Cuban Missile Crisis Question

[Disir]

I wasn't born yet. If you were old enough back then to do you remember a sense of panic? Going to the grocery store, etc. What was that like? What did your family do?

 

[DGS49]

Yes, we thought we were going to war with the Soviet Union.

Everyone was watching the newspapers, television and radio news for up to the minute developments. We had established a blockade around Cuba and everyone was watching breathlessly to see what the next Soviet ships would do when they were hailed by the Navy.

When they turned away, the whole country breathed a sigh of relief.

 

[Likkmee]

I was about 9-10 showing my asshole teacher why I refused to go in the hall and put my head up my ass under a concrete shelf every time they fired an alarm.
I proved my point with pics of Hiroshima and Nagasaki from the school library. I was never reprimanded for not going into the hall ( like a brainwashed asshole) again. I made it to 15 years old and went took a GED( that any 3rd grader could pass) and went on to college.To meet more assholes who taught because they couldn't "do".

 

[Maxdeath]

I remember everyone becoming very familiar with where the air raid shelters were. The police and others going through them and making sure everything was in working order. Military bases were on high alert. People were constantly talking about the latest news while standing in lines. I don't remember anyone stocking up on any items but then no real need. We all knew that if you were not in a shelter there would be no need for extra anything. We had a few drills in school. One was filling to the shelter the other was the crazy duck and cover. Everyone was more interested in the news. Almost no one talked anytime news came on.

I think everyone breathed a sigh of relief when things worked out.

 

[Nosmo King]

I wasn't born yet. If you were old enough back then to do you remember a sense of panic? Going to the grocery store, etc. What was that like? What did your family do?

Grandpa built a bomb shelter. In school we were drilled in evacuation to the fallout shelter. Nails were chewed watching President Kennedy lay out the situation.

I was eight and the grownups were talking about the end of the world. It made even Cub Scouts pay attention.

 

[Likkmee]

I wasn't born yet. If you were old enough back then to do you remember a sense of panic? Going to the grocery store, etc. What was that like? What did your family do?

Grandpa built a bomb shelter. In school we were drilled in evacuation to the fallout shelter. Nails were chewed watching President akennedy lay out the situation.

I was eight and the grownups were talking about the end of the world. It made even Cub Scouts pay attention.

Granpa eh ? Did he have oil lamps and canned soup ?

 

[Nosmo King]

I wasn't born yet. If you were old enough back then to do you remember a sense of panic? Going to the grocery store, etc. What was that like? What did your family do?

Grandpa built a bomb shelter. In school we were drilled in evacuation to the fallout shelter. Nails were chewed watching President akennedy lay out the situation.

I was eight and the grownups were talking about the end of the world. It made even Cub Scouts pay attention.

Granpa eh ? Did he have oil lamps and canned soup ?

And crates of saltines. My brother and I were forbidden to go into the shelter until 1964 when it finally dawned on everyone the futility of the thing. It became our clubhouse, then a root cellar, then demolished in 969 to become a garden plot.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Disir
I had a Aunt and 2 cousins evacuated from Gitmo... One of my mother's younger sisters... They came to our house in Illinois and stayed till my Uncle left Cuba... I was 8 yrs old and I don't recall a whole lot of fear... Not saying folks weren't concerned, but as far as people over reacting I just don't recall that at all... I have seen people panic more over a snow storm...

 

[Hossfly]

I wasn't born yet. If you were old enough back then to do you remember a sense of panic? Going to the grocery store, etc. What was that like? What did your family do?

I was stationed at Ft Lewis, WA and the entire 4th Infantry Division boarded ships in Tacoma. We sailed to San Diego and took on a load of ammunition and supplies. Then we headed to the Panama Canal and on toward Cuba. We anchored offshore at Havana and next morning we got word that the Russians were departing Cuba so we sailed back to Tacoma. Tensions were very strained but when the Russians backed down from Kennedy's threat, things eased up. It was a dangerous period in U.S. history and a couple months later deployed three Battle Groups of the the Division to Berlin in three 6 month shifts. Things have always been tense with Russia ever since WWII and I still consider them our worst threat.

 

[bodecea]

I wasn't born yet. If you were old enough back then to do you remember a sense of panic? Going to the grocery store, etc. What was that like? What did your family do?

Yes...a fun personal story:

Was visiting relatives in Texas that year and heard a sonic boom (actually many over our visit)...I was 6 years old...it was explained to me what a sonic boom was. Went back home to western NY...was in 1st grade. One day heard a sonic boom....the adults went crazy. 6 year old self is sitting at my desk, raising my hand, saying "I know what that is".....Told my teacher who told the Principal who told the entire school over the intercom.

 

[Picaro]

I wasn't born yet. If you were old enough back then to do you remember a sense of panic? Going to the grocery store, etc. What was that like? What did your family do?

What DSG said. I lived near a SAC base at the time; bombers were coming in land taking off literally every 3 minutes, during those weeks, we could hardly hold classes in our grade school at the time; that continued to a lesser extent until the end of the Viet Nam war.

I remember my Dad and his fellow officers talking over dinner one night about what was going to be Kruschev's response to Kennedy's putting missiles in Turkey; one guy said they will arm Cuba, the rest thought different other places, like the Canal Zone in Egypt or the shipping lanes in Asia, provoking a war with Red China; they very nearly went to war in the late 1950's, they weren't 'friends' then, since Stalin bailed out of Korea after dragging Mao into it. The modern mythology is to pretend Soviet and Red Chinese imperialism didn't exist, it's all 'Da Evul Amurkan Empire' rubbish rhetoric these days, but people knew better back then.

Turned out they were all right, and then some, when it came to what is now known as the Khrushchev Doctrine and also his flunky's Brezhnev Doctrine, finally bankrupted in 1973 by our Viet Nam policies, helped along by the Israeli's win against the Soviet backed Arab armies.

 

[Tehon]

I wasn't born yet. If you were old enough back then to do you remember a sense of panic? Going to the grocery store, etc. What was that like? What did your family do?

I was stationed at Ft Lewis, WA and the entire 4th Infantry Division boarded ships in Tacoma. We sailed to San Diego and took on a load of ammunition and supplies. Then we headed to the Panama Canal and on toward Cuba. We anchored offshore at Havana and next morning we got word that the Russians were departing Cuba so we sailed back to Tacoma. Tensions were very strained but when the Russians backed down from Kennedy's threat, things eased up. It was a dangerous period in U.S. history and a couple months later deployed three Battle Groups of the the Division to Berlin in three 6 month shifts. Things have always been tense with Russia ever since WWII and I still consider them our worst threat.

Except the Russians didn't back down from Kennedy's threats. In fact, it was the opposite.

 

[SandSquid]

I wasn't born yet. If you were old enough back then to do you remember a sense of panic? Going to the grocery store, etc. What was that like? What did your family do?

I was stationed at Ft Lewis, WA and the entire 4th Infantry Division boarded ships in Tacoma. We sailed to San Diego and took on a load of ammunition and supplies. Then we headed to the Panama Canal and on toward Cuba. We anchored offshore at Havana and next morning we got word that the Russians were departing Cuba so we sailed back to Tacoma. Tensions were very strained but when the Russians backed down from Kennedy's threat, things eased up. It was a dangerous period in U.S. history and a couple months later deployed three Battle Groups of the the Division to Berlin in three 6 month shifts. Things have always been tense with Russia ever since WWII and I still consider them our worst threat.

Except the Russians didn't back down from Kennedy's threats. In fact, it was the opposite.

Ahhh, so they did go forward with keeping their nuclear missiles and short range bombers in Cuba and kept the 14 ships carrying weapons going to Cuba and didn't turn them back due to the blockade?

 

[whitehall]

JFK's incredible blunder of the botched Bay of Pigs invasion set the stage for the missile crisis. The Russians thought (correctly?) that they were dealing with a dilettante president who had bad advice from his A.G. brother who was more fixated with Cuba than he was with his job. The dirty little secret was that the Russians had (still have) boomer subs with nuclear missiles within striking distance of the U.S. while the pissing contest between JFK and Nikita K. brought us to Defcon #2

 

[HenryBHough]

While some neighbors hastened to build fallout shelters my family (parents and grandparents, 3 generations of us in the same house) pretty much ignored. Knowing Kennedy was a Democrat we understood he would wimp out, capitulate and all would be as it ever was.

 

[Likkmee]

Fidel(PBUH) called it off. He didn't want to be evaporated.
He was many many things. STUPID was not on that list.
He actually warned Hugo....who didn't listen to him.He was right.
Fidel was the only guy to fend off The great Satan Inc, until his death.
Qaddafi cowered down. See how that works ?

Some say Cuba still has a couple goodies(left overs) to take out Miami ? Who knows

 

[Picaro]

JFK's incredible blunder of the botched Bay of Pigs invasion set the stage for the missile crisis. The Russians thought (correctly?) that they were dealing with a dilettante president who had bad advice from his A.G. brother who was more fixated with Cuba than he was with his job. The dirty little secret was that the Russians had (still have) boomer subs with nuclear missiles within striking distance of the U.S. while the pissing contest between JFK and Nikita K. brought us to Defcon #2

What? You're supposed to tell us how FDR caused it all. Are you feeling poorly today?

 

[Hossfly]

I wasn't born yet. If you were old enough back then to do you remember a sense of panic? Going to the grocery store, etc. What was that like? What did your family do?

I was stationed at Ft Lewis, WA and the entire 4th Infantry Division boarded ships in Tacoma. We sailed to San Diego and took on a load of ammunition and supplies. Then we headed to the Panama Canal and on toward Cuba. We anchored offshore at Havana and next morning we got word that the Russians were departing Cuba so we sailed back to Tacoma. Tensions were very strained but when the Russians backed down from Kennedy's threat, things eased up. It was a dangerous period in U.S. history and a couple months later deployed three Battle Groups of the the Division to Berlin in three 6 month shifts. Things have always been tense with Russia ever since WWII and I still consider them our worst threat.

Except the Russians didn't back down from Kennedy's threats. In fact, it was the opposite.

The Russians backed down and we occupied Berlin 4 months later. I deployed with my Battle Group. Almost everyone kept up with he news reports, same as in WWII.

 

[Tehon]

I wasn't born yet. If you were old enough back then to do you remember a sense of panic? Going to the grocery store, etc. What was that like? What did your family do?

I was stationed at Ft Lewis, WA and the entire 4th Infantry Division boarded ships in Tacoma. We sailed to San Diego and took on a load of ammunition and supplies. Then we headed to the Panama Canal and on toward Cuba. We anchored offshore at Havana and next morning we got word that the Russians were departing Cuba so we sailed back to Tacoma. Tensions were very strained but when the Russians backed down from Kennedy's threat, things eased up. It was a dangerous period in U.S. history and a couple months later deployed three Battle Groups of the the Division to Berlin in three 6 month shifts. Things have always been tense with Russia ever since WWII and I still consider them our worst threat.

Except the Russians didn't back down from Kennedy's threats. In fact, it was the opposite.

Ahhh, so they did go forward with keeping their nuclear missiles and short range bombers in Cuba and kept the 14 ships carrying weapons going to Cuba and didn't turn them back due to the blockade?

Behind closed doors, Kennedy agreed to dismantle PGM-19 Jupiter missles that were targeting Russia from Turkey. Kennedy backed down, not Russia.

 

[westwall]

I wasn't born yet. If you were old enough back then to do you remember a sense of panic? Going to the grocery store, etc. What was that like? What did your family do?

I can remember thinking how incredibly stupid it all was. I was attending Caltech at the time, so we had all of the basement entrances scoped out.