A different Cuba missiles crisis.

[Malanic]

What would have happened if the soviet missile launchers on Cuba were completely operative by the time of the first U-2 reconnaissance flight instead still being under costruction ?

I highly doubt that USSR with their weapon systems in position choose to dimantle tham in favor of some bases in Turkey or Italy, not with their inferiority in ICBM number, so what way the US government would choose to deal with this kind of threat ? Accepting the presence of nuclear forces in Cuba ? Or they would prepare a decapitation strike trying to destroy that launchers before the russian could use them ?

 

[NORGCO]

What would have happened if the soviet missile launchers on Cuba were completely operative by the time of the first U-2 reconnaissance flight instead still being under costruction ?

I highly doubt that USSR with their weapon systems in position choose to dimantle tham in favor of some bases in Turkey or Italy, not with their inferiority in ICBM number, so what way the US government would choose to deal with this kind of threat ? Accepting the presence of nuclear forces in Cuba ? Or they would prepare a decapitation strike trying to destroy that launchers before the russian could use them ?

Is Kennedy still having mood swings caused by his doctor having him on a mixture of Speed and Steroids?

Is this actually affecting his judgement as badly as some people claim now ie is he likely to something totally illogical because he feels invincible and energetic from the drugs?

Because the question asked is about what would the logical response be to a slightly different situation. IF the claims about JFK's state of mind are true - note the IF in that - than logic is not living here right now.

Logically I can see a very Dr Strangelove argument in the War Room over th two choices you list. Kennedy was not visibly out of his tree, the dangers of his medication were not understood by Doctors at the time, forget Curtis E Lemay.

 

[Malanic]

I did not even know that Kennedy was under steroids therapy in those days. I was just assuming more technical difficulties for U-2 reconnaissance operations.

 

[NORGCO]

I did not even know that Kennedy was under steroids therapy in those days. I was just assuming more technical difficulties for U-2 reconnaissance operations.

A mix of steroids and amphetamines (speed), it was for his back injury. He apparently refused to stop using it because he needed it to get through the day without pain.

 

[Delta Force]

It depends on the type of missile. The R-12 (NATO designation SS-4 Skean) MRBM actually reached Cuba before the Crisis, while the longer range R-14 Chusovaya (NATO designation SS-5 Sandal) IRBM would have arrived within a few weeks. The SS-4 threatened the South, Washington DC, and industrial cities in the eastern part of the Midwest, while the SS-5 would have threatened most of the mainland United States and population centers of Canada.

A professor once told me that inaccurate intelligence actually prevented an escalation of the crisis. President Kennedy had agreed to strike the missile sites if they were launch capable, which they actually were. American intelligence failed to properly determine the readiness levels of the Soviet missiles in Cuba.