This episode finishes the story of the Cuban Missile Crisis, when President Kennedy and Soviet Premier Khrushchev brought the world to the brink of nuclear annihilation. 

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With the benefit of secret tapes which revealed the tense decision-making of President Kennedy and his advisors, as well as the secret archives of the Soviet Union that opened up after the end of the Cold War we know that General Maxwell Taylor, Kennedy’s Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the highest-ranking officer in the United States military, advised Kennedy to launch massive airstrikes against Cuba with no advance warning in order to disable the Soviet nuclear weapons in Cuba before they became operational and a threat to the US homeland. We also now know that some of the missiles were, in fact,  already operational and ready to launch on short notice. The Air Force Chief of Staff, General Curtis Lemay told Kennedy, quote, “we don’t have any choice other than direct military action.” Of course, with 20/20 hindsight, we did. Had different choices been made then by President Kennedy, you would likely not be listening to this podcast here today. There probably would not be any podcasts at all. There may not be many humans left at all.  October and November 1962 of the Cuban Missile Crisis were probably the most dangerous days in recorded human history. This is the story.

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