The Abyss: Nuclear Crisis Cuba 1962 by Max Hastings

Author:Max Hastings
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub, mobi
Tags: Non-Fiction, Illustrated, Cuba, United States, Politics, Russia, History
ISBN: 9780062980182
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2022-10-12T23:00:00+00:00

On Sunday morning also, the president met at the White House Gen. Walter Sweeney, C-in-C of Tactical Air Command, who brought with him Col. Wilbur Creech, a thirty-four-year-old Korean veteran fighter pilot. The two airmen were invited into the Mansion with Taylor and McNamara, to brief Kennedy on the air strike plan and – in Creech’s case – to answer technical questions about potential difficulties ‘at the sharp end’: ‘I was the guy who knew all about the tactics, and I had worked with Ops Analysis on all the probabilities.’ Robert Kennedy met the four men, who had ridden over together in McNamara’s car, once again seeking to avoid exciting attention in a column of limousines. They were introduced to Mrs Kennedy and the children before sitting down with the president.

Creech, perhaps because he was younger and more susceptible, did not share his bosses’ disdain for JFK. He said later: ‘I was very impressed with the way [he] handled himself . . . He listened carefully and asked a lot of good questions . . . Sweeney, by the way, felt we ought to invade and get rid of Castro once and for all. In fact, he had me get a quote from The Gathering Storm by Winston Churchill about the circle closes, and if you wait, the time comes that it is too late. I drafted a letter for him on that theme, and he mailed it to all his flag officer acquaintances in all the services. He wanted to invade, no doubt about it. But he also was a man of great professional integrity. President Kennedy said, “General Sweeney, if I turn you loose with your forces on those Cuban missiles that Castro has, what assurance can you give me that you will get them all?” Sweeney said, “We’ve done the analysis and have the forces necessary. I can assure you, Mr. President, that on the first strike we will get 98 percent kill of all the missiles. Now that is not an assurance that we will get 98 out of 100. It is an assurance that for each and every missile there is a 98 percent chance that we will kill and destroy completely that missile. The second wave will come in ten minutes later and then it goes up to above 99 percent. That’s followed by other waves so the odds that we won’t get them all are very remote.”

‘The President was listening intently. There was a measurable pause before Sweeney said, “That is, all that we know about.”’ Creech recorded: ‘A look came over the President’s face, and he said, “Aye, that’s the rub”.’ Even this gung-ho air chief acknowledged that, in the wake of a US air assault, the Soviets on Cuba were likely to retain the capability to launch some nuclear missiles against the United States, should they choose to do so.

The colonel said: ‘At that moment I knew we weren’t going to do the air strike plan, and so did Sweeney. As

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