One Week in October (1963, sound)

[Music] this is the San crisal area of Cuba as it is looked from time Memorial this is how it looked in October 1962 those are russian-made Russian manned ballistic missiles almost the entire population of the western hemisphere is within range of their nuclear strike capabilities today they are gone the story which you are about to see is the story behind that change the story of the Cuban Crisis in 1962 the United States and the Soviet Union stand on the verge of direct military confrontation during one week in October ever since 1492 October has been an important month for the Americans October 1962 will prove to be no exception Columbus Day falls on a Friday 10 days later the United States and Russia will stand on the verge of a direct military confrontation over Cuba it will be the most frightening week the world has known since the end of World War II but on Columbus Day the danger is not apparent in the age of InterContinental missiles crisis comes with the speed of sound and so in October 62 Americans are basking in the Indian Summer Sun in Blissful ignorance the Yankees are sweating out a seventh game Thriller with the San Francisco Giant the March of Dimes is choosing its annual poster girl the first lady is playing Hostess to the children of the diplomats of many nations abroad there are fireworks for the birth of still another new African nation Uganda at the Vatican the princes of the Roman Catholic Church have gathered from around the world for their ecumenical council back home Washington turns out to receive omed Ben Bella premier of Algeria Mr Ben Bella's next stop will be Havana but Cuba is not in the Forefront of most Americans thoughts during the warm fall days of mid October 62 not that the Cold War has been forgotten we are firing a rocket at the moon the Russians announced the ontarget firing of a 7500 mile missile and for more than a year now the defense department has been quietly putting together a massive program to strengthen civil defense special training and Fallout protection analysis has been given to engineers and Architects and a nationwide shelter survey has been underway checking every possible building Banks stores municipal buildings schools churches even caves Community Fallout shelters space for more than 100 million people has been located supplies for the first 46 million spaces are already in production food and water drums medical and sanitation kits and radiological monitoring equipment they're coming off hundreds of assembly lines and rolling out defense department warehouses all over the country for distribution by local [Music] authorities [Music] building owners Across America are contributing space for the new community Fallout shelters and the first shelter signs are beginning to go up but most Americans aren't paying much attention to civil defense in October 62 the Congressional elections are coming up and the campaign shifts into high I understand what you're up against and I hope eventually it will be worked out in Connecticut the state headed by Horus Steely Brown and John alup would get my vote were I a resident here Mr Kennedy too has been touring the country but early in October he has returned to Washington with a cold and behind the scenes a major crisis is developing its name is Cuba the loveliest land that human eyes have beheld so did Columbus describe the land he thought to be a part of Asia when he discovered Cuba in 1492 historically Cuba and the United States had been friends the monument to the battleship Main in Nana had stood as a reminder of United States help in winning Cuba's freedom in the Spanish American war but by October 62 that friendship is gone and the monument has been desecrated behind this change is the story of the Betrayal of the Cuban people it began when Fidel Castro triumphantly entered Havana in 1959 after 6 years of revolt against the dictatorship of General Batista Castro had promised democracy and [Applause] freedom and for a time he had appeared to most Cubans as their liberator but at the United Nations it had soon become apparent that Castro had sold out to Premier kusov and the Communists by 1961 this policy had led to a formal break between the United States and Cuba one year earlier The Havana airport had resounded to the excitement and confusion attended on all great occasions of State the visitor was Soviet Deputy Premier anastas McCoy he had brought with him aund million trade agreement and the promise of Russian equipment and technicians to help get Cuba's economy back on its feet and soon a stream of ships from the Communist Nations loaded to the pimel line had steamed for Havana but as October draws near there is an intensification of shipping into Cuba and disquieting rumors and reports many from Cuban refugees are that krof may be sending more than economic aid is he providing Castro with offensive military weapons we step up our intelligence activities reconnaissance of the island and its approaches is increased if offensive weapons are coming into Cuba it threatens the security of the entire Western Hemisphere for Cuba sits almost exactly in the middle of the Americas arride the Panama Canal but to act the president needs not rumors but [Music] facts on October 14 a Recon plane returns with the first hard photographic evidence indicating the presence of Soviet offensive missiles in Cuba immediately increased surveillance is ordered and even before the new information can be fully assessed the president orders the leaders of America's Armed Forces to prepare for any emergency Strategic Air Command immediately begins dispersing its [Music] aircraft sack also moves bombers and tankers from Florida bases to make room for tactical aircraft in the southeastern United States closest to [Music] Cuba much of the Atlantic Fleet is already put to Sea for training exercises that are a routine part of fleet's normal operation schedule Polaris submarines are on station on October 16 a new command US army forces Atlantic is created and major elements of St strategic Army Corp are assigned to this new command all elements go on Advanced [Music] alert the alerted units begin intensive training exercises to maintain combat [Music] readiness [Music] first Armored Division moves out from its home base at Fort Hood Texas to Fort Stewart [Music] Georgia [Music] US Army Atlantic command includes infantry Airborne armored and logistical troops all move or prepare prep to move to previously assigned positions along the southern Atlantic [Music] Coast captain iCal Air Command quickly brings its aircraft to an advanced [Music] alert each passing hour brings greater strength to the Air Forces deployed Within Viking distance of [Music] [Music] Cuba within minutes after landing at new bases Tactical Air Command planes are armed and operational by October 20th Tactical Air Command has moved thousands of tons of equipment and aircraft into the southeastern United States mainly to Florida [Music] bases tons of air evacuation hospital equipment are flown to Florida and [Music] prepositioned army air defense defense battalions equipped with surfac to air missiles are moved to Florida by Rail and air from all across the United [Music] States orders are given to beef up Marine forces guarding the Guantanamo Naval Base on Cuba the ready Marine Battalion Landing team at Sea with the Atlantic Fleet is put ashore at [Music] Guantanamo as a final precautionary measure over 3,000 Navy and Marine wives and children are evacuated from [Music] Guantanamo the vast military deployment causes little notice outside Florida although a direct military confrontation with the Soviet Union may be less than 72 hours away few civilians are aware of the impending crisis on October 20th the nation settles down to a weekend of football and Tom Foolery Northwestern meets Ohio State in Saturday's big [Music] game most of the weekend news seems to come from the West Coast farthest from Cuba the Seattle fair is closing a Los Angeles florist is selling elephants as the weekend starts in a move partly designed to offset Counter Intelligence about the redeployment the president resumes pre-election touring the day before the Soviet foreign minister Andre gromo had told Mr Kennedy that Russia had no offensive weapons in Cuba suddenly on Saturday October 20th the president cancels his trip and hurries from aain swept Chicago back to Washington the crisis now has reached ahead all week reconnaissance planes have been sweeping the island of Cuba the new intelligence photos are in and now the evidence is unmistakable it shows Russian IL 28 beagle bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons and it shows more offensive ballistic missiles being in placed these are medium [Music] range these are intermediate range both have nuclear strike [Music] capabilities all of the Western Hemisphere from Hudson Bay to Lima Peru is within their range with the faity and the nation lines up behind the president I'd hate like see us go to war but if it's necessary to uh to prevent a nuclear war I think the action has to be taken at this time well I think it's a high time we uh stopped Russia from having things her own way I only have a few more months to go on reserves and I just hope they don't grab me that's all I know that some action should be taken but uh he's going to have to tread very likely short of War I think it's gone beyond the stage of whether or not we support uh the president or we don't support them where it's way past that suddenly the idea of civil defense no longer seems either useless or foolish suddenly millions of Americans are asking one question how can I make my family safe suddenly it seems very important to have adequate supplies in every home in some parts of the country Supermarket shelves are stripped bare yet if the worst had come most of these second thoughts would have been too [Music] late [Music] Across the Nation local government authorities and civil defense organizations step up the pace of stalking their Community Fallout shelters with essential [Music] supplies in a world in which no family is beyond the range of nuclear warheads civil defense cannot a sometime thing it is all the time or it is no defense at [Music] all at the United Nations Ambassador Stevenson takes America's case to the world he asks Russia's Ambassador do you Ambassador Zoran deny that the USSR has placed and is placing medium and intermediate range missiles and sites in Cuba yes or no you will have your answer in you course I'm prepared to wait for my answer until hell Freez is over if that's your [Music] decision with support pouring in from the Free World President Kennedy signs the quarantine [Music] order at the Pentagon Secretary of Defense Robert mcnamer repairs to enforce it I have taken the necessary steps to deploy our forces to be in a position to make effective the quarantine at 2: p.m. tomorrow Greenwich time that will be the equivalent of 10:00 a.m. eastern daylight time the forces under my command that is to say under the command of the president are ordered to interdict subject to certain instructions contained in the proclamation the delivery of offensive weapons and Associated material to Cuba those are the instructions we've been given those are the instructions we will carry out Strategic Air Command B52 bombers already on a massive worldwide Airborne alert are now flying 24-hour [Music] missions [Music] Round the Clock missions are made possible by midair [Music] refueling before one B52 leaves its Airborne station another is Airborne to take its place Air Defense command interceptors and tactic cair command fighter and reconnaissance aircraft join Navy marine and Sack to maintain watch on the 2,000 ships known to be in the [Music] Atlant no one is certain how many of them are headed for Cuba with caros of prohibited weapons all that is sure is that within 24 hours a confrontation between the searching forces of the United States and a Soviet vessel heading for Cuba must take place the world awaits the [Music] outcome [Music] on Thursday October 25th the Navy intercepts the Soviet tank of Bucharest and allows her to proceed on Friday another encounter takes place at sea a Soviet chared vessel a maruka is stopped boarded and inspected then cleared to proceed to [Music] Cuba apparently the Soviet vessels loaded with offensive weapons and prohibited materials are awaiting orders at sea or have turned back the world breathes a little easier but the crisis continues low-level reconnaissance planes at near Treetop level surprise the Cuban anti-aircraft Crews catch them running for their guns and report that work on the missile sites is still going forward at a feverish pace around the clock the Kremlin stalls for time but the White House makes clear that time is running out all Strategic Air Command bombers not on Airborne alert are prepared to take off combat ready within 15 minutes of scramble notice the maximum force of anti-aircraft missiles is on five to 15minute [Music] alert at headquarters North American Air Defense command everything Airborne within hundreds of miles of our borders is brought under intensive surveillance [Music] men and women the world over hang on the news no one can be sure that he and his family will still be alive at this time tomorrow on Sunday morning message reaches the White House from Moscow press secretary Salinger announces that chairman krof has agreed to remove the missiles from Cuba and reads Mr Kennedy's reply to the Soviet premere the president already has left the White House to attend services at his church [Music] one week in October perhaps the most frightening week the world has ever known is [Music] over there would be something special to be thankful for when Thanksgiving Day rolled around War had not come during that fateful one week in October it might never come but it might and there could be no letting down lowlevel surveillance over Cuba would verify the fact that missile sights had been dismantled Soviet ships would be photographed carrying the missiles out of Cuba there would be no question about the continued vigilance by America's Armed Forces if any question remained it would concern civilian Americans would they too remember this fateful week in October [Applause] all e for for