Mrs. Kennedy by Barbara Leaming

Author:Barbara Leaming
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-10-12T16:00:00+00:00

C HAPTER 10

A Critical Moment

When Jackie arrived in Newport on the evening of August 31, anticipating a quiet reunion with her husband, she discovered that Jack was in the midst of a crisis. A few hours earlier, while still in Washington, he had been handed evidence that the Soviets were secretly building defensive surface-to-air missile sites in Cuba. By the end of a holiday weekend outwardly devoted to trips to Bailey’s Beach, cruises on the Honey Fitz, and related pleasures, he would have to decide how to respond, if at all, to this shattering information. Should he make Khrushchev aware that he knew what was going on? Should he draw a line in the sand and warn his adversary not to install offensive missiles capable of striking U.S. targets?

Beyond the obvious political implications, the President’s dilemma had huge personal significance for his wife. Jackie’s efforts on behalf of Jack’s beleaguered presidency had been leading to the critical moment when he would have an opportunity to prove himself indisputably a strong leader. His earlier blunders had encouraged Jackie to take an active role in his political life. Now, again, a crisis in Cuba was about to transform both her public and private circumstances.

The trouble had started while she was in Italy. On the evening of August 22, C.I.A. Director John McCone, who had replaced Allen Dulles in the wake of the Bay of Pigs fiasco, briefed the President on new intelligence from Cuba. Since late July, an unusually large number of Soviet ships had delivered military cargoes to Cuba, with more vessels currently en route from the Black Sea. Soviet bloc personnel from these ships were now engaged in “some form of military construction” at several locations. Exactly what it all meant, no one in the administration could yet be sure. Most believed that the buildup was purely defensive. McCone, however, held the minority position that the Soviets planned to introduce medium-range ballistic missiles. Yes, he agreed, defensive missiles were indeed being installed, but less to fend off an attack than to prevent U-2 surveillance from detecting the arrival of offensive missiles aimed at the U.S. Nothing would be known for certain until the next U-2 flight. On August 29, a U.S. spy plane flew over Cuban construction sites and took pictures.

The results, presented to Kennedy a few hours before he left for Rhode Island, documented at least eight different surface-to-air missile sites, some of which looked as if they might be operational within two weeks. Even with that information, it remained unclear whether McCone or the others were right. That weekend in Newport, Kennedy was faced with the task of making the first major decision of the unfolding crisis—whether to put Khrushchev on notice—with frustratingly incomplete knowledge. To make matters worse, on the very day Jackie returned, Republican Senator Kenneth Keating, basing his remarks on leaked information about the military buildup in Cuba, had criticized the President for lacking the guts to stand up to Castro. These and similar charges

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