Nuclear Tension: The Cuban Missile Crisis

In this week's episode, Mark Discusses the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Our first interlude involves a Russian staff captain who overrides a nuclear launch order in the heat of battle. 

 In our historical overview, Mark probes the head of Nikita Khrushchev to learn why he wanted to station nuclear missiles 90 miles off the US coast. Next, He walks us through some of the retaliatory measures that were contemplated by the Kennedy administration. Finally, we hear about the tense negotiations and peaceful resolution of the nuclear standoff.

In our What If? scenario, Mark imagines a world in which Russian missiles are stationed deep in the Cuban jungle. Wanting to ensure American safety, the Kennedy administration sends a team of Green Berets to sabotage the missiles and remove Khruschev's leverage. 

Finally, we look at the What If? aftermath that delivers Kennedy a Nobel Peace Prize and well-deserved retirement.

Transcript

Introduction
Hello, my name is Mark Bouffard. Welcome to What If World History?

Like you, I share a passion for civilizations, cultures, and stories of the past. This show looks at the epic events that sewed the fabric of our history and sculpted the world we now know. And it imagines: What If they happened a little bit differently?

Would it change the outcome? What might the “new history” look like?

I invite you to explore the possibilities with me.

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If this is your first time listening, we will explore events as they happened in our history, then we will envision an alternative timeline and show how it will shape a new future. Along the way, we will put you in the shoes of some of the key players through a series of Diaries.

Let’s take a trip.

Our episode today is:
The Cuban Missile Crisis
In this episode we will look at the Cuban Missile Crisis. And we ponder a history in which Russian nuclear missiles are in fact planted 90 miles from US borders. Only a daring and dangerous midnight raid will stave off nuclear holocaust and a third world war.

Dive! We are Under Attack
Staff Captain Vasily Archipov
Soviet Nuclear Missile Sub B-49
Carribean Waters Near Cuba
October 25, 1962

Fate has a funny way of shaping history. For some, fate casts great men into epic situations that shape the future of countries, continents and civilizations. For others, simple men are thrust into impossible situations yet find a way to rise, and as a result, save humanity from a fiery nuclear storm that could engulf the globe.

The man who would hold the start of World War 3 in his control was Staff Captain Vasily Archipov. Prior to joining the Project 641 nuclear sub known as B-49, he had worked on another nuclear sub, the K-19. Much like the events of Chernobyl, a nuclear event, this time at sea, necessitated the sacrifice of brave young men to stave off a global disaster.

While not the captain, Archipov had talked to the submariners, explained the impending meltdown and solicited volunteers to craft a pipe to bring in cooling water and prevent disaster. 22 sailors would die of radiation poisoning for their heroic efforts, and Archipov learned how to coolly lead men in the face of overwhelming pressure.

Now aboard B-49 as the fleet captain of a squadron of submarines, he deferred the commandment of the ship to Captain Valentin Davitsky. The B-49 was an older sub meant for duty in the North Atlantic where the frigid waters kept the inside of the sub cool and comfortable.

But they were in the warm waters and humid air of the Carribean, and conditions in the submarine had become inhuman. The coolest section was 113 F and the temperature in the engine room reached 149F. With the blockade in place, the B-49 was trying to stay invisible to the ships above. As a result, the sub was not able to surface and refresh the putrid air. Archipov knew the carbon dioxide level was dangerous and noted how many men were dropping from heat exhaustion on a daily basis.

He recalled the armament that this boat may have to bring to bear. Project 641 boats carried thirty-six mines, a collection of anti-submarine weapons, twenty two-ton torpedos topped with 880 pounds of explosive. Unbeknownst to the Americians, each sub also had 4 nuclear-tipped torpedoes with a 15 kiloton yield, which was equal to the Hiroshima bomb.

Before conditions could become fatal the sub finally surfaced and was immediately spotted by the flotilla of American ships. While the fatal air was vented and fresh air was recirculated, the temperatures in the boat did not go down. On top of that, they were subject to an array of non-fatal explosions meant to turn away their boat.

Practice depth charges, with small non-damaging explosions, banged against the boat day and night over the next few days. In addition, one of the destroyer captains had ordered his men to wrap hand grenades in toilet paper and throw them in the vicinity of the submarine.

The submariners had the understandable impression they were being attacked, and their already frayed nerves were at the breaking point. They had not been given updated orders from fleet command, so they were in the dark about the resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis that had happened a few hours before.

Captain Davitsky ordered the ship to surface. Both he and Archipov went to the conning tower on the outside deck of the ship. Above them Orion aircraft were firing live ammunition in their direction.

To Archipov, Davitsky looked to be on the verge of a breakdown. Seeing the live rounds skipping across the water, he turned to order an emergency dive and to arm the nuclear torpedoes. With a wild look in his eyes he turned to Archipov, and above the cacophony of explosions, screamed: If we are going to die, we’ll take their whole fleet with us!

But before he could drop down below, he was stopped by the communications officer coming up the ladder. In that brief second, Archipov realized the shots were not being fired at the sub, but well over their heads. The American were trying to signal them, not destroy them.

Coolly, in an even manner that only the fires of adversity could shape, Archipov took control of the situation and ordered Davitsky to cancel the order and turn on their running lights to signal they understood what the Americans had wanted.

Over the next few hours they remained in place before receiving updated orders from the fleet to head back to the deeper and cooler waters of the Atlantic.

In that brief instant on the conning tower, fate had given Archipov a chance to avoid a nuclear war, and he had answered the call. Kennedy and Khrushchev might have held the keys to the nuclear arsenal, but it was this man, on the button, who decided not to press it, and consequently, Archipov had altered the fate of world history.

Part 1: It All Starts in Turkey

For thirteen days in October of 1962, the United States and Russia played a game of brinkmanship that brought the entire globe to the brink of nuclear Armageddon. That’s not an exaggeration. Declassified recordings of Kennedy’s security council and later interviews with Nikita Khrushchev revealed just how close the world’s nuclear superpowers came to invading Cuba and Berlin in the first steps of what would have become a global nuclear confrontation.

But before we get to the waters outside of Cuba at the height of the crisis, we first must look at where the tensions really started to escalate. In early 1961, at the beginning of his term, President John F Kennedy approved the deployment of Jupiter medium-range nuclear missiles in Italy and Turkey, which were viewed as a first strike option by the Russians.

Benjamin Schwarz, writing for The Atlantic, paints the picture of the state of the nuclear balance between the two countries. He writes: The missile gap, and the nuclear balance generally, was overwhelmingly to America’s advantage. At the time of the missile crisis, the Soviets had 36 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), 138 long-range bombers with 392 nuclear warheads, and 72 submarine-launched ballistic-missiles. These forces were arrayed against a vastly more powerful U.S. nuclear arsenal of 203 ICBMs, 1,306 long-range bombers with 3,104 nuclear warheads, and 144 submarine-launched ballistic-missiles—all told, about nine times as many nuclear weapons as the U.S.S.R. Nikita Khrushchev was acutely aware of America’s huge advantage, not just in the number of weapons, but in their quality and deployment as well.

He goes on to say: Kennedy’s deployment of the Jupiter missiles “was a key reason for Khrushchev’s decision to send nuclear missiles to Cuba.” Khrushchev reportedly made that decision in May 1962, declaring to a confidant that the Americans “have surrounded us with bases on all sides” and that missiles in Cuba would help to counter an “intolerable provocation.”

In retirement, Khrushchev explained his reasoning to the American journalist Strobe Talbott: Americans “would learn just what it feels like to have enemy missiles pointing at them; we’d be doing nothing more than giving them a little of their own medicine.”

Khrushchev, it should be noted, didn’t have a high opinion of Kennedy after the failed Bay of Pigs invasion and the comical attempts by the CIA to assassinate and overthrow Castro in Cuba.

Khrushchev asserted, "I know for certain that Kennedy doesn't have a strong background, nor, generally speaking, does he have the courage to stand up to a serious challenge." He also told his son Sergei that on Cuba, Kennedy "would make a fuss, make more of a fuss, and then agree."

So in May of 1962, Khrushchev concocted the plan to send medium-range nuclear missiles to Cuba. Martin Sherwin, in Gambling with Armageddon, sums it up: “The plan was bizarre, vintage Khrushchev, a wild, brilliant gamble that promised a huge payoff for both his foreign and domestic policies.”

Sherwin quotes Khrushchev: “My thinking went like this. If we installed the missiles secretly, and then the US discovered the missiles after they were poised and ready to strike, the Americans would think twice before trying to liquidate our installations by military means.”

In Khrushchev’s mind, it would save Castro, reset the nuclear balance, leverage his efforts to force American, British and French forces out of West Berlin, establish a significant military presence in the Western Hemisphere, and solidify his reputation as a bold and innovative leader.

Philip Zelikow writes in Essence of Decision, Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis: A second reason that Soviet missiles were deployed to Cuba was because Khrushchev wanted to bring West Berlin into the Soviet orbit. The East Germans and Soviets considered western control over a portion of Berlin a grave threat to East Germany. Khrushchev made West Berlin the central battlefield of the Cold War.

Zelikow goes on to say: Khrushchev believed that if the US did nothing over the missile deployments in Cuba, he could muscle the West out of Berlin using those missiles as a deterrent to western countermeasures in Berlin. If the US tried to bargain with the Soviets after it became aware of the missiles, Khrushchev could demand trading the missiles for West Berlin. Since Berlin was strategically more important than Cuba, the trade would be a win for Khrushchev.

Khrushchev believed Kennedy would not set off a thermonuclear war if there were Russian warheads there, just as they put their warheads on missiles in Turkey. So the misguided thinking of two world leaders, and the high stakes international gambles with nuclear weapons, sets the stage for the Cuban Missile Crisis and showdown with global repercussions for all of mankind.

Part 2: The Buildup to Armageddon
At the height of the Cold War the US was aware of many of the Soviet covert actions abroad. And in July of 1962 they learned about the Russian missile shipments to Cuba. And regular U2 reconnaissance flights showed new military construction and the presence of Soviet technicians.

By October 14, right before the start of the crisis, ballistic missiles on launching pads were photographed. Such missiles could hit much of the eastern United States within a few minutes if launched from Cuba.

The Cuban Missile Crisis kicks into high gear on October 16, when the president is notified of the presence of the ballistic missile construction sites. In response, Kennedy created the Executive Committee of the National Security Council, which would be known as EXCOMM.

This select group of military and government leaders was importantly separated from the full Joint Chiefs and did not include members of Congress. This enabled the discussions and recommendations that would influence Kennedy to remain top secret and freewheeling.

In addition to JFK’s brother Robert Kennedy, who was Attorney General, EXCOMM included VP Lyndon Johnson, and the secretaries of state, treasury, defense, the director of the CIA and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

In The Atlantic, Schwarz shares this story: When pondering Khrushchev’s motives for sending the missiles to Cuba, Kennedy made one of the most amazingly absentminded observations in the annals of American national-security policy: “Why does he put these in there, though? … It’s just as if we suddenly began to put a major number of missiles in Turkey. Now that’d be goddamned dangerous, I would think.” McGeorge Bundy, the national security adviser, immediately pointed out: “Well we did do that, Mr. President.”

Schwarz goes on: On that very first day of the EXCOMM meetings, Secretary of Defense McNamara provided a wider perspective on the missiles’ significance: “I’ll be quite frank. I don’t think there is a military problem here … This is a domestic, political problem.” In a 1987 interview, McNamara explained: “You have to remember that, right from the beginning, it was President Kennedy who said that it was politically unacceptable for us to leave those missile sites alone. He didn’t say militarily, he said politically.”

But even weightier than the domestic political catastrophe likely to befall the administration if it appeared to be soft on Cuba was “the psychological factor” that we “sat back and let ’em do it to us.”

Schwarz says: “Indeed, Washington’s self-regard for its credibility was almost certainly the main reason it risked nuclear war over a negligible threat to national security. The president stated, “Last month I said we weren’t going to [permit Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba] and last month I should have said … we don’t care. But when we said we’re not going to, and [the Soviets] go ahead and do it, and then we do nothing, then … I would think that our … risks increase.”

From the beginning of the EXCOMM meetings right up until the end of the crisis, many of the members pushed for military options that included 500-1000 air strikes against the total missile defense network of Cuba, including the ballistic missile launch sites the Russians were building.

The sorties would be followed by a full scale invasion of Cuba that would overthrow Castro and once-again install a friendly regime. RFK takes up the thinking in his book Thirteen Days. He writes: The general feeling in the beginning was that some form of action was required. There were those, although they were a small minority, who felt the missiles did not alter the balance of power and therefore necessitated no action. Most felt, at that stage, that an air strike against the missile sites could be the only course. Listening to the proposals, I passed a note to the President: “I now know how Tojo felt when he was planning Pearl Harbor.”

Kennedy told the Joint Chiefs, who remained focused solely on the Cuban issue: So I don’t think we have any satisfactory alternatives. When we balance off that our problem is not merely Cuba but also Berlin, and when we recognize the importance of Berlin to Europe, and recognize the importance of our allies to us, that’s what has made this thing a dilemma.

In the tense days of October 1962, being allied with the United States potentially amounted to, as Charles de Gaulle had warned, “annihilation without representation.”

The voice of reason in this maelstrom of testosterone and machismo became Adlai Stevenson who spoke to Kennedy on October 18. Sherwin in Gambling with Armageddon gives some details: Stevenson counseled Kennedy: Let’s not go into an air strike until we have explored the possibilities of a peaceful solution. If diplomatic steps failed to remove the missiles, military activity of some sort might follow. But so would “Soviet reprisals somewhere--Turkey, Berlin, Italy. In that case: “It is important that we have as much of the world with us as possible.”

Stevenson’s proposals began to make more sense than the war whoops of the Joint Chiefs and EXCOMM majority. Despite the president’s personal dislike for Stevenson-the-man, Stevenson’s intellect spoke clearly, direct, and persuasively to the president’s sensibilities.

On October 21, Kennedy was choosing between 2 EXCOMM recommendations: an air strike against the Cuban missile bases or a naval blockade of Cuba. RFK writes in Thirteen Days: “Each one of us was being asked to make a recommendation which, if wrong and if accepted, could mean the destruction of the human race. That kind of pressure does strange things to a human being, even to brilliant, self-confident, mature, experienced men. For some it brings out characteristics and strengths that perhaps they never knew they had, for others the pressure is too overwhelming.”

Kennedy chose the blockade, but the term "blockade" was problematic. According to international law, a blockade is an act of war, but the Kennedy administration did not think that the Soviets would be provoked to attack by a mere blockade. They decided on the term “quarantine” instead.

Additionally, legal experts at the State Department and Justice Department concluded that a declaration of war could be avoided if another legal justification, based on the Rio Treaty for defence of the Western Hemisphere, was obtained from a resolution by a two-thirds vote from the members of the Organization of American States (OAS).

Sherwin writes: Of course the quarantine was a military action--an act of war under international law that could lead to a conflict with the Soviet Union. But it also was an action that invited negotiation, and avoided the certainty of Soviet bloodletting. It was a signal to the Soviet leader that Kennedy was willing to bargain, which is exactly how Khrushchev interpreted it.

On October 22, Kennedy went before the nation to deliver one of the most important speeches of his young political career. He told the country: It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union. To halt this offensive buildup, a strict quarantine on all offensive military equipment under shipment to Cuba is being initiated. All ships of any kind bound for Cuba, from whatever nation or port, will, if found to contain cargoes of offensive weapons, be turned back.

During this time, Kennedy was under immense pressure, and anger, from the Joint Chiefs to move forward with an invasion. He mollified them by moving forward with invasion plans without the express promise that an invasion would happen. Understandably, the Chief’s primary objective was to be in the best position to fight a war, while the president’s goal was to select the strategy that was least likely to start a war.

He ordered the Pentagon to make all the preparations necessary for further military action. Secretary McNamara, in a confidential report, had listed the requirements: 250,000 men, 2000 air sorties against the various targets in Cuba, and 90,000 Marines and Airborne in the invasion force. One estimate of American casualties put the expected figure over 25,000.

To enact the quarantine, the Navy deployed 180 ships into the Carribean. The Strategic Air Command was dispersed to civilian landing fields around the country, to lessen its vulnerability in case of attack. The B-52 bomber force was ordered into the air fully loaded with atomic weapons. As one came down to land, another immediately took its place.

The US had placed itself ready for war, and in the Soviet Union, their posturing mirrored our actions.

Part 3: Let's All Calm Down
After the speech and enacting the blockade, Kennedy sent a personal letter to Khrushchev that ended with: I am concerned that we both show prudence and do nothing to allow events to make the situation more difficult to control than it is.

On October 23, Khrushchev responded by saying: The actions of the USA with regard to Cuba are outright banditry or, if you like, the folly of degenerate imperialism.

In Thirteen Days, RFK writes of Khrushchev’s response: There was no question that the letter had been written by him personally. It was very long and emotional. But it was not incoherent, and the emotion was directed at the death, destruction, and anarchy that nuclear war would bring to his people and all mankind. That, he said again and again in many different ways, must be avoided.

RFK goes to quote Khrushchev: This is my proposal. No more weapons to Cuba and those within Cuba withdrawn or destroyed, and you reciprocate by withdrawing your blockade and also agree not to invade Cuba. Mr. President, we and you ought not to pull on the end of the rope in which you have tied the knot of war, because the more the two of us pull, the tighter the knot will be. Consequently, if there is no intention to tighten the knot, and thereby doom the world to the catastrophe of thermonuclear war, then let us not only relax the forces pulling on the ends of the rope, let us take measures to untie the knot.

As a result, Robert Kennedy noted his brother pulled everyone back from the bombing idea. JFK told the Joint Chiefs: It isn’t the first step that concerns me, but both sides escalating to the fourth and fifth step--and we don’t go to the sixth because there is no one around to do so.

On October 28 Khrushchev capitulated, informing Kennedy that work on the missile sites would be halted and that the missiles already in Cuba would be returned to the Soviet Union. In return, Kennedy committed the United States to never invading Cuba. Kennedy also secretly promised to withdraw the nuclear-armed missiles that the United States had stationed in Turkey in previous years.

To any man at the United Nations, or any other rational man, it will look like a very fair trade,” he level headedly told the EXCOMM. “Most people think that if you’re allowed an even trade you ought to take advantage of it.” He clearly understood that history and world opinion would condemn him and his country for going to war—a war almost certain to escalate to a nuclear exchange—after the U.S.S.R. had publicly offered such a reasonable quid pro quo.

The negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union pointed out the necessity of a quick, clear, and direct communication line between the two Superpowers. As a result, the Moscow–Washington hotline was established. If ever the countries appeared on the brink of war, a telephone call could be made instead of a series of easily misinterpreted letters. And, for now, the world was pulled back from nuclear annihilation.

What if? Scenario
It’s ironic that the capriciousness of Kennedy and Khrushchev kicked off the Cuban Missile Crisis, but the sanity and clarity of both men ultimately led to a peaceful resolution. But the idea of a peaceful solution was not what most US and Soviet hardliners wanted. Instead of de-escalation, they were pushing for ways to confront each other through different military scenarios, each of which could have easily led to another world war.

It’s also important to note that the blockade was meant to prevent nuclear missiles from reaching Cuba, but in fact they were already there. The launch pads and supporting systems were still under construction, but only weeks away from completion. Kennedy was not aware of that crucial fact, but that is about to change.

In our What If Scenario, we imagine that Kennedy has learned of the presence of the nuclear weapons through the CIA’s network of Cuban spies. The intelligence was backed up by low-level aerial reconnaissance and Kennedy is forced to make a decision.

The Joint Chiefs are pushing for a full-scale invasion, but the Secretary of Defense, McNamara, has another idea. Unlike the Bay of Pigs, which was carried out by civilian exiles hastily trained in military tactics, McNamara believes an elite team of Green Berets could land undetected, infiltrate the nuclear missile storage area, and sabotage them to render them inoperable and safe.

Kennedy knows the nuclear issue is something he has to confront. And diplomacy has not yet worked. Faced with the prospect of killing Russians and Cubans, which would certainly escalate tensions, he chooses the covert option.

The next night, which happened to be a moonless cycle, a team of 45 Green Berets, under his orders, would invade the beaches of Cuba. And the secret weapon they would use to eliminate the nuclear option from Cuba’s arsenal is Cranberry Juice.

Operation Cape Cod Bog
Captain Ronald French
Cayo Coruita, Cuba
October 23, 1962

The saltwater sprayed his blackened face as the small inflatable boat moved quietly through the calm waters of the island chains of Cayo Coruita. Captain Ronald French was leading 45 trained and deadly Green Berets into the jungle of Cuba to a hilltop clearing a few kilometers from their landing spot.

He didn’t feel tension in the way most humans do. To French, in the middle of the mission, time slowed and the world in his field of vision became incredibly clear. It’s hard to explain to someone who hasn’t experienced it, but French saw with immense clarity what he and his men would need to do to come out of this mission alive.

Landing quietly in the white sand, they quickly stowed their boats in the thick jungle. They were far from any type of civilization, but they left 3 men to guard their escape route. Their orders were to shoot on sight and hide any bodies.

Moving with stealth and purpose that only 20 years of training and missions could teach, French led his men through the jungle to the hill below their target. Without a word the 40+ men fanned out around the clearing to take positions for a firefight if it was needed.

The mission was not to kill the men at the construction site. They could have done that easily, and quietly. The mission was to render the 5 nuclear missiles inoperable and vanish into the jungle without being detected. The sabotage must look like an accident, as laughable as that would be.

Many people think of orange juice as acidic, but in actuality, cranberry juice is nearly twice as acidic, plus it has less sugar which will become important in a minute. This might seem like MacGuyver on steroids but the nuclear scientists assured them that pouring cranberry juice on the soccer ball of uranium in each missile would not only degrade the spherical shape, which would render the missile useless, the lack of sugar in the juice would keep the palladium housing from reacting and causing a bellow of smoke that would give away their sabotage efforts.

When the maintenance personnel did their weekly check of the missiles, they would think the humidity and salt water had played havoc with the internal workings of the missile, which was a common occurrence. The fact that it had happened to all five missiles was implausible of course, but plausible deniability would be the diplomatic position that would stave off war.

This deep in Cuban territory, guards were not posted and the construction site was dark and quiet, with the exception of barracks that were lit and full of boisterous Russians enjoying Cuban rum and American card games.

French’s trained technicians moved into place among the five missiles and quietly worked the panels off of the housing. Using canteens filled with cranberry juice they gingerly poured the contents into the inner chamber that contained the uranium soccer ball and palladium housing.

French could hear a low hiss as the uranium reacted to the acid, but he saw no smoke, and the barracks remained full of hard-drinking Russian scientists and construction engineers. In a few minutes the deed was done. Their resident nuclear expert, who had been brought along to confirm the missile's sabotage, gave French a quick, definitive nod.

In a few moments the 40 plus men disintegrated into the jungle, and in 15 minutes they were moving their inflatable dinghies off of the beach and into the dark waters of the Cuban coast. When they reached their deployment submarine, French gave the confirmation code: Cape Cod to the captain who radioed it to the Situation Room at the White House. A cheer went up from the assembled Joint Chiefs, EXCOMM and President Kennedy.

American ingenuity, bravery and comic book thinking had altered the nuclear equation in this crisis. French knew that would be something the big wigs in Washington could handle. Right now, he and his men checked and stowed their gear in the submarines’ cramped quarters. And as he drifted off to sleep, French wondered what the success of his mission would mean for the prospects of nuclear war.

What If? Aftermath
Kennedy was able to sabotage the nuclear missiles in Cuba, which gave him some leverage with Khrushchev. He informed the Russian ambassador that he knows about the nuclear placement of missiles in Cuba, but he no longer views them as a problem to their negotiations.

The Russians are keenly aware that their missiles had been sabotaged, but there were no casualties, and the only proof they had was the damage to their missiles. And Khruschev was not about to trumpet how easily his nuclear warheads had been sabotaged by cranberry juice.

But beyond the back channel discussions, tension escalates during the naval blockade as the US moves troops into an invasion position. In Germany, Russian troops mass at the border in a show of strength outside of Berlin. Without his ace card, Khrushchev agrees to remove Russian service personnel and missiles from Cuba, and Kennedy agrees to remove the blockade and missiles from Turkey.

The ongoing proxy wars continue with CIA-backed operations in South America, Africa and Europe. Their aim is to destabilize Communist governments and murder Socialist political leaders. The KGB uses its vast network to close the technology gap in nuclear missiles and begins to sow the seeds of dissent in the Middle East.

These covert campaigns create hot spots over the next few months that make news and escalate tensions between the two superpowers. Knowing the value of a personal approach, both Kennedy and Khrushchev agreed to a late-November 1963 summit in Helsinki.

For Kennedy, this means canceling a planned trip to Dallas, where elaborate plans had been made for his assassination. Instead, Kennedy and Khrushchev are able to work out an agreement limiting new nuclear missile testing and capping the nuclear arsenals of both countries.

For his accomplishments in Helsinki and his standing among world leaders, Kennedy is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in December. With his new badge of peace, Kennedy resists the Joint Chiefs' efforts to escalate America’s limited military presence in Vietnam.

Late into his first term in office, John F Kennedy, with his brother Robert and Martin Luther King at his side, signs the historic Civil Rights Act of 1964. Kennedy’s first term will go down as one of the most consequential presidencies in US History, alongside those of Jefferson, Lincoln, and Roosevelt.

But Kennedy is not healthy, in fact he is quite ill. The stress of the job and the rigors of travel have wracked his frail body. Part of Kennedy’s political power is his youthful appearance and vigor. But that is a facade.

Unbeknownst to most American’s Kennedy has Addison’s disease, a deficiency in the adrenal glands that regulates blood sugar, sodium, and potassium. In addition, his back was in constant pain from his World War 2 injuries. On top of that, he was receiving ongoing treatment for stomach, colon, and prostate problems, as well as high cholesterol, high fevers, and sleeplessness.

There will be no second term for JFK, and he hands the mantle of Kennedy leadership to his acerbic, handsome and loquacious brother Robert, who runs for the presidency. In turn, John F Kennedy will retire to the shores of Kennebunkport, Maine where he will be revered as a statesman with a steel backbone who worked with his sworn enemy to prevent a war of escalation and head off a nuclear Armageddon.

Conclusion
Thank you for joining me, Mark Bouffard, on this trip. This show is produced by me, Mark Bouffard, and Beto McQuade. It is mixed and edited by Beto McQuade. The music you hear is Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com.

Don’t forget to review, like, and subscribe to this podcast. Check out our blogs on whatifworldhistory.com and follow us on your favorite social media channel.

This has been What If World History? In two weeks, in our next episode, we will look at the Wright Brothers. And we ponder a history in which Orville Wright is killed in an early test flight plane crash. And the hopes of American aerial superiority rest solely on the shoulders of an unknown Wright sister who is thrust into the international spotlight.