Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis
As the title states, the book is a memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis through the lense of the White House. In span of 13 days, the world faced one of the most critical event in history. The stakes were nuclear war, which could have obliterated much of the life on earth from nuclear fallout. In a nutshell, after World War II, the two superpowers in the world were, the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic. Without telling the US, the USSR moved weapons of mass destruction to Cuba and to the US coast. After the US found out what the USSR was up to, the US recognizes the act as a intent of war. As the missiles had the potential of targeting multiple large cities in the US..Eventually, the US negotiated with the USSR to remove the missiles under the condition that the US removed its juniper missiles from turkey. Essentially, they both disarmed their ability to annihilate each other. This event spark the beginning of modern foreign policy.
The main points that this book chooses to focus is the foreign policy and bureaucracy. Naturally, as Commander in Chief, the President’s decisions regarding war were ultimate, but, generally his advisors and congress played a huge …show more content…
He was a special assistant to President John. F Kennedy through Kennedy’s term. The book contain consistent direct quotes from the President, the Attorney General(advicer), the Secretary of Defense and the Russian Ambassador. According to Arthur MacNamara who was secretary of defense at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Schlesinger was in Kennedy’s “inner circle” and was trusted by President Kennedy and, therefore had a strong influence on President Kennedy’s decision making. Other than being a Special Assistant President Kennedy, Schlesinger was an accomplished writer; having won two pulitzer prizes, one of which was related to President Kennedy’s time in
As the title states, the book is a memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis through the lense of the White House. In span of 13 days, the world faced one of the most critical event in history. The stakes were nuclear war, which could have obliterated much of the life on earth from nuclear fallout. In a nutshell, after World War II, the two superpowers in the world were, the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic. Without telling the US, the USSR moved weapons of mass destruction to Cuba and to the US coast. After the US found out what the USSR was up to, the US recognizes the act as a intent of war. As the missiles had the potential of targeting multiple large cities in the US..Eventually, the US negotiated with the USSR to remove the missiles under the condition that the US removed its juniper missiles from turkey. Essentially, they both disarmed their ability to annihilate each other. This event spark the beginning of modern foreign policy.
The main points that this book chooses to focus is the foreign policy and bureaucracy. Naturally, as Commander in Chief, the President’s decisions regarding war were ultimate, but, generally his advisors and congress played a huge …show more content…
He was a special assistant to President John. F Kennedy through Kennedy’s term. The book contain consistent direct quotes from the President, the Attorney General(advicer), the Secretary of Defense and the Russian Ambassador. According to Arthur MacNamara who was secretary of defense at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Schlesinger was in Kennedy’s “inner circle” and was trusted by President Kennedy and, therefore had a strong influence on President Kennedy’s decision making. Other than being a Special Assistant President Kennedy, Schlesinger was an accomplished writer; having won two pulitzer prizes, one of which was related to President Kennedy’s time in