Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
The New York Times
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This essay was written by Michael Dobbs, the author of a cold war trilogy that includes “One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War” and “Six Months in 1945: F.D.R., Stalin, Khrushchev, and Truman — From World War to Cold War.”

[snip]

President John F. Kennedy was informed about the deployment of Soviet medium-range missiles on Cuba shortly after 8 a.m. on the morning of Tuesday, Oct. 16, 1962. His first reaction on hearing the news from National Security Adviser McGeorge Bundy was to accuse the Soviet leader Nikita S. Khrushchev of a double-cross. “He can’t do this to me,” he sputtered.

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Cuban Missile Crisis - Audio
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Harvard Kennedy School

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In the summer of 1962, upon the request of President Kennedy, recording devices were installed at several locations in the White House. A Dictaphone was also hooked up to a telephone in the Oval Office. Known only to the President, his secretary, Robert Kennedy, and the technicians who installed them, these secret devices could be activated upon the President’s push of a button. The tapes were likely intended to be used later for a memoir. Here you will find many of these recordings of telephone conversations and meetings that took place during the Cuban Missile Crisis, providing valuable insights about decision-making in the White House.

[White House Audio Recordings, 1961-1963, JFK Library, Copyright status: Public Domain]

II. Meeting Recordings - SAMPLE
[JFK Library, Kennedy Presidential Recordings]

Tape 28 - MP3
October 16, 1962 Meeting on the Cuban Missile Crisis
Meeting on the Cuban Missile Crisis (starting at 68:50)

Tape 28A - MP3
October 16, 1962 Meeting on the Cuban Missile Crisis continued

Tape 29 - MP3
October 17, 1962 Meeting with West German Foreign Minister Gerhard Schroeder

Tape 30 - MP3
October 18, 1962 Cabinet Meeting on the Federal Budget for Fiscal Year 1964. Meeting on the Cuban Missile Crisis (starting at 43:10)