This pulverizing shockwave forms a dust pedestal which seems to follow the rising cloud...
(President JFK speaking):
"Good evening my fellow citizens:
This Government, as promised, has maintained
the closest surveillance of the Soviet Military buildup on the island of Cuba.
Within the past week, unmistakable evidence has established the fact that a series of offensive
missile sites is now in preparation on that imprisoned island. The purpose of these bases
can be none other than to provide a nuclear strike capability against the Western Hemisphere.
Upon receiving the first preliminary hard information of this nature
last Tuesday morning at 9 a.m., I directed that our surveillance be stepped up.
And having now confirmed and completed our evaluation of the evidence and our decision on a
course of action, this Government feels obliged to report this new crisis to you in fullest detail.
The characteristics of these new missile sites indicate two distinct types of installations.
Several of them include medium range ballistic missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead
for a distance of more than 1,000 nautical miles. Each of these missiles, in short, is capable of
striking Washington, D.C., the Panama Canal, Cape Canaveral, Mexico City, or any other city
in the southeastern part of the United States, in Central America, or in the Caribbean area.
Additional sites not yet completed appear to be designed for intermediate range ballistic
missiles--capable of traveling more than twice as far--and thus capable of striking most of
the major cities in the Western Hemisphere, ranging as far north as Hudson Bay, Canada,
and as far south as Lima, Peru. In addition, jet bombers, capable of carrying nuclear weapons,
are now being uncrated and assembled in Cuba, while the necessary air bases are being prepared.
This urgent transformation of Cuba into an important strategic base--by
the presence of these large, long range, and clearly offensive weapons of sudden
mass destruction--constitutes an explicit threat to the peace and security of all the Americas,
in flagrant and deliberate defiance of the Rio Pact of 1947,
the traditions of this Nation and hemisphere, the joint resolution of the 87th Congress, the Charter
of the United Nations, and my own public warnings to the Soviets on September 4 and 13. This action
also contradicts the repeated assurances of Soviet spokesmen, both publicly and privately delivered,
that the arms buildup in Cuba would retain its original defensive character, and that the Soviet
Union had no need or desire to station strategic missiles on the territory of any other nation.
The size of this undertaking makes clear that it has been planned for some months. Yet only last
month, after I had made clear the distinction between any introduction of ground-to-ground
missiles and the existence of defensive antiaircraft missiles, the Soviet Government
publicly stated on September 11, and I quote, "the armaments and military equipment sent to Cuba are
designed exclusively for defensive purposes," that, and I quote the Soviet Government,
"there is no need for the Soviet Government to shift its weapons . . . for a retaliatory blow
to any other country, for instance Cuba," and that, and I quote their government,
"the Soviet Union has so powerful rockets to carry these nuclear warheads that there is no need to
search for sites for them beyond the boundaries of the Soviet Union." That statement was false.
Only last Thursday, as evidence of this rapid offensive buildup was already in my hand, Soviet
Foreign Minister Gromyko told me in my office that he was instructed to make it clear once again,
as he said his government had already done, that Soviet assistance to Cuba, and I quote, "pursued
solely the purpose of contributing to the the defense capabilities of Cuba," that, and I quote
him, "training by Soviet specialists of Cuban nationals in handling defensive armaments was by
no means offensive, and if it were otherwise," Mr. Gromyko went on, "the Soviet Government
would never become involved in rendering such assistance." That statement also was false.
Neither the United States of America nor the world community of nations
can tolerate deliberate deception and offensive threats on the part of any nation, large or
small. We no longer live in a world where only the actual firing of weapons represents a sufficient
challenge to a nation's security to constitute maximum peril. Nuclear weapons are so destructive
and ballistic missiles are so swift, that any substantially increased possibility of their use
or any sudden change in their deployment may well be regarded as a definite threat to peace.
For many years both the Soviet Union and the United States,
recognizing this fact, have deployed strategic nuclear weapons with great care,
never upsetting the precarious status quo which ensured that these weapons would not be used in
the absence of some vital challenge. Our own strategic missiles have never been transferred
to the territory of any other nation under a cloak of secrecy and deception;
and our history--unlike that of the Soviets since the end of World War II--demonstrates
that we have no desire to dominate or conquer any other nation or impose our system upon its people.
Nevertheless, American citizens have become adjusted to living daily on the Bull's-eye
of Soviet missiles located inside the U.S.S.R. or in submarines.
In that sense, missiles in Cuba add to an already clear and present danger--although
it should be noted the nations of Latin America
have never previously been subjected to a potential nuclear threat.
But this secret, swift, and extraordinary buildup of Communist missiles--in
an area well known to have a special and historical relationship to the United States
and the nations of the Western Hemisphere, in violation of Soviet assurances,
and in defiance of American and hemispheric policy--this sudden, clandestine decision
to station strategic weapons for the first time outside of Soviet soil--is a deliberately
provocative and unjustified change in the status quo which cannot be accepted by this country,
if our courage and our commitments are ever to be trusted again by either friend or foe.
The 1930's taught us a clear lesson: aggressive conduct, if allowed to go unchecked and
unchallenged ultimately leads to war. This nation is opposed to war. We are also true to our word.
Our unswerving objective, therefore, must be to prevent the use of these missiles against this or
any other country, and to secure their withdrawal or elimination from the Western Hemisphere.
Our policy has been one of patience and restraint, as befits a peaceful and powerful nation,
which leads a worldwide alliance. We have been determined not to be diverted from our central
concerns by mere irritants and fanatics. But now further action is required--and it is under way;
and these actions may only be the beginning. We will not prematurely or unnecessarily
risk the costs of worldwide nuclear war in which even the fruits of victory would be
ashes in our mouth--but neither will we shrink from that risk at any time it must be faced.
Acting, therefore, in the defense of our own security and of the entire Western Hemisphere,
and under the authority entrusted to me by the Constitution as endorsed by the
resolution of the Congress, I have directed that the following initial steps be taken immediately:
First: 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.
This quarantine will be extended, if needed, to other types of cargo and carriers.
We are not at this time, however, denying the necessities of life
as the Soviets attempted to do in their Berlin blockade of 1948.
Second: I have directed the continued and increased close surveillance of Cuba and its
military buildup. The foreign ministers of the OAS, in their communique of October 6, rejected
secrecy in such matters in this hemisphere. Should these offensive military preparations continue,
thus increasing the threat to the hemisphere, further action will be justified.
I have directed the Armed Forces to prepare for any eventualities;
and I trust that in the interest of both the Cuban people and the Soviet technicians at
the sites, the hazards to all concerned in continuing this threat will be recognized.
Third: 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.
Fourth: As a necessary military precaution, I have reinforced our base at Guantanamo,
evacuated today the dependents of our personnel there,
and ordered additional military units to be on a standby alert basis.
Fifth: We are calling tonight for an immediate meeting of the Organ of Consultation
under the Organization of American States, to consider this threat to hemispheric security
and to invoke articles 6 and 8 of the Rio Treaty in support of all necessary action.
The United Nations Charter allows for regional security arrangements--and
the nations of this hemisphere decided long ago against the military presence of outside powers.
Our other allies around the world have also been alerted.
Sixth: Under the Charter of the United Nations, we are asking tonight that an emergency meeting
of the Security Council be convoked without delay to take action against this latest Soviet threat
to world peace. Our resolution will call for the prompt dismantling and withdrawal of all offensive
weapons in Cuba, under the supervision of U.N. observers, before the quarantine can be lifted.
Seventh and finally: I call upon Chairman Khrushchev to halt and eliminate this clandestine,
reckless and provocative threat to world peace and to stable relations between our two nations.
I call upon him further to abandon this course of world domination, and to join in
an historic effort to end the perilous arms race and to transform the history of man.
He has an opportunity now to move the world back from the abyss of destruction--by returning to
his government's own words that it had no need to station missiles outside its own territory, and
withdrawing these weapons from Cuba--by refraining from any action which will widen or deepen the
present crisis--and then by participating in a search for peaceful and permanent solutions.
This Nation is prepared to present its case against the Soviet threat to peace,
and our own proposals for a peaceful world, at any time and in any forum--in the OAS, in the
United Nations, or in any other meeting that could be useful--without limiting our freedom of action.
We have in the past made strenuous efforts to limit the spread of nuclear weapons. We have
proposed the elimination of all arms and military bases in a fair and effective disarmament treaty.
We are prepared to discuss new proposals for the removal of tensions on both sides--including
the possibility of a genuinely independent Cuba,
free to determine its own destiny. We have no wish to war with the Soviet Union--for
we are a peaceful people who desire to live in peace with all other peoples.
But it is difficult to settle or even discuss these problems in an atmosphere of intimidation.
That is why this latest Soviet threat--or any other threat which is made either independently
or in response to our actions this week--must and will be met with determination.
Any hostile move anywhere in the world
against the safety and freedom of peoples to whom we are committed--including
in particular the brave people of West Berlin--will be met by whatever action is needed.
Finally, I want to say a few words to the captive people of Cuba, to whom this speech is being
directly carried by special radio facilities. I speak to you as a friend, as one who knows of
your deep attachment to your fatherland, as one who shares your aspirations for liberty
and justice for all. And I have watched and the American people have watched with deep sorrow
how your nationalist revolution was betrayed-- and how your fatherland fell under foreign domination.
Now your leaders are no longer Cuban leaders inspired by Cuban ideals.
They are puppets and agents of an international conspiracy which has turned Cuba against your
friends and neighbors in the Americas--and turned it into the first Latin American country to become
a target for nuclear war--the first Latin American country to have these weapons on its soil.
These new weapons are not in your interest. They contribute nothing to your peace and well-being.
They can only undermine it. But this country has no wish to cause
you to suffer or to impose any system upon you.
We know that your lives and land are being used as pawns by those who deny your freedom.
Many times in the past, the Cuban people have risen to throw out
tyrants who destroyed their liberty. And I have no doubt that most Cubans today
look forward to the time when they will be truly free--free from foreign domination,
free to choose their own leaders, free to select their own system, free to own their own land,
free to speak and write and worship without fear or degradation. And then shall Cuba be
welcomed back to the society of free nations and to the associations of this hemisphere.
My fellow citizens: let no one doubt that this is a difficult and dangerous effort on which
we have set out. No one can see precisely what course it will take or what costs or casualties
will be incurred. Many months of sacrifice and self-discipline lie ahead--months in which our
patience and our will will be tested--months in which many threats and denunciations will keep us
aware of our dangers. But the greatest danger of all would be to do nothing.
The path we have chosen for the present is full of hazards, as all paths are--but it is the one
most consistent with our character and courage as a nation and our commitments around the world.
The cost of freedom is always high--and Americans have always paid it.
And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender or submission.
Our goal is not the victory of might, but the vindication of right- -not peace at
the expense of freedom, but both peace and freedom, here in this hemisphere,
and, we hope, around the world. God willing, that goal will be achieved.
Thank you and good night."
...at
still greater heights, ice crystals form and flow over the edges of the cloud to form a pure white
color. What can we do to increase the destructive effect? Or, conversely, how can we protect
ourselves from it? An atomic shockwave can envelop a structure and completely destroy it by pressure
and dynamic wind effects. A nuclear weapon represents potentials outside the concepts of
conventional weapons. But, this is not an ultimate weapon, nor one calling for unreasoning fear.
It is merely another arm -- another addition to our national arsenal.