All language subtitles for Cold War - S01E10 - Cuba (1959–1962) (480p x265 EDGE2020).eng

[ Speaking Spanish ]

INTERPRETER:
A war appeared imminent,

a first strike might
take place at any time.

I said to myself,

"|f Cuba is in such
an unfortunate war

we will disappear
from the map.

[ Man speaking Russian ]

INTERPRETER: Robert
Kennedy came to me and said,

"Mr. Ambassador,
the situation is very tense.

Your missiles have just
shot down our plane.

Our generals demand
that we retaliate.

If we start bombing,
you will fight back.

What can we do?

McNamara: It was a
perfectly beautiful night,

as fall nights are
in Washington.

I walked out
of the President's oval office,

and as I walked out,
I thought I might

never live to see
another Saturday night.

D ♪

BRANAGH: Throughout
the 1940s and 50s,

the Caribbean island
of Cuba had been

Americafs playground --

beaches, booze,
and casinos.

Havana had it all.

Cuba's land and industry
were owned

almost entirely
by American corporations.

We considered it part of
the United States practically,

just a wonderful
little country over there

that was of no danger
to anybody,

as a matter of fact
was a rather important

economic asset
to the United States.

BRANAGH: Cuba's
leader, Fulgencio Batista,

was a brutal dictator.

His people were turning
against him.

After years of guerrilla
fighting in the mountains,

a charismatic
33-year-old lawyer,

Fidel Castro,

entered Havana on the 8th
of January, 1959.

[ Speaking Spanish ]

INTERPRETER: The triumph of the
Revolution was an example of order --

there was no looting,

no one was dragged
along the streets,

there were no murders,
no crimes.

There was perfect order.

BRANAGH:
In this perfect order,

over 500 members
of the former regime

were accused of crimes
against the people --

tried and executed.

Fearing the rise
of a new dictator,

thousands fled to exile
in the United States.

But to most people
Castro was a hero.

[ Speaking Spanish ]

The Revolution promised
to provide jobs for the people.

It promised honesty
in the administration -

which had never existed
in Cuba.

There were health programs
which had never existed before,

education programs
which had never existed before.

BRANAGH:
Most important of all,

Castro nationalized millions
of acres of land

held by American companies

and gave it to the people.

Eager to tell the world
of his revolution,

Castro flew to New York
to speak to the United Nations.

President Eisenhower was
too busy to see him.

But Nikita Khrushchev,
the Soviet leader,

was delighted to embrace
a new revolutionary,

and offered him economic
assistance.

[ Speaking Spanish ]

Cuba decided to buy oil
from the Soviet Union,

which would be cheaper.

The country could get also
credit from the Soviet Union,

who were willing to help us.

But the American companies
refused to refine the oil.

BRANAGH: With nowhere
to refine the Soviet oil,

Castro was faced
with economic disaster.

He sent in his militia

and took over the foreign
refineries in Cuba.

America's retaliation
was swift.

NARRATOR: At his White
House press conference,

President Eisenhower announces
that Cuba's assigned share

of the United States
sugar market

has been out by 95“/<>.

In reply to what Ike called

Fidel Castro's deliberate
policy of hostility.

BRANAGH:
As tension mounted,

Castro nationalized a further
billion dollars worth

of American investments.

An irate President Eisenhower
declared

a complete trade embargo,

and ordered the CIA
to recruit Cuban exiles.

They would be trained
to destroy Castro's regime.

[ Speaking Spanish ]

Government agencies
of the United States

began training people
to bomb Cuba

and to burn
the sugar-cane fields.

They used small planes
with incendiary devices

to set fire to the fields.

It was very serious,

this was the only wealth
we had.

[ Speaking Spanish ]

They carried out a dirty war
against our country.

Guerrilla units were active
in every province,

even in Havana.

BRANAGH: Over a hundred
people died when "La Coubre,"

a freighter unloading arms
and ammunition from Belgium

exploded in Havana harbor.

CIA sabotage was suspected,
but never proved.

Castro turned to
the Soviet Union for help.

MAN: Perhaps he might
have taken a different line

had the Americans
been more mild towards him

than they actually were.

The Cold War was
in its full bloom.

So whatever was unpleasant
to the Americans

was welcomed
in this country,

and vice versa, I would say.

BRANAGH: At a secret
base in the Guatemalan jungle,

American CIA agents had been
training Cuban exiles

to invade Cuba.

This, they thought,
would be the impetus

for the Cuban people
to rise up and overthrow Castro.

The plan was presented
to the new President

John F. Kennedy.

Kennedy felt that a plan
that he inherited,

in which a band
of Cuban exiles

were to liberate their
own country,

was one he could
hardly turn his back on.

Surely the United States
should help get rid

of a communist dictatorship
in our hemisphere.

BRANAGH: The CIA badly
misled the new president,

promising him an easy victory

and an end
to the Cuban problem.

Kennedy agreed to the invasion,

but demanded
crucial changes

to hide America's involvement.

Just three days
before the planned invasion,

Kennedy denied any possibility
of American intervention.

There will not be,
under any conditions,

an intervention in Cuba

by the United States
armed forces,

and this government will do
everything it possibly can

and I think it can meet
its responsibilities,

to make sure that there are
no Americans involved

in any actions inside Cuba.

BRANAGH:
As Kennedy spoke,

the invasion force was
gathering.

An advance wave of American
bombers planned

to destroy Castro's air force
on the ground.

The President,
worried that this might

reveal Washington's role,

ordered the operation
scaled down.

On April 15, 1961...

just six American bombers,

disguised in the colors
of the Cuban Air force,

took off from Nicaragua

for a crucial attack
on Cuban airfields.

But with so few bombers,

only three Cuban planes
were destroyed.

Seven civilians were killed.

As they buried those
who had died,

Castro,
seeking Soviet support

finally declared that
the revolution was socialist.

[ Castro speaking Spanish ]

INTERPRETER: We prepared
ourselves to resist an invasion

against all the forces
we knew the Americans had

at their disposal.

BRANAGH: The following
day, just 1500 exiles,

equipped with American arms
and ammunition,

arrived at the Bay of Pigs,

125 miles to the south
of Havana.

[ Speaking Spanish ]

We were the happiest men
in the world,

because we had the
opportunity to return to Cuba,

our homeland,

to fight to rescue
freedom and democracy

so that our country could be
for all Cubans.

BRANAGH: American planes
were to protect the invasion force

as they hit the beach.

But Kennedy, now faced
with international condemnation

for the initial bombing,

cancel led the air support.

Castro's remaining air force
quickly destroyed the ships

carrying vital ammunition
supplies.

Mistakenly believing
that this was

a full scale American invasion,

Cuba mobilized all its forces.

[man speaking Spanish]

INTERPRETER: The worse
moments were at the beginning.

We didn't have much
information about the enemy.

We didn't know if they were
1000, 3,000, or 10,000.

We didn't know what types
of weapons they might have.

We didn't know if this was
a total invasion.

BRANAGH: Without American
air support or resupply,

the invasion force was
outnumbered and outgunned.

Within 72 hours,

the invaders were
either captured or dead.

[ Speaking Spanish ]

I did not realize that
the mission was impossible

until the last day,
almost at the end.

We trusted in our allies,

we never thought they would
forsake us or abandon us.

We didn't think they could
betray the commitment

they had with us.

Jack Kennedy was devastated

by the fiasco
at the Bay of Pigs.

And he said it was a fiasco.

He was not accustomed
to failure

in politics or life.

He was more distraught
than I'd ever seen him.

"How could I have been
so stupid?" he said.

BRANAGH: Castro had
survived, and humiliated Kennedy.

The CIA was told
to think again.

Our job was to start to
come up with new plans,

not a Bay of Pigs
type plan,

but new plans to,

"Get rid of Castro
and the Castro regime."

BRANAGH: Everything was
suggested -- from assassination

to spraying LSD
into a television studio

to make it seem
as if Fidel had gone mad.

Whatever they tried
Castro took in his stride.

More secure
within his own country,

he sought to export
revolution

to the rest
of Latin America.

Alarmed by this prospect,

America kept up
the pressure on Castro.

In the spring of 1962,

a practice invasion
of a Caribbean island

was mounted
by 40,000 American marines.

MAN:
We did that purposely

to make Castro
pay more attention to that

than causing trouble
in Latin and Central America.

But the Cubans
and the Russians,

they told us later,
believed that the United States

really did intend
to attack Cuba

and therefore Castro kept
saying, "I need some help."

BRANAGH: Castro's pleas
inspired the Soviet leader Khrushchev

to make a daring offer.

He had boasted to the world
of Russia's nuclear strength,

but in reality he knew
just how limited

his long range missile force
really was.

But he did have
medium range nuclear missiles.

[speaking Russian ]

From the territory
of the Soviet Union,

they couldn't possibly
reach the territory of the USA,

but deployed on Cuba

they would become strategic
nuclear weapons.

That meant in practical terms

we had a chance to narrow
the differences

between our forces.

[ Speaking Spanish ]

I immediately appreciated
the strategic importance

of the presence of those
missiles in Cuba.

By that time,

the Americans
had already transported

similar missiles
to Turkey.

I thought,
"|f we expected the Soviets

to fight on our behalf,

to run risks for us,

and even involve themselves
in a war for our sake...

it would be immoral and cowardly
on our part

to refuse to accept

the presence
of those missiles here.

BRANAGH:
In July, 1962,

under the nose
of the Americans,

the first of 150 Soviet ships,

loaded with heavily disguised
nuclear missiles

and over 40,000 troops,

sailed for Cuba.

[speaking Russian ]

The Americans
just didn't notice

that we managed
to deliver

not one
but 43,000 people there,

plus the equipment,
weapons,

and everything necessary
for the installation work.

We put all the cars, trucks,
and tractors on the top,

all the military equipment was
hidden under the decks.

BRANAGH:
CIA agents in Cuba reported

that Russian troops
and missile trailers had been

seen in the streets
of Havana.

Washington dismissed the reports
as rumor.

[ Speaking Spanish ]

INTERPRETER:
I saw those weird weapons,

and then I said
to my friend Pablo,

"Pablo, how powerful are
these weird weapons?"

And he answered,
"These are nuclear missiles."

So I thought,
"Oh, really powerful."

They just put them here,
out in the open.

BRANAGH: But the CIA
had noticed the increase

in Soviet ships heading for Cuba.

On October 14,
a U2 spy plane

was ordered
to fly across the island

to try to discover
what was going on.

The next morning,

the Photographic
Interpretation Center

in Washington started analyzing
the pictures

that the U-2 had taken.

MAN:
We're looking at the photography

and we spot objects that
are foreign to the environment.

And we kept looking,
and we said,

"Oh, oh, this is an 88-4
ballistic missile site."

So working with the photo
interpreters

we became convinced
that this was it.

The Soviets had never put
any nuclear weapons

outside the Soviet borders,

and we didn't think
they'd do it, you know.

The truth of the matter is
that it never dawned on us

that they would take
that kind of risk.

BRANAGH:
At 8:45 AM on October 16,

the CIA informed Kennedy that
without any doubt

there were
Soviet missiles in Cuba.

The President called his
advisers to the White House.

We didn't spend
a great deal of time wondering

why the Soviets
were doing this,

because
why they had done it,

for whatever reason
they had done it,

they had done it
in a surreptitious way,

lying to the United States

through a variety of messages
and messengers,

that they were only putting
defensive weapons into Cuba

and those weapons constituted
a clear and present danger

to our security.

BRANAGH: The missiles
in Cuba made the Americans

more vulnerable
than ever before.

The Russians were so close

they could strike
without warning.

A first strike
would have knocked out

all the American
air bases, bomber bases,

all the American
missile bases

and all American cities
except Seattle,

which was out of their range.

But Washington, DC,
New York City, Dallas

would all have gone
under the hammer.

We talked about the possibility
of an air strike,

which was at one time
or another

almost everybody's first choice,

upon first thought,

to knock out the missiles.

We talked about
an invasion of Cuba,

which was always
the preferred choice

of the right wing,

go in and take Cuba
away from Castro

and rid the island
of communism,

while at the same time getting
rid of these missiles

a diplomatic approach,

either bilaterally
or through the United Nations --

a blockade, or a quarantine,

as it later came to be called.

No decision was made
at that first meeting.

But if a vote
had been taken there

air strike was probably
number one on everybody's list.

BRANAGH: Robert Kennedy,
the President's brother

and closest adviser,

became concerned
that if America's might

was used without warning
against a small island,

world opinion would turn
against them.

Robert Kennedy --
rightfully in my opinion --

drew the analogy that it would
be regarded by the world

as a bombing of Cuba,
of bases in Cuba,

comparable to the bombing
of Pearl Harbor

by the Japanese
in 1941.

And he said,
"I don't think I want

my brother to become
another Tojo."

BRANAGH:
As the arguments continued,

the Soviet Foreign Minister,
Andrei Gromyko,

and the Soviet ambassador,
Anatoly Dobrynin,

kept a long standing engagement
at the White House.

[speaking Russian ]

INTERPRETER: The
President raised the question

of the increasing tension
between our two countries

in connection with the Soviet
deliveries of weapons.

The President said,
"We are worried about it

because it's connected

with our own safety
and security."

Gromyko told him --
just as I was told to say --

"A|| our deliveries,
Mr. President,

are
of a defensive nature.

If you don't intend
to invade Cuba,

you shouldn't worry

because all the weapons
are defensive."

McNamara: It was a
clear intent to deceive.

If the US were not to respond
to Soviet deception,

how would this influence
the attitude

of our NATO allies,

how would they view

the US guarantee
of their security,

and how would it influence
the future behavior

of the Soviet Union?

If they got by
with deception once,

couldn't they do it again?

BRANAGH: For the next two
days, Kennedy stayed away,

keeping up with a congressional
election campaign.

In Washington,
his advisers tried

to come up with a solution.

There were no good solutions --

every solution was full
of holes and risks.

It was the only time during
my three years

in the White House
that I would wake up

in the middle of the night
agonizing over

what was the right approach,
what would work,

what would not
blow up the world.

BRANAGH:
A conclusion was reached.

Not to bomb,
but to blockade.

The Navy would stop and search
all ships heading for Cuba.

They called it
a quarantine.

McNamara: |t was
believed that the quarantine

would convey to Khrushchev

the determination
of the President to see

that those missiles were
removed,

without stimulating
a military response.

BRANAGH: But in case
the quarantine didn't work,

preparations were made
for air strikes,

and a massive
American invasion force

was made ready.

President Kennedy was
in Chicago.

Now he was needed
in Washington.

The press were
growing suspicious.

I was called
by President Kennedy

at 8:00 in the morning

and he said,
"Come to my room."

And he still had
his bathrobe on

and he said, "Here's something
I'm writing for you.

You're going to hold a press
conference to announce it.

The assistant White House
physician, Dr. George Berkeley,

noticed that the President's
voice was very husky.

This morning when
he examined the President,

he found that the President had
developed a slight temperature,

and he was suffering
from a minor

upper respiratory ailment.

The President will therefore
cancel his schedule

for the rest of today
and tomorrow

and return to Washington
and the White House.

SALINGER:
About halfway to Washington,

I suddenly found myself
alone with Kennedy

in the front part
of the airplane.

I said, "Mr. President,
you're not sick.

What the hell's
going on?"

He said to me, "You're going
to find out

as soon as you land
in Washington

and then grab your balls."

Good morning, everyone.

An unusual flurry
of top secret military

and diplomatic activity
over the weekend

has Washington guessing today
that a major move

in American foreign policy
may be imminent.

The speculation centers
on the Caribbean

and possible action
against Cuba.

BRANAGH: That afternoon,
the Soviet ambassador

was called to an urgent
meeting

with Secretary of State,
Dean Rusk.

[speaking Russian ]

Rusk said, "You are
delivering missiles to Cuba.

We have aerial
reconnaissance photographs.

This is
a threat to our security

and we cannot possibly
allow it.

In one hour's time,
at 7:00 pm,

the President will make a radio
and television appeal

to the American people,

where he will describe
the situation.

At the same time he wants you
to pass the message

oh to Khrushchev."

BRANAGI-IZ
At 7100,

Kennedy announced to the world
for the first time

the discovery of Soviet missiles
in Cuba,

and that a blockade
was now in force.

The purpose of these bases
can be none other

than to provide
a nuclear strike capability

against the Western Hemisphere.

To halt this offensive
build up,

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.

I call up oh
Chairman Khrushchev to halt

and eliminate this clandestine,
reckless and provocative

threat to world peace,

and to stable relations
between our two nations.

He has an opportunity now
to move the world back

from the abyss
of destruction.

BRANAGH: The first response
from Moscow came the next morning.

Khrushchev was hot
going to back down.

TROYANOVSKI:
Kennedy spoke about quarantine,

and that sounded as
something not very precise,

perhaps not at blockade,
as it actually was.

So the first reactions
were pretty tough

from the Soviet side.

Denouncing the United States
arms quarantine against Cuba

as a step towards
world thermonuclear war,

the Soviet Union today
ordered its armed forces

into a state
of combat readiness,

and forces of the Warsaw Pact,
the communist counterpart

of the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization,

immediately followed suit.

BRANAGH: As the
superpowers prepared for conflict,

Cuba announced
a "combat alarm."

Over a quarter
of a million people stood by

to repel
an American invasion.

[ Dominguez speaking Spanish]

INTERPRETER:
We felt the danger.

This was a war --
the country could be

invaded at any time
by the Americans.

[ Castro speaking Spanish ]

INTERPRETER:
if they invaded our country,

I was convinced it would
create the grave risk

of the US taking
the second step

of carrying out
a nuclear air strike

against the Soviet Union.

BRANAGH: The American
fleet now encircled Cuba.

The Soviet ships
stayed on course.

With confrontation
imminent,

Kennedy wanted
direct contact with Moscow.

He sent his brother Robert
to meet in secret

with the Soviet Ambassador.

[speaking Russian ]

He said, "Did your government
instruct the captains

to turn the ships
back home

because Kennedy introduced
the quarantine?"

I said, "No, our captains
had no such orders,

and as far as I am aware

they are instructed
to go on to Cuba.

According to international law

you have no right to stop
our ships in the open sea.

You cannot draw
an imaginary line

which cannot be crossed.

It is against the |aw."

He replied,

"Well, then I don't know
where we are heading."

The Pentagon says
the United States is ready

to sink every
communist bloc ship

headed for Cuba
which refuses to stop

and be searched
under the blockade.

Further, force will be used
if necessary

to stop and search
any ship, of any nation,

bound for Cuba.

I think that was
the moment

that really was
the heart-stopper.

The -- I recall...

I recall being in the newsroom

just waiting
for that next bulletin,

and almost literally trying
to type with my fingers crossed.

Let's check over
at the Pentagon,

with Charles Von Fremd
on that.

Chuck, is there
any late information

about the position
of those Soviet ships,

or what might be
happening to them?

Walter, we haven't heard
a word for several hours how,

as to when
the confrontation

between US vessels
and the Soviet ships

will come about.

BRANAGH: Nerves were
being stretched to breaking point.

People tried to prepare for
a possible nuclear holocaust.

A wave of panic buying
swept across America.

We have a utility room
where the furnaces are,

and we wondered whether
we could make that

into a bomb shelter
of some form.

We were learning
for the first time

the time that we would have
after the explosion,

before the fumes,
the killing fumes,

killing heat
and so forth, would reach us.

BRANAGH: The Soviet
leaders had tried to keep crisis

from their people,

but the news
was getting out.

[speaking Russian ]

The people felt
the breath of war

and were tense.

I remember my parents
felt doomed.

They understood that
war would not be

like it was before,

that it would be
a war with atomic bombs.

ANNOUNCER: This a
special report from CBS news.

Well, at its beginning,
this day looked

as if it might be one
of armed conflict

between Soviet vessels
and America warships

on the sea lanes
leading to Cuba.

But there has been no
confrontation as far as we know

and some hope has been generated
by suggestions of negotiation.

BRANAGH:
Almost at the last moment,

the missile ships appeared

to have slowed down,
or altered course.

That evening, as Kennedy dined
with friends at the White House

a toast was proposed
to celebrate.

Kennedy declined.

"The game" he said,
"was hardly over."

At 9124 PM,

the State Department
received a letter

from Khrushchev
for the President.

Khrushchev rejected
all of Kennedy's demands.

The missiles already in Cuba
were being prepared for action.

For the first time
in its history,

America's Strategic Air Command
moved to Defense Condition 2.

The next step --
Def con 1 --

would be war.

Just after dawn
on the morning of the 25th,

Kennedy ordered the interception
of the Bucharest,

a ship carrying
Soviet oil.

He knew there was
no possibility of an oil tanker

carrying missiles,

but it was a signal
to Khrushchev

that he was
deadly serious.

That afternoon,
at the United Nations,

Adlai Stevenson confronted
his Soviet counterpart,

Ambassador Zofln.

All right, sir,

let me ask you
one simple question.

Do you,
Ambassador Zorin,

deny that the USSR
has placed

and is placing medium
and intermediate-range missiles

and sites in Cuba?

Yes or no?

Don't wait
for the translation.

Yes or no?

[ laughter ]

[speaking Russian ]

I am not in
an American courtroom, sir,

and therefore I do not wish
to answer a question

that is put to me in the fashion
in which a prosecutor does.

In due course, sir,
you will have your reply.

You're in the court of world opinion
right now

and you can GHSWEF YES Of HO.

You have denied
that they exist

and I want to know if I have
understood you correctly.

BRANAGH: As the Soviet
Ambassador prevaricated,

the U2 photographs were
brought into the meeting

for the world
to see.

With work continuing
on the missile sites in Cuba,

the build up of US invasion
forces in Florida increased.

The Americans prepared
for conventional combat.

They were unaware that
the Soviet forces were equipped

with short-range tactical
missiles,

tipped with atomic warheads,

ready to annihilate
any invader.

[speaking Russian ]

If they had started
an invasion using the Marines

or the airborne forces,

the losses would have
been enormous.

We would have fought
to the last soldier,

the last bullet.

There was nowhere
to retreat to.

[ Speaking Spanish ]

On the 26th of October

at a meeting with
the Soviet Military commander...

I was informed about
the state of the missiles.

He told me,

"The air regiment
is ready.

The surface to air missiles
are ready.

The tactical nuclear
missile unit is ready.

Missiles ready.

BRANAGH: On October
26th, with tension increasing,

Kennedy received
a telegram from Khrushchev.

The most important
paragraph in it is,

"Mr. President, Mr. Kennedy,
you and I are like two men

pulling on a rope
with a knot in the middle,

the harder we pull,
the tighter the knot

until it will have to be out
with a sword.

Now why we don't both
let up the pressure

and maybe we can
untie the knot?"

BRANAGH: Khrushchev went
oh to offer that if the United States

declared that they wouldn't
invade Cuba.

"The necessity of the presence

of our military specialists
in Cuba will disappear."

At last, it looked as if cooler
heads were prevailing.

The next morning,
everything changed.

Khrushchev tried to push
for a better deal.

He demanded
a trade.

His missiles in Cuba
for US missiles in Turkey.

Khrushchev thought
that if he --

if the withdrawal
from Turkey

could be incorporated

in a general agreement
between the two sides,

that would look very good
for the Soviet Union.

Much -- even better
than a simple decision

by the United States
not to attack Cuba.

BRANAGH: President
Kennedy was prepared to take

the American missiles
out of Turkey.

But they were part of America's
contribution to NATO

and he could offer Khrushchev
ho promises.

As Kennedy considered
the options,

he received news that
the crisis had escalated again.

In continued American reconnaissance,

a U2 spy plane overflew
a Soviet Anti-Aircraft site

in the east of Cuba.

This time, the Soviet commander
gave the order

to launch a surface-to-air
missile against it.

[speaking Russian ]

The division commander
Lieutenant Colonel Grechkove

was given the order
to liquidate the target.

If we hadn't shot down
the plane

which had photographed
all of our bases,

it would have enabled
the enemy to destroy us.

That would have meant we had not
fulfilled our mission.

We would have
betrayed our Motherland.

The standby plan was that
if a U2 was shot down,

we would immediate bomb
that SAM site out of existence.

President Kennedy cancel led
that order,

he said, "Don't bomb
that anti-aircraft site.

I want time
to exchange with Khrushchev."

[ Speaking Spanish ]

A war appeared imminent,

a first strike might take place
at any time.

I said to myself, "|f Cuba is
in such an unfortunate war,

we will disappear
from the map."

BRANAGH: Castro sent
a message to Khrushchev.

He said a US attack
was just hours away,

and once launched, the Soviet
Union should retaliate

immediately
with "an annihilating strike."

In Washington,
Kennedy was still trying

to avoid a World War.

Bobby Kennedy had
this brilliant idea.

He said, "Let's pick out
of the Khrushchev cable

the things we like and pretend
the rest isn't there."

Jack Kennedy
and Bobby Kennedy,

they crafted this answer to
Khrushchev that did just that.

It ignored the shoot down
of the U2,

it ignored the broadcast
from Moscow

that was very hawkish,
you know.

And just...

we said, "We understand
what you're proposing

and we listen
to things we like."

BRANAGH: There was little
confidence that this ploy would work.

Plans for
the invasion continued.

SALINGER: The tension on
Saturday night was extraordinary,

because there was
going to be the meeting

where we were going
to decide what time the next day

we were gonna invade Cuba

or was it gonna be later,

were we going to be
bombing those areas,

and Kennedy started
the meeting by saying,

"Listen, all of you
have not been home

for at least six, seven days.

I want all of you
to go home tonight,

come back tomorrow morning,
Sunday morning,

and we'll make
the decision Sunday morning.

BRANAGH: They left
the White House fearful

that America could soon be
engulfed in a nuclear war,

a war that once started,
might be impossible to stop.

McNamara: It was a
perfectly beautiful night,

as fall nights are
in Washington.

I walked out
of the President's oval office,

and as I walked out,
I thought I might

never live to see
another Saturday night.

BRANAGH: Kennedy sent
his brother to another meeting

with the Soviet Ambassador.

[speaking Russian ]

He came to me and said,
"The situation is very tense.

Your missiles have just
shot down our plane.

Our generals demand
that we fight back.

If we start bombing,
you will start to fight back.

What can we do?"

I said, "What about Turkey?"

He thought
for a while and said,

"You know, if that's
the only condition

which prevents us
from striking a deal,

then I'm authorized
by the President to say

that we agree to it."

We could not take them out
under threat,

we could not
take them out unilaterally,

because they were
NATO bases,

but he had our assurance
that they would be gone

provided it was not done
on a quid pro quo basis.

Therefore the Russians
could not talk about it.

That was, I would say,

the last...

the last thing that led
to the decision

to accept Kennedy's terms

that he would be
willing to guarantee

that there would be
no attack on Cuba,

but that the Soviet Union
should withdraw

all offensive weapons
from Cuba.

BRANAGH: Khrushchev,
fearing that this might be

the last chance
to escape war,

rushed a message
accepting Kennedy's terms,

to Radio Moscow.

It was broadcast
to the world.

Radio Moscow at 9:00
this morning.

Mr. Khrushchev
crating up his missiles

and shipping them home.

SORENSEN: The first news
I heard on Sunday morning

when I woke up was
this broadcast from Khrushchev

over the open air,

that Soviet missiles
were to be withdrawn

under inspection,

and the crisis was over.

I could hardly
believe my ears.

This is the day we have
every reason to believe

when the world came out
from under the most

terrible threat
of a nuclear holocaust

since the end
of World War ll.

We were irate.

How did we learn
about this?

Through the radio,
oh the morning of the 28th.

They broadcast that ah agreement
had been reached

between the Soviet Union
and the United States,

that Kennedy was offering
Khrushchev a guarantee.

It really was
a disgraceful agreement.

It never crossed my mind

they would do anything
like this.

[speaking Russian ]

The whole world was
under the impression

that Khrushchev had lost
because he had given in

to the pressure
of a strong President.

That he'd taken everything
out of Cuba

but got nothing
in return.

No one knew
about the agreement

regarding
the missiles in Turkey.

If you ask who won
or who lost,

I'd say neither Kennedy
nor Khrushchev.

BRANAGH: Under close
American surveillance,

Soviet ships took
the missiles back home.

SALINGER: There is no question
that if it hadn't been solved,

and we had invaded Cuba,

we would have been
in a nuclear war

and the number of people
who would have been killed

around the world
in that nuclear war

would have been
absolutely disastrous.

That was the biggest crisis
of the 20th century

and the fact that Kennedy
solved it with Khrushchev

is absolutely important,

because then we were moving
into a totally different world.