Remembering The Cuban Missile Crisis: An Excerpt From “Camelot Lost”

Cyrus was in boot camp in October 1962 when the planet was nearly immolated. Our U-2 spy planes discovered medium range missiles in Cuba. They had to be Soviet, and they had to have nuclear warheads. I was frightened after Kennedy’s Tuesday night announcement of our response—evidently two weeks after we discovered the missiles. I missed having someone to talk with about important matters like the end of the world.

The president had instituted a naval quarantine of Cuba, preventing Soviet shipping from getting there. He called it a quarantine as calling his action a blockade was tantamount to a declaration of war. On the eve of the pending apocalypse, I phoned Lindvall and luckily found him at home in Sunnyvale, a priority ICBM target due to the nearby aircraft industry.

His father had recently separated from his stepmother, Virginia and moved out. “He has a problem with a wandering dick,” Lindvall snickered. “Of course, Virginia isn’t an epitome of sexual fidelity.”

We talked for an hour trying to relieve our shared anxiety. His parents had their own problems which could be relieved with a blinding flash of light. “No time for chit-chat, this scares the piss out of me,” I sighed. “It threatens a nuclear holocaust.”

“Missiles in Cuba can’t reach us, but an all-out war will get everybody. The Doomsday clock has ticked down to one second before midnight.”

“It’s the Kennedy brothers’ final exam. I heard speculation about Cuban missiles during the summer when Ken Keating spoke about it in the Senate.”

“His support for anti-Castro fascists put his catastrophizing in doubt.”

I said, “Hard to weigh the significance of exaggeration when everyone knows that no one wins a nuclear exchange. It can kill the entire planet, bringing on nuclear winter for those that weren’t directly targeted.”

“We’ll get to know how the dinosaurs felt.”

“As they say, that’s cold comfort.”

“The Kennedys will be crucified for negotiating with the Russians.”

“I notice you didn’t say ‘if they negotiate.’”

“They’re smart and rational,” he said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Le May and the Joint chiefs have recommended a first strike.”

“They will be hard to resist. Thank God for civilian oversight of the military.”

“I find the complexity intriguing,” he asserted. “Can they make a deal with Khruschev and not precipitate a right-wing coup d’etat? The Kennedy’s know that militaristic chest pounding won’t cut it when you’re at the endgame.”

“That’s based on a shaky premise that we won’t have already blown everything to shit in order to suit the war-mongers.”

“You’re right. I hope the Kennedys can play chess. They need to be ten moves ahead of the crazies.”