The weekend was coming up, and I should have been excited. Normally at age nine, the prospect of a birthday party in the city with a movie and lunch at a fancy restaurant would have had me dancing. Instead, I was afraid.
What if a bomb fell on my parents while I was at the party? Who would take care of me? What would I do?
Mom and Dad tried to shield me and my sisters from world events. In their bathrobes and slippers after breakfast, they’d peruse sections of the Inquirer and Sunday Bulletin, strewing spent pages on the floor of the den. We girls would shuffle through them to find the Funnies, interested only in Blondie, Peanuts, and Beetle Bailey. If the news was troubling, we might detect some tension, but nothing was said.
Still, it was October of 1962, and at school, Duck-and-Cover drills sent us scurrying under desks, and some of our parents’ friends had excavated fallout shelters in their yards. Well-stocked with supplies, they were cool and cave-like to visit, but the thought of living there? Crazy claustrophobic, but for kids, the stuff of fantasy, as imaginable as life in a fort or submarine.
Children with less protective parents spoke ominously about our enemy, the U.S.S.R, so we weren’t oblivious. The bomb scare clues were glaring, though not the specifics: that Soviet missiles with nuclear capabilities were being installed in Cuba and aimed at American cities. For me, lying rigid with fear in bed at night, every plane passing overhead held potential threat. Was that whining sound a bomb hurtling toward us?
Now, I am the parent concerned for children and grandkids of my own. Although I try to resist, I scroll through my newsfeed every day striving to quell panic. Bad idea. On Sundays, the sections of the Boston Globe are strewn about our floor, and I still turn to the Funnies - Pickles, Doonsbury, Foxtrot, and Family Circus – seeking a lift.
I am reading Bobby Kennedy’s 1967 memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Thirteen Days. He describes President John Kennedy’s calm in the face of the nuclear threat, and his belief in the necessity for debate and consideration of opposing opinions among Cabinet members and military advisors in deciding a course of action. Despite pressure from the Joint Chiefs of Staff to invade, the President chose prudence, a blockade as an initial step. Further, in recognizing the importance of allowing the Soviet leader to save face, he exchanged respectful letters with Premier Khrushchev urging a peaceful resolution.
At 7:00 PM, Tuesday, October 22, the president appeared on television to inform his fellow Americans of the crisis. He told those watching that all branches of the military were in position and ready should the blockade be ineffective. Our NATO allies had been alerted and were ready to support us.
In his book, Attorney General Kennedy reflected, “We went to bed that night filled with concern and trepidation, but also with a sense of pride in the strength, the purposefulness, and the courage of the President of the United States. No one could predict what was in store in the days ahead, but we all felt that the President, because of his own wisdom and personal dignity, would have the support of a unified country.” (1.)
A unified country: a wistful dream in this time of partisan division. There are currently no missiles on our doorstep aimed our way, but leadership – the leadership that would determine our course in such a crisis – is up to the voters. Incredibly, millions of my fellow Americans support an erratic man who has invited aggression on our NATO allies – those who stood with us in 1962 and after 9/11 – if they don’t “pay up;” a man whose influence on Congress has successfully blocked essential aide to Ukraine despite the importance to our national security; a man convicted of fraud and sexual assault; a man charged with insurrection.
In 1962, my parents, the country, and the world waited, terrified, to see what the U.S.S.R would do. And because the President was cautious, well-informed, mindful of ramifications, and respectful in negotiating with Khrushchev, an agreement was reached. The missiles in Cuba were dismantled.
In November of 2024, I will wait, terrified, to see what future my fellow Americans envision for our children and grandchildren: Democracy; rational, experienced leadership; and the NATO alliance preserved … or chaos under Trump.
1. Robert F. Kennedy, Thirteen Days, A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis,
W.W. Norton & Co., New York, pg. 43-44.
