Did You See the First Kennedy Broadcast - Cuban Missile Crisis?

[bcohen7719]

Were you scared?

 

BC

 

 

[video=youtube;W50RNAbmy3M]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W50RNAbmy3M

[KMEM]

I did and I was.

 

Best regards,

KMEM

[zeferrelli]

definitely afraid! He almost got us killed!

[rocky]

I hope that "knight" is not inferring that Kennedy almost got us killed. If so I'm shocked.

[KMEM]

Why else be afraid?

 

Best regards,

KMEM

[+ azdr0710]

back in 4th grade or something, we had to do reports on the biggest news item of the month we were born in....that was mine

[Epigonos]

I think most of us were frightened but many of us had great faith in Kennedy's ability to handle the situation. At the age of nineteen I quit school and went to work for the John F. Kennedy campaign even before the first primary. Today I always identify myself politically as a John F. Kennedy Democrat as a young adult and as a Barry Goldwater Republican as an older adult. The night of that speech Robert Kennedy and Garry Goldwater were at the White House with President Kennedy. I have always found it interesting that John Kennedy and Barry Goldwater were very close friends. Equally interesting was the fact that Goldwater absolutely detested Richard Nixon

[orbital sander]

I think most of us were frightened but many of us had great faith in Kennedy's ability to handle the situation. At the age of nineteen I quit school and went to work for the John F. Kennedy campaign even before the first primary. Today I always identify myself politically as a John F. Kennedy Democrat as a young adult and as a Barry Goldwater Republican as an older adult. The night of that speech Robert Kennedy and Garry Goldwater were at the White House with President Kennedy. I have always found it interesting that John Kennedy and Barry Goldwater were very close friends. Equally interesting was the fact that Goldwater absolutely detested Richard Nixon

 

I was still probably a twinkle in my fathers eye, so I have no Kennedy information other than what I have been told or have read in books (or TV specials). I know many people, including my own parents were pretty upset about the Cuban Missile Crisis. While my parents have always generally been conservative, they were supportive of Kennedy.

 

As far as Barry Goldwater, I think he was much more together than many people give him credit for. I watched him several times in interviews and he comes across pretty well. It is no surprise that he did not like Nixon, he had too much integrity IMHO.

[raulgmanzo]

... I have always found it interesting that John Kennedy and Barry Goldwater were very close friends. Equally interesting was the fact that Goldwater absolutely detested Richard Nixon

 

I agree that it's interesting. Very interesting and yet makes sense. Especially Goldwater disliking Nixon. Saying Nixon was the most dishonest man he had ever met or something to that effect.

Nixon sucking up to the religious right being IMHO the most dishonest (worse than Watergate) and something which seemed to rightfully upset Goldwater.

 

Recently I read Goldwater's Conscience of a Conservative and bits and pieces of his more recent writings. Perhaps a bit rabid with his anti-communism but Goldwater's honest conservative ideals and great belief in separation of church and state make him a great man.

[Samai139]

I did not see the speech on television, but listened to it on transistor radios on the athletic fields of UCLA while in training for the Peace Corps. My fellow trainees and I were terrified---that we would not be able to finish training because of the threats being tossed back and forth and that we would be serving in some kind of military service rather than the Peace Corps. Not sure if we even considered that it was possible that a nuclear war would take place---that kind of armaggedon didn't seem possible to a group of idealistic globalists, but the commentators and journalists made us aware of that in the following days. It was also during my training days in California that Richard Nixon made that famous speech, after being defeated in the gubernatorial race, that the press wouldn't have Nixon to kick around any more.

Marilyn Monroe also died during my stay in Los Angeles. It certainly was an momentous six month period for me, and for the nation!! (July-December 1962)

[KMEM]

It seems that JFK didn't have confidence in his ability to handle the situation. There were a lot of negatives going on to include the Bay of Pigs failure and only "guessing" the intent of Khruschev, likely meaning not having as good intelligence as he would have liked. I think he fully realized that he put the US and the world on the brink of nuclear war and had his fingers crossed at all times, figuratively speaking. He also made a "secret" deal to remove missles from Turkey to sweeten the deal with Khruschev. Perhaps we should give credit to Khruschev and/or those who restrained him as well.

 

My comments do not mean that JFK was not brave and was not exhibiting the attributes of a leader. He was.

 

I just remember being very nervous about what was about to transpire and wondering where the nearest fall out shelter was.

 

Best regards,

KMEM