Ukraine and the Cuban Missile Crisis: What Would JFK Do?

Missile 45

Kennedy’s statecraft in the missile crisis provides a rich source of clues that can help illuminate the challenge the United States now faces, and the choices President Joe Biden is making.

Sixty years ago today, October 27, 1962, was the darkest day of what historians agree was the most dangerous crisis in recorded history. Had war come, it could have meant the instant death of hundreds of millions of souls. In a quiet aside that day, President John F. Kennedy confided to his brother Robert that he thought the odds that this would end in war were “between one in three and even.” Nothing historians have discovered in the decades since has done anything to lengthen these odds.

More News & Insights

Foreign Aid In Afghanistan, January 2023 Edited

International Institutions Confront Taliban Troubles

International leaders are struggling to manage a Taliban-ruled Afghanistan; they are torn between their commitment to alleviate Afghans’ suffering and their reluctance to legitimize a Taliban government that violates its…

Taskfroce153 Scaled 1536x864

U.S. Launches New Task Force in Middle East to Train Naval Partners

“This task force enables the United States to have less direct focus on this naval harassment campaign by building up the skills of local navies that will offset the security…

GettyImages 1257122412

By Banning U.S. Chipmaker Micron, China Hits Back at Western Tech Restrictions

China’s ban on the U.S. chipmaker Micron signals Beijing’s willingness to use more aggressive legal tools against Western technology companies in response to the United States and its allies’ expanding…

Receive BENS news and insights in your inbox.