 00:15:09,560
to make a daring offer.

191
00:15:10,126 --> 00:15:13,171
He had boasted to the world
of Russia's nuclear strength,

192
00:15:13,480 --> 00:15:14,595
but in reality

193
00:15:14,715 --> 00:15:18,697
he knew just how limited his
long-range missile force really was.

194
00:15:21,529 --> 00:15:24,803
But he did have medium-range
nuclear missiles.

195
00:15:27,242 --> 00:15:29,500
From the territory of
the Soviet Union,

196
00:15:29,620 --> 00:15:32,742
they couldn't possibly reach
the territory of the U.S.A.,

197
00:15:34,648 --> 00:15:39,284
but deployed on Cuba they would
become strategic nuclear weapons.

198
00:15:44,197 --> 00:15:45,983
That meant in practical terms

199
00:15:46,103 --> 00:15:49,426
we had a chance to narrow the
differences between our forces.

200
00:15:57,081 --> 00:16:00,080
I immediately appreciated
the strategic importance

201
00:16:00,200 --> 00:16:02,982
the presence of those missiles in Cuba.

202
00:16:09,399 --> 00:16:15,126
By that time, the Americans had already
transported similar missiles

203
00:16:15,246 --> 00:16:16,376
to Turkey.

204
00:16:25,974 --> 00:16:27,080
I thought:

205
00:16:27,200 --> 00:16:30,072
if we expected the Soviets
to fight on our behalf,

206
00:16:31,715 --> 00:16:33,379
to run risks for us,

207
00:16:35,770 --> 00:16:39,389
and even involve themselves
in a war for our sake,

208
00:16:42,796 --> 00:16:46,233
it would be immoral and
cowardly on our part

209
00:16:49,133 --> 00:16:52,846
to refuse to accept the presence
of those missiles here.

210
00:16:56,476 --> 00:16:58,174
In July 1962,

211
00:16:58,294 --> 00:17:00,158
under the nose of the Americans,

212
00:17:00,278 --> 00:17:02,941
the first of 150 Soviet ships,

213
00:17:03,061 --> 00:17:05,773
loaded with heavily disguised
nuclear missiles

214
00:17:05,893 --> 00:17:09,354
and over 40,000 troops,
sailed for Cuba.

215
00:17:15,910 --> 00:17:18,287
The Americans just didn't notice
that we managed

216
00:17:18,407 --> 00:17:21,636
to deliver not one but
43,000 people there,

217
00:17:22,026 --> 00:17:23,905
plus the equipment, weapons,

218
00:17:24,025 --> 00:17:26,796
and everything necessary for
the installation work.

219
00:17:26,916 --> 00:17:29,831
We put all the cars, trucks
and tractors on the top,

220
00:17:30,174 --> 00:17:33,263
all the military equipment was
hidden under the decks.

221
00:17:39,514 --> 00:17:42,957
CIA agents in Cuba reported
that Russian troops

222
00:17:43,077 --> 00:17:46,246
and missile trailers had been seen
in the streets of Havana.

223
00:17:46,731 --> 00:17:49,405
Washington dismissed the
reports as rumor.

224
00:17:54,094 --> 00:17:55,986
I saw those weird weapons,

225
00:17:56,317 --> 00:17:58,498
and then I said to my friend Pablo...

226
00:18:01,121 --> 00:18:04,572
'Pablo, how powerful are
these weird weapons?'

227
00:18:05,322 --> 00:18:08,769
and he answered, 'These
are nuclear missiles.'

228
00:18:09,584 --> 00:18:12,686
So I thought, oh, really powerful.

229
00:18:13,601 --> 00:18:16,331
They just put them here,
out in the open.

230
00:18:20,128 --> 00:18:21,677
But the CIA had noticed

231
00:18:21,797 --> 00:18:24,815
the increase in Soviet ships
heading for Cuba.

232
00:18:25,280 --> 00:18:29,831
On October 14th, a U-2 spy plane was
ordered to fly across the island

233
00:18:30,115 --> 00:18:32,651
to try to discover what was going on.

234
00:18:37,713 --> 00:18:41,552
The next morning, the Photographic
Interpretation Center in Washington

235
00:18:41,710 --> 00:18:45,182
started analyzing the pictures
that the U-2 had taken.

236
00:18:46,519 --> 00:18:48,703
We're looking at the photography

237
00:18:48,823 --> 00:18:52,640
and we spot objects that are
foreign to the environment.

238
00:18:53,246 --> 00:18:54,638
And we kept looking,

239
00:18:54,758 --> 00:18:59,464
and we said, oh-oh, this is an SS-4
ballistic missile site.

240
00:19:00,241 --> 00:19:04,739
So working with the photo interpreters
we became convinced that this was it.

241
00:19:11,100 --> 00:19:16,306
The Soviets had never put any nuclear
weapons outside the Soviet borders,

242
00:19:16,426 --> 00:19:19,905
and we didn't think they'd do it,
you know.

243
00:19:20,554 --> 00:19:22,623
The truth of the matter is that

244
00:19:22,743 --> 00:19:25,970
it never dawned on us that they
would take that kind of risk.

245
00:19:28,432 --> 00:19:31,753
At 8:45 a.m. on October the 16th,

246
00:19:31,873 --> 00:19:35,177
the CIA informed Kennedy
that without any doubt

247
00:19:35,297 --> 00:19:38,047
there were Soviet missiles in Cuba.

248
00:19:38,985 --> 00:19:41,799
The president called his advisers
to the White House.

249
00:19:42,907 --> 00:19:45,110
We didn't spend a great deal of time

250
00:19:45,230 --> 00:19:47,796
wondering why the Soviets
were doing this,

251
00:19:48,369 --> 00:19:52,111
because why they had done it, for
whatever reason they had done it,

252
00:19:52,231 --> 00:19:55,426
they had done it in
a surreptitious way,

253
00:19:55,546 --> 00:20:02,636
lying to the United States through a
variety of messages and messengers,

254
00:20:02,756 --> 00:20:06,023
that they were only putting
defensive weapons into Cuba,

255
00:20:06,385 --> 00:20:08,473
and those weapons constituted

256
00:20:08,593 --> 00:20:10,904
a clear and present danger
to our security.

257
00:20:13,118 --> 00:20:17,934
The missiles in Cuba made the Americans
more vulnerable than ever before.

258
00:20:18,054 --> 00:20:21,960
The Russians were so close
they could strike without warning.

259
00:20:23,736 --> 00:20:29,509
A first strike would have knocked
out all the American air bases,

260
00:20:29,629 --> 00:20:31,903
bomber bases, all the American
missile bases

261
00:20:31,951 --> 00:20:34,756
and all American cities
except Seattle,

262
00:20:34,876 --> 00:20:36,547
which was out of their range.

263
00:20:36,667 --> 00:20:39,875
But Washington, D.C., New York City,
Dallas, would all

264
00:20:39,995 --> 00:20:41,564
have gone under the hammer.

265
00:20:43,083 --> 00:20:46,309
We talked about the possibility
of an air strike,

266
00:20:46,429 --> 00:20:50,822
which was at one time or another
almost everybody's first choice,

267
00:20:50,942 --> 00:20:54,112
upon first thought, to
knock out the missiles.

268
00:20:54,386 --> 00:20:56,989
We talked about an invasion of Cuba,

269
00:20:57,109 --> 00:20:59,847
which was always the preferred
choice of the right wing,

270
00:20:59,967 --> 00:21:03,812
go in and take Cuba away from Castro
and rid the island of communism,

271
00:21:03,932 --> 00:21:06,913
while at the same time
getting rid of these missiles;

272
00:21:07,173 --> 00:21:08,660
a diplomatic approach,

273
00:21:08,780 --> 00:21:11,569
either bilaterally or through
the United Nations.

274
00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:16,409
A blockade, or a quarantine,
as it later came to be called.

275
00:21:16,529 --> 00:21:20,467
No decision was made at
that first meeting.

276
00:21:20,892 --> 00:21:23,711
But if a vote had been taken there

277
00:21:23,831 --> 00:21:27,076
air strike was probably number one
on everybody's list.

278
00:21:28,564 --> 00:21:32,287
Robert Kennedy, the president's
brother and closest adviser,

279
00:21:32,407 --> 00:21:34,553
became concerned that
if America's might

280
00:21:34,673 --> 00:21:37,486
was used without warning
against a small island,

281
00:21:37,606 --> 00:21:40,100
world opinion would turn
against them.

282
00:21:41,030 --> 00:21:45,238
Robert Kennedy - rightfully,
in my opinion - drew the analogy

283
00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:50,820
that it would be regarded by
the world as a bombing of Cuba,

284
00:21:50,940 --> 00:21:52,544
of bases in Cuba,

285
00:21:52,664 --> 00:22:00,565
comparable to the bombing of Pearl
Harbor by the Japanese in 1941.

286
00:22:00,794 --> 00:22:05,912
And he said, 'I don't think I want my
brother to become another Tojo.'

287
00:22:09,631 --> 00:22:14,232
As the arguments continued, the Soviet
foreign minister, Andrei Gromyko,

288
00:22:14,352 --> 00:22:17,307
and the Soviet ambassador,
Anatoly Dobrynin,

289
00:22:17,427 --> 00:22:20,518
kept a long-standing engagement
at the White House.

290
00:22:25,271 --> 00:22:28,134
The president raised the question
of the increasing tension

291
00:22:28,363 --> 00:22:33,823
between our two countries in connection
with the Soviet deliveries of weapons.

292
00:22:34,358 --> 00:22:37,050
The president said, 'We are
worried about it

293
00:22:37,170 --> 00:22:41,203
because it's connected with our
own safety and security.'

294
00:22:41,323 --> 00:22:44,193
Gromyko told him - just as
I was told to say -

295
00:22:44,472 --> 00:22:48,764
That all our deliveries, Mr. President,
are of a defensive nature.

296
00:22:49,023 --> 00:22:52,537
If you don't intend to invade Cuba,
you shouldn't worry,

297
00:22:52,799 --> 00:22:55,973
because all the weapons
are defensive.'

298
00:22:57,088 --> 00:22:59,915
It was a clear intent to deceive.

299
00:23:00,631 --> 00:23:05,180
If the U.S. were not to respond
to Soviet deception,

300
00:23:05,594 --> 00:23:10,948
how would this influence the
attitude of our NATO allies,

301
00:23:11,684 --> 00:23:15,535
how would they view the U.S.
guarantee of their security,

302
00:23:15,655 --> 00:23:18,948
and how would it influence the future
behavior of the Soviet Union?

303
00:23:19,068 --> 00:23:22,132
If they got by with deception once,
couldn't they do it again?

304
00:23:24,828 --> 00:23:27,942
For the next two days, Kennedy
stayed away,

305
00:23:28,062 --> 00:23:31,093
keeping up with a congressional
election campaign.

306
00:23:32,492 --> 00:23:36,334
In Washington, his advisers tried
to come up with a solution.

307
00:23:37,375 --> 00:23:39,071
There were no good solutions

308
00:23:39,191 --> 00:23:42,103
every solution was full
of holes and risks.

309
00:23:42,223 --> 00:23:45,024
It was the only time during my
three years in the White House

310
00:23:45,144 --> 00:23:48,112
that I would wake up in the middle
of the night agonizing over

311
00:23:48,232 --> 00:23:50,115
what was the right approach,

312
00:23:50,712 --> 00:23:53,493
what would work, what would
not blow up the world.

313
00:23:56,355 --> 00:24:00,564
A conclusion was reached.
Not to bomb, but to blockade.

314
00:24:02,311 --> 00:24:05,635
The Navy would stop and search
all ships heading for Cuba.

315
00:24:06,147 --> 00:24:08,267
They called it "a quarantine."

316
00:24:10,631 --> 00:24:15,199
It was believed that the quarantine
would convey to Khrushchev

317
00:24:15,499 --> 00:24:20,263
the determination of the president to
see that those missiles were removed,

318
00:24:20,345 --> 00:24:24,113
without stimulating a
military response.

319
00:24:28,476 --> 00:24:30,749
But in case the quarantine
didn't work,

320
00:24:30,999 --> 00:24:33,161
preparations were made
for air strikes,

321
00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:36,406
and a massive American invasion
force was made ready.

322
00:24:38,735 --> 00:24:40,913
President Kennedy was in Chicago.

323
00:24:41,222 --> 00:24:43,483
Now he was needed in Washington.

324
00:24:44,207 --> 00:24:46,494
The press were growing suspicious.

325
00:24:46,869 --> 00:24:50,042
I was called by President Kennedy
at 8 o'clock in the morning

326
00:24:50,448 --> 00:24:52,328
and he said, come to my room,

327
00:24:52,448 --> 00:24:54,672
and he still had his bathrobe on and

328
00:24:54,720 --> 00:24:56,755
and he said, here's something
I'm writing for you,

329
00:24:56,875 --> 00:24:58,693
you're going to hold a press
conference to announce it.

330
00:24:58,813 --> 00:25:01,595
The assistant White House
physician, Dr. George Berkeley,

331
00:25:01,849 --> 00:25:05,405
noticed that the president's
voice was very husky.

332
00:25:05,525 --> 00:25:07,513
This morning when he examined
the president,

333
00:25:07,633 --> 00:25:10,544
he found that the president had
developed a slight temperature,

334
00:25:10,894 --> 00:25:15,334
and he was suffering from a minor
upper respiratory ailment.

335
00:25:15,454 --> 00:25:18,038
The president will therefore
cancel his schedule

336
00:25:18,158 --> 00:25:19,743
for the rest of today and tomorrow

337
00:25:19,863 --> 00:25:22,247
and return to Washington and
the White House.

338
00:25:22,830 --> 00:25:26,096
About halfway to Washington, I
suddenly found myself alone

339
00:25:26,216 --> 00:25:28,529
with Kennedy in the front part
of the airplane.

340
00:25:28,649 --> 00:25:31,777
I said, Mr. President, you're not
sick, what the hell's going on?'

341
00:25:31,897 --> 00:25:33,256
He said to me,

342
00:25:33,376 --> 00:25:36,083
'You're going to find out as soon
as you land in Washington

343
00:25:36,203 --> 00:25:37,790
and then grab your balls.'

344
00:25:37,910 --> 00:25:39,081
"Good morning everyone.

345
00:25:39,201 --> 00:25:43,304
An unusual flurry of top secret
military and diplomatic activity

346
00:25:43,424 --> 00:25:46,194
over the weekend has Washington
guessing today

347
00:25:46,314 --> 00:25:50,244
that a major move in American
foreign policy may be imminent.

348
00:25:50,364 --> 00:25:52,764
The speculation centers on the Caribbean

349
00:25:53,014 --> 00:25:55,240
and possible action against Cuba."

350
00:25:58,812 --> 00:26:01,141
That afternoon, the Soviet ambassador

351
00:26:01,261 --> 00:26:05,569
was called to an urgent meeting with
Secretary of State Dean Rusk.

352
00:26:09,733 --> 00:26:13,390
Rusk said, 'You are delivering
missiles to Cuba.

353
00:26:15,256 --> 00:26:18,117
We have aerial reconnaissance
photographs.

354
00:26:19,093 --> 00:26:21,389
This is a threat to our security,

355
00:26:21,509 --> 00:26:24,085
and we cannot possibly allow it.

356
00:26:25,395 --> 00:26:28,087
In one hour's time, at 7 p.m.,

357
00:26:28,593 --> 00:26:31,273
the president will make a radio
and television appeal

358
00:26:31,393 --> 00:26:32,816
to the American people,

359
00:26:32,936 --> 00:26:35,634
where he will describe the situation.

360
00:26:36,753 --> 00:26:42,073
At the same time he wants you to
pass the message on to Khrushchev.'

361
00:26:47,812 --> 00:26:51,674
At 7 o'clock, Kennedy announced
to the world for the first time

362
00:26:51,794 --> 00:26:54,874
the discovery of Soviet
missiles in Cuba,

363
00:26:55,479 --> 00:26:58,374
and that a blockade
was now in force.

364
00:27:01,363 --> 00:27:04,753
"The purpose of these bases
can be none other

365
00:27:05,007 --> 00:27:08,017
than to provide a nuclear
strike capability

366
00:27:08,137 --> 00:27:10,061
against the Western Hemisphere.

367
00:27:10,453 --> 00:27:12,364
To halt this offensive buildup,

368
00:27:12,737 --> 00:27:16,249
a strict quarantine on all offensive
military equipment

369
00:27:16,369 --> 00:27:19,045
under shipment to Cuba
is being initiated.

370
00:27:19,768 --> 00:27:22,528
All ships of any kind bound for Cuba

371
00:27:22,648 --> 00:27:24,827
from whatever nation or port

372
00:27:24,947 --> 00:27:27,916
will, if found to contain cargoes of
offensive weapons,

373
00:27:28,036 --> 00:27:29,376
be turned back.

374
00:27:29,899 --> 00:27:32,009
I call upon Chairman Khrushchev

375
00:27:32,314 --> 00:27:34,079
to halt and eliminate

376
00:27:34,477 --> 00:27:38,520
this clandestine, reckless and
provocative threat to world peace,

377
00:27:38,901 --> 00:27:41,734
and to stable relations between
our two nations.

378
00:27:42,987 --> 00:27:45,095
He has an opportunity now

379
00:27:45,215 --> 00:27:46,772
to move the world back

380
00:27:46,892 --> 00:27:48,676
from the abyss of destruction."

381
00:27:50,881 --> 00:27:53,790
The first response from Moscow
came the next morning:

382
00:27:55,312 --> 00:27:57,881
Khrushchev was not going
to back down.

383
00:27:58,630 --> 00:28:01,437
Kennedy spoke about quarantine,

384
00:28:03,185 --> 00:28:08,584
that sounded as something
not very precise,

385
00:28:08,704 --> 00:28:12,465
perhaps not a blockade,
as it actually was.

386
00:28:13,194 --> 00:28:18,142
So the first reactions were pretty
tough from the Soviet side.

387
00:28:18,262 --> 00:28:20,677
"Denouncing the United States
arms quarantine

388
00:28:20,797 --> 00:28:23,932
against Cuba as a step towards
world thermonuclear war,

389
00:28:24,052 --> 00:28:26,360
the Soviet Union today
ordered its armed forces

390
00:28:26,480 --> 00:28:28,416
into a state of combat readiness,

391
00:28:28,536 --> 00:28:30,506
and forces of the Warsaw Pact,

392
00:28:30,626 --> 00:28:33,736
the communist counterpart of the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization,

393
00:28:33,856 --> 00:28:35,402
immediately followed suit."

394
00:28:37,605 --> 00:28:40,247
As the superpowers prepared
for conflict,

395
00:28:40,367 --> 00:28:42,813
Cuba announced a 'combat alarm'.

396
00:28:44,277 --> 00:28:49,706
Over a quarter of a million people
stood by to repel an American invasion.

397
00:28:51,821 --> 00:28:53,574
We felt the danger.

398
00:28:54,905 --> 00:28:56,207
This was a war;

399
00:28:56,740 --> 00:29:00,561
the country could be invaded at
any time by the Americans.

400
00:29:03,038 --> 00:29:04,839
If they invaded our country,

401
00:29:04,924 --> 00:29:07,800
I was convinced it would
create the grave risk

402
00:29:07,920 --> 00:29:09,837
of the U.S. taking the second step

403
00:29:09,957 --> 00:29:14,083
of carrying out a nuclear air strike
against the Soviet Union.

404
00:29:18,469 --> 00:29:21,567
The American fleet now
encircled Cuba.

405
00:29:22,046 --> 00:29:24,726
The Soviet ships stayed on course.

406
00:29:25,673 --> 00:29:30,295
With confrontation imminent, Kennedy
wanted direct contact with Moscow.

407
00:29:30,868 --> 00:29:35,686
He sent his brother Robert to meet
in secret with the Soviet ambassador.

408
00:29:38,167 --> 00:29:40,911
He said, 'Did your government
instruct the captains

409
00:29:41,031 --> 00:29:42,759
to turn the ships back home

410
00:29:42,879 --> 00:29:45,330
because Kennedy introduced
the quarantine?'

411
00:29:47,644 --> 00:29:51,149
I said, 'No, our captains
had no such orders,

412
00:29:53,026 --> 00:29:56,124
as far as I am aware they are
instructed to go on to Cuba.

413
00:30:02,359 --> 00:30:04,670
According to international law

414
00:30:04,790 --> 00:30:08,988
you have no right to stop
our ships in the open sea.

415
00:30:10,928 --> 00:30:14,777
You cannot draw an imaginary
line which cannot be crossed,

416
00:30:14,897 --> 00:30:16,778
it is against the law.'

417
00:30:18,370 --> 00:30:19,513
He replied,

418
00:30:20,161 --> 00:30:24,592
'Well, then I don't know
where we are heading.'

419
00:30:24,884 --> 00:30:27,863
"The Pentagon says the United
States is ready to sink

420
00:30:27,983 --> 00:30:30,323
every communist bloc ship
headed for Cuba

421
00:30:30,443 --> 00:30:33,690
which refuses to stop and be
searched under the blockade.

422
00:30:34,048 --> 00:30:36,748
Further, force will be
used if necessary

423
00:30:36,868 --> 00:30:41,015
to stop and search any ship, of
any nation, bound for Cuba."

424
00:30:41,324 --> 00:30:45,223
I think that was the moment that
really was the heart-stopper.

425
00:30:45,789 --> 00:30:49,800
The... I recall... I recall

426
00:30:49,920 --> 00:30:54,613
being in the newsroom just waiting
for that next bulletin,

427
00:30:55,088 --> 00:30:58,360
and almost literally trying to type
with my fingers crossed.

428
00:31:00,211 --> 00:31:02,740
"Let's check over at the Pentagon,

429
00:31:02,860 --> 00:31:06,009
with Charles Burne Friend on that.

430
00:31:06,129 --> 00:31:08,509
Chuck, is there any late
information about

431
00:31:08,629 --> 00:31:10,452
the position of those Soviet ships,

432
00:31:10,572 --> 00:31:12,382
or what might be happening to them?"

433
00:31:12,502 --> 00:31:15,107
"Walter, we haven't heard a word
for several hours now,

434
00:31:15,227 --> 00:31:18,500
as to when the confrontation
between U.S. vessels

435
00:31:18,620 --> 00:31:21,172
and the Soviet ships
will come about."

436
00:31:23,283 --> 00:31:25,919
Nerves were being stretched
to breaking point.

437
00:31:26,788 --> 00:31:30,641
People tried to prepare for a
possible nuclear holocaust.

438
00:31:31,402 --> 00:31:34,265
A wave of panic buying
swept across America.

439
00:31:34,776 --> 00:31:38,293
We have a utility room where
the furnaces are,

440
00:31:38,413 --> 00:31:43,807
and we wondered whether we could make
that into a bomb shelter of some form.

441
00:31:43,927 --> 00:31:45,521
We were learning for the first time

442
00:31:45,641 --> 00:31:48,801
the time that we would have
after the explosion,

443
00:31:48,921 --> 00:31:55,034
before the ... the ... the fumes,
the killing fumes,

444
00:31:55,154 --> 00:31:57,599
killing heat and so forth,
would reach us.

445
00:31:59,816 --> 00:32:03,777
The Soviet leaders had tried to keep
the crisis from their people,

446
00:32:03,897 --> 00:32:05,644
but the news was getting out.

447
00:32:11,082 --> 00:32:14,256
The people felt the breath
of war and were tense.

448
00:32:16,219 --> 00:32:18,644
I remember my parents felt doomed.

449
00:32:19,250 --> 00:32:22,514
They understood that war would
not be like it was before,

450
00:32:23,219 --> 00:32:26,141
that it would be a war with
atomic bombs.

451
00:32:28,873 --> 00:32:32,377
"This is a special report
from CBS News."

452
00:32:32,497 --> 00:32:36,204
"Well, at its beginning, this day
looked as if it might be

453
00:32:36,324 --> 00:32:39,239
one of armed conflict between
Soviet vessels

454
00:32:39,359 --> 00:32:42,576
and American warships on the
sea lanes leading to Cuba.

455
00:32:42,696 --> 00:32:46,245
But there has been no confrontation
as far as we know,

456
00:32:46,365 --> 00:32:50,653
and some hope has been generated
by suggestions of negotiation."

457
00:32:53,805 --> 00:32:55,575
Almost at the last moment,

458
00:32:55,695 --> 00:32:58,644
the missile ships appeared
to have slowed down,

459
00:32:58,764 --> 00:33:00,447
or altered course.

460
00:33:05,176 --> 00:33:08,641
That evening, as Kennedy dined
with friends at the White House,

461
00:33:08,761 --> 00:33:11,207
a toast was proposed to celebrate.

462
00:33:11,548 --> 00:33:12,811
Kennedy declined.

463
00:33:13,253 --> 00:33:16,154
"The game," he said,
"was hardly over."

464
00:33:18,887 --> 00:33:22,300
At 9:24 p.m. the State Department
received a letter

465
00:33:22,420 --> 00:33:24,140
from Khrushchev for the president.

466
00:33:24,765 --> 00:33:27,654
Khrushchev rejected all of
Kennedy's demands.

467
00:33:28,251 --> 00:33:32,352
The missiles already in Cuba were
being prepared for action.

468
00:33:37,831 --> 00:33:39,622
For the first time in its history,

469
00:33:39,742 --> 00:33:43,728
America's Strategic Air Command
moved to Defense Condition 2.

470
00:33:44,311 --> 00:33:48,048
The next step - DEFCON 1 -
would be war.

471
00:33:57,205 --> 00:33:59,916
Just after dawn on the morning
of the 25th,

472
00:34:00,036 --> 00:34:05,016
Kennedy ordered the interception of the
Bucharest, a ship carrying Soviet oil.

473
00:34:05,369 --> 00:34:09,053
He knew there was no possibility
of an oil tanker carrying missiles,

474
00:34:09,316 --> 00:34:13,390
but it was a signal to Khrushchev
that he was deadly serious.

475
00:34:20,008 --> 00:34:22,255
That afternoon, at the
United Nations,

476
00:34:22,375 --> 00:34:27,411
Adlai Stevenson confronted his Soviet
counterpart, Ambassador Zorin.

477
00:34:29,592 --> 00:34:33,897
"All right sir, let me ask you
one simple question:

478
00:34:34,741 --> 00:34:39,299
Do you, Ambassador Zorin,
deny that the U.S.S.R. has

479
00:34:39,966 --> 00:34:43,121
placed and is placing medium
and intermediate-range

480
00:34:43,241 --> 00:34:45,110
missiles and sites in Cuba?

481
00:34:45,626 --> 00:34:46,807
Yes or no?

482
00:34:47,786 --> 00:34:50,287
Don't wait for the translation:
Yes or no?"

483
00:35:01,019 --> 00:35:04,776
"I´m not... I am not in an
American courtroom, sir,

484
00:35:04,896 --> 00:35:08,110
and therefore I do not wish
to answer a question

485
00:35:08,230 --> 00:35:11,786
that is put to me in the fashion
in which a prosecutor does.

486
00:35:11,906 --> 00:35:13,965
In due course, sir, you
will have your reply."

487
00:35:14,085 --> 00:35:16,543
"...of world opinion right now and
you can answer yes or no.

488
00:35:16,663 --> 00:35:18,242
You have denied that they exist

489
00:35:18,362 --> 00:35:21,041
and I want to know if I have
understood you correctly."

490
00:35:23,184 --> 00:35:25,436
As the Soviet ambassador
prevaricated,

491
00:35:25,556 --> 00:35:30,559
the U-2 photographs were brought into
the meeting for the world to see.

492
00:35:34,356 --> 00:35:37,289
With work continuing on the
missile sites in Cuba,

493
00:35:37,409 --> 00:35:41,289
the buildup of U.S. invasion forces
in Florida increased.

494
00:35:42,427 --> 00:35:45,221
The Americans prepared for
conventional combat.

495
00:35:46,713 --> 00:35:49,331
They were unaware that the Soviet
forces were equipped

496
00:35:49,451 --> 00:35:51,441
with short-range tactical missiles,

497
00:35:51,561 --> 00:35:53,716
tipped with atomic warheads,

498
00:35:54,309 --> 00:35:56,976
ready to annihilate any invader.

499
00:36:01,259 --> 00:36:03,659
If they had started an invasion
using the Marines

500
00:36:03,779 --> 00:36:06,582
or the Airborne forces, the losses
would have been enormous:

501
00:36:06,702 --> 00:36:08,719
We would have fought
to the last soldier,

502
00:36:08,839 --> 00:36:10,192
to the last bullet.

503
00:36:10,312 --> 00:36:12,374
There was nowhere to retreat to.

504
00:36:18,846 --> 00:36:21,246
On the 26th of October

505
00:36:21,678 --> 00:36:24,700
at a meeting with the Soviet
military commander,

506
00:36:26,884 --> 00:36:30,934
I was informed about the
state of the missiles.

507
00:36:34,059 --> 00:36:35,392
He told me,

508
00:36:36,730 --> 00:36:39,056
'The air regiment is ready,

509
00:36:39,832 --> 00:36:42,615
the surface-to-air missiles
are ready,

510
00:36:45,024 --> 00:36:51,059
the tactical nuclear missile unit
is ready, missiles ready.'

511
00:36:57,475 --> 00:37:01,043
On October the 26th, with
tension increasing,

512
00:37:01,163 --> 00:37:03,801
Kennedy received a telegram
from Khrushchev.

513
00:37:04,438 --> 00:37:06,591
The most important paragraph in it is,

514
00:37:06,712 --> 00:37:09,141
Mr. President, Mr. Kennedy,
you and I are like two men

515
00:37:09,261 --> 00:37:11,116
pulling on a rope with
a knot in the middle,

516
00:37:11,236 --> 00:37:14,360
the harder we pull, the tighter the knot
until it will have to be cut with a sword.

517
00:37:14,480 --> 00:37:18,151
why we don't both let up the pressure
and maybe we can untie the knot?'

518
00:37:18,854 --> 00:37:20,666
Khrushchev went on to offer

519
00:37:20,786 --> 00:37:24,465
that if the United States declared
that they wouldn't invade Cuba:

520
00:37:24,585 --> 00:37:28,587
"The necessity of the presence of our
military specialists in Cuba

521
00:37:28,707 --> 00:37:30,006
will disappear".

522
00:37:30,896 --> 00:37:34,726
At last, it looked as if cooler
heads were prevailing.

523
00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:38,444
The next morning, everything changed.

524
00:37:38,564 --> 00:37:41,178
Khrushchev tried to push
for a better deal.

525
00:37:41,298 --> 00:37:46,769
He demanded a trade. His missiles
in Cuba for U.S. missiles in Turkey.

526
00:37:46,889 --> 00:37:49,519
Khrushchev thought that if he...

527
00:37:51,543 --> 00:37:57,994
if the withdrawal from Turkey
could be incorporated

528
00:37:58,114 --> 00:38:02,774
in a general agreement between
the two sides,

529
00:38:02,894 --> 00:38:06,420
that would look very good
for the Soviet Union.

530
00:38:07,873 --> 00:38:09,862
Much ... even better

531
00:38:09,982 --> 00:38:15,641
than a simple decision by the United
States not to attack Cuba.

532
00:38:16,504 --> 00:38:20,863
President Kennedy was prepared to take
the American missiles out of Turkey.

533
00:38:21,740 --> 00:38:24,591
But they were part of America's
contribution to NATO

534
00:38:24,711 --> 00:38:27,350
and he could offer Khrushchev
no promises.

535
00:38:29,616 --> 00:38:31,627
As Kennedy considered the options,

536
00:38:31,747 --> 00:38:35,161
he received news that the crisis
had escalated again.

537
00:38:36,759 --> 00:38:39,142
In continued American reconnaissance,

538
00:38:39,262 --> 00:38:44,628
a U-2 spy plane overflew a Soviet
anti-aircraft site in the east of Cuba.

539
00:38:44,958 --> 00:38:45,985
This time,

540
00:38:46,105 --> 00:38:48,104
the Soviet commander gave the order

541
00:38:48,224 --> 00:38:51,126
to launch a surface-to-air
missile against it.

542
00:38:53,950 --> 00:38:56,675
The division commander
Lt. Colonel Grechkove

543
00:38:56,795 --> 00:38:59,323
was given the order to
liquidate the target.

544
00:39:05,974 --> 00:39:09,630
If we hadn't shot down a plane which
had photographed all of our bases,

545
00:39:09,750 --> 00:39:12,423
it would have enabled the
enemy to destroy us.

546
00:39:14,686 --> 00:39:17,852
That would have meant we had
not fulfilled our mission;

547
00:39:18,544 --> 00:39:20,851
we would have betrayed
our Motherland.

548
00:39:23,273 --> 00:39:27,099
The standby plan was that
if a U-2 was shot down,

549
00:39:27,219 --> 00:39:29,900
we would immediately bomb that

550
00:39:30,020 --> 00:39:32,155
SAM site out of existence.

551
00:39:32,497 --> 00:39:35,552
President Kennedy canceled
that order, he said

552
00:39:35,672 --> 00:39:40,507
don't bomb that anti-aircraft site,

553
00:39:40,731 --> 00:39:43,360
I want time to exchange with
Khrushchev.

554
00:39:46,213 --> 00:39:48,217
A war appeared imminent,

555
00:39:48,887 --> 00:39:51,650
a first strike might take
place at any time.

556
00:39:53,915 --> 00:39:55,714
I said to myself:

557
00:39:55,942 --> 00:40:01,999
If Cuba is in such an unfortunate war,
we will disappear from the map.

558
00:40:03,679 --> 00:40:06,395
Castro sent a message to Khrushchev

559
00:40:06,515 --> 00:40:10,761
He said a U.S. attack was just hours
away, and once launched,

560
00:40:10,881 --> 00:40:14,164
the Soviet Union should retaliate
immediately with

561
00:40:14,284 --> 00:40:16,086
"an annihilating strike."

562
00:40:17,689 --> 00:40:22,250
In Washington, Kennedy was still
trying to avoid a world war.

563
00:40:22,798 --> 00:40:24,635
Bobby Kennedy

564
00:40:24,990 --> 00:40:26,887
had this brilliant idea.

565
00:40:27,007 --> 00:40:32,215
He said: Let's pick out of the
Khrushchev cable the things we like

566
00:40:32,505 --> 00:40:34,623
and pretend that the rest
isn't there.

567
00:40:35,091 --> 00:40:38,193
Jack Kennedy and Bobby Kennedy, they
crafted this answer to Khrushchev

568
00:40:38,313 --> 00:40:39,511
that did just that.

569
00:40:39,631 --> 00:40:43,280
It ignored the shoot-down
of the U-2, it ignored the

570
00:40:43,660 --> 00:40:45,979
broadcast from Moscow that was
very hawkish, you know,

571
00:40:46,099 --> 00:40:47,349
etc., etc., etc.,

572
00:40:47,469 --> 00:40:48,426
and just

573
00:40:49,546 --> 00:40:52,055
we said, 'We understand what
you're proposing

574
00:40:52,175 --> 00:40:54,159
and we listen to things we like.'

575
00:40:55,272 --> 00:40:58,190
There was little confidence
that this ploy would work.

576
00:40:58,599 --> 00:41:01,126
Plans for the invasion continued.

577
00:41:01,406 --> 00:41:03,838
The tension on Saturday night
was extraordinary,

578
00:41:03,958 --> 00:41:07,171
because there was going to be the
meeting where we were going to decide

579
00:41:07,399 --> 00:41:10,190
what time the next day we were
going to invade Cuba

580
00:41:10,310 --> 00:41:12,038
or was it going to be later,

581
00:41:12,158 --> 00:41:14,174
were we going to be bombing
those areas,

582
00:41:14,294 --> 00:41:15,397
and Kennedy

583
00:41:15,650 --> 00:41:17,867
started the meeting
by saying, 'Listen,

584
00:41:18,114 --> 00:41:21,510
all of you have not been home
for at least six, seven days

585
00:41:22,210 --> 00:41:23,908
I want all of you to go home tonight,

586
00:41:24,028 --> 00:41:26,034
come back tomorrow morning,
Sunday morning

587
00:41:26,154 --> 00:41:28,482
and we'll make the decision
Sunday morning.'

588
00:41:31,231 --> 00:41:33,550
They left the White House
fearful that America

589
00:41:33,670 --> 00:41:36,051
could soon be engulfed
in nuclear war

590
00:41:36,171 --> 00:41:40,073
a war that once started, might
be impossible to stop.

591
00:41:41,768 --> 00:41:45,807
It was a perfectly beautiful night,
as fall nights are in Washington.

592
00:41:46,227 --> 00:41:49,223
I walked out of the president's Oval
Office, and as I walked out,

593
00:41:49,370 --> 00:41:53,130
I thought I might never live to see
another Saturday night.

594
00:41:54,975 --> 00:41:58,679
Kennedy sent his brother to another
meeting with the Soviet ambassador.

595
00:42:04,132 --> 00:42:07,616
He came to me and said:
'The situation is very tense.

596
00:42:07,736 --> 00:42:10,442
Your missiles have just
shot down our plane.

597
00:42:10,562 --> 00:42:13,421
Our generals demand
that we fight back.

598
00:42:14,515 --> 00:42:19,558
If we start bombing, you will start
to fight back. What can we do?'

599
00:42:19,935 --> 00:42:21,810
I said: 'What about Turkey?

600
00:42:22,556 --> 00:42:24,646
He thought for a while and said,

601
00:42:24,766 --> 00:42:28,451
'You know, if that's the only condition
which prevents us from striking a deal,

602
00:42:28,571 --> 00:42:32,439
then I'm authorized by the president
to say that we agree to it.'

603
00:42:33,022 --> 00:42:35,503
We could not take them out
under threat,

604
00:42:35,715 --> 00:42:39,507
we could not take them out unilaterally,
because they were NATO bases,

605
00:42:40,111 --> 00:42:43,546
but he had our assurance that they
would be gone provided

606
00:42:43,666 --> 00:42:46,454
it was not done on a quid pro quo basis.

607
00:42:46,574 --> 00:42:49,981
Therefore the Russians
could not talk about it.

608
00:42:50,101 --> 00:42:56,146
And that was, I would say,
the last... the last...

609
00:42:57,967 --> 00:43:03,472
thing that led to the decision
to accept

610
00:43:03,592 --> 00:43:07,750
Kennedy's terms that he would

611
00:43:07,870 --> 00:43:12,195
be willing to guarantee that there
would be no attack on Cuba,

612
00:43:12,315 --> 00:43:15,093
but that the Soviet Union
should withdraw

613
00:43:15,213 --> 00:43:18,439
all offensive weapons from Cuba.

614
00:43:20,015 --> 00:43:24,159
Khrushchev, fearing that this might
be the last chance to escape war,

615
00:43:24,279 --> 00:43:28,279
rushed a message, accepting
Kennedy's terms, to Radio Moscow.

616
00:43:28,970 --> 00:43:31,166
It was broadcast to the world.

617
00:43:32,951 --> 00:43:37,348
"The Soviet government has ordered
the dismantling of weapons in Cuba,

618
00:43:37,635 --> 00:43:41,077
as well as their crating and
return to the Soviet Union."

619
00:43:41,369 --> 00:43:44,158
"Radio Moscow at 9 o'clock
this morning.

620
00:43:44,278 --> 00:43:47,255
Mr. Khrushchev crating up his missiles
and sending them home."

621
00:43:47,375 --> 00:43:50,278
The first news I heard
on Sunday morning

622
00:43:50,532 --> 00:43:53,953
when I woke up was this broadcast
from Khrushchev

623
00:43:54,073 --> 00:43:55,602
over the open air,

624
00:43:55,722 --> 00:43:59,158
that Soviet missiles were
to be withdrawn

625
00:43:59,278 --> 00:44:02,174
under inspection, and the
crisis was over.

626
00:44:02,507 --> 00:44:04,479
I could hardly believe my ears.

627
00:44:04,535 --> 00:44:05,797
"This is the day,

628
00:44:05,917 --> 00:44:07,650
we have every reason to believe,

629
00:44:07,820 --> 00:44:10,938
when the world came out from under
the most terrible threat

630
00:44:11,058 --> 00:44:13,662
of a nuclear holocaust since
the end of World War II.

631
00:44:16,803 --> 00:44:18,720
We were irate.

632
00:44:18,840 --> 00:44:20,476
How did we learn about this?

633
00:44:21,464 --> 00:44:24,315
Through the radio, on the
morning of the 28th.

634
00:44:24,865 --> 00:44:27,378
They broadcast that an agreement
had been reached

635
00:44:27,498 --> 00:44:29,935
between the Soviet Union and
the United States,

636
00:44:30,055 --> 00:44:33,730
that Kennedy was offering
Khruschev a guarantee.

637
00:44:35,274 --> 00:44:38,074
It really was a disgraceful agreement.

638
00:44:39,582 --> 00:44:42,763
It never crossed my mind they
would do anything like this.

639
00:44:44,829 --> 00:44:48,286
The whole world was under the
impression that Khrushchev had lost

640
00:44:48,406 --> 00:44:51,733
because he'd given in to the
pressure of a strong president.

641
00:44:51,853 --> 00:44:53,889
That he'd taken everything
out of Cuba,

642
00:44:54,009 --> 00:44:56,011
but got nothing in return.

643
00:44:56,558 --> 00:45:01,409
No one knew about the agreement
regarding the missiles in Turkey.

644
00:45:01,897 --> 00:45:04,439
If you ask who won or who lost,

645
00:45:04,600 --> 00:45:07,757
I'd say neither Kennedy
nor Khrushchev.

646
00:45:11,982 --> 00:45:14,296
Under close American surveillance,

647
00:45:14,416 --> 00:45:17,591
Soviet ships took the
missiles back home.

648
00:45:21,392 --> 00:45:25,231
There is no question that if it hadn't
been solved, and we had invaded Cuba,

649
00:45:25,351 --> 00:45:27,306
we would have been in a nuclear war

650
00:45:27,552 --> 00:45:30,822
and the number of people who
would have been killed

651
00:45:30,942 --> 00:45:34,522
around the world in that nuclear war
would have been absolutely disastrous.

652
00:45:34,867 --> 00:45:37,278
That was the biggest crisis
of the 20th century,

653
00:45:37,398 --> 00:45:41,107
and the fact that Kennedy solved
it with Khrushchev

654
00:45:41,227 --> 00:45:42,638
is absolutely important,

655
00:45:42,758 --> 00:45:46,131
because then we were moving
into a totally different world.

656
00:45:47,808 --> 00:45:51,280
<b>Subtitles by
Juan Claudio Epsteyn</b>

657
00:45:51,802 --> 00:45:56,213
<b>E-mail:
epsteyn@hotmail.com</b>