22 Oct 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis

[pqr]

It was on the evening of 22 Oct '62 that Kennedy announced the "quarantine" of Cuba.

 

We use dates like this as nice teaching opportunities for dinner table discussions.

[Trish]

I was surprised when Dana Perino, a spokesperson in the Bush Administration, had a questioned that referenced that during a press conference, and she had no idea what it was. Can you really go through college and not have heard of the Cuban Missile Crisis?

[pqr]

Well, apparently you can graduate college, and also get a job as the spokesperson of President Bush, without knowing about it! Amazingly pathetic....

 

 

Are you trying to get the thread deleted?

[Twigs]

… Can you really go through college and not have heard of the Cuban Missile Crisis?

 

Well, I've heard of it, but do not ever remember it being mentioned in college or school. And I was born before the missile crisis.

[Trish]

Well, I've heard of it, but do not ever remember it being mentioned in college or school. And I was born before the missile crisis.

 

Seems to me this is a failure of our educational system. I would think this would be one of the Top Ten (Eleven) historical events of the sixties for the U.S.

 

In no particular order:

 

1) Moon landing/space program

2) JFK assassination

3) Civil Rights marches/act

4) Vietnam War

5) MLK "I have a dream" speech/JFK "Ask Not" speech

6) MLK assassination

7) Berlin Wall/Airlift

8) RFK assassination

9) Democratic Nat'l Convention/Vietnam protests

10) Rock 'n Roll/Beatles/Hippies

 

11) Cuban Missile Crisis

 

I had the help of google to come up with those, but they are all familiar historical events.

[Jeannie in NJ]

not only did I not learn about the cuban missele crisis but in both high school and college I did not learn one thing about WW1 or WW2. When I first met dh, I was entralled to talk to his dad who had been a army pilot in WW 2, I learned so much from him and then later I really enjoyed teaching dd about it. Heck , I never even knew what started WW1 until I taught dd about it.

[K-FL]

If you'd like to see some pictures (a whole history magazine) of what it was like just 90 miles from Havana, check out this pdf of the Key West History Magazine.

[Trish]

not only did I not learn about the cuban missele crisis but in both high school and college I did not learn one thing about WW1 or WW2. When I first met dh, I was entralled to talk to his dad who had been a army pilot in WW 2, I learned so much from him and then later I really enjoyed teaching dd about it. Heck , I never even knew what started WW1 until I taught dd about it.

 

Wow! Although to be honest, I feel like most of my WWI/WWI knowledge came from personal reading, at least until I got to college and took a course in U.S. history in the 20th century.

 

Interesting book on what it was like for a U.S. paratrooper on the ground during WWII is called Currahee! Really gave an interesting perspective on what it was like to go into training for that war as a raw recruit, then being dropped in the middle of it.

 

Amazon

[nrg]

I remember this day! My parents were terrified and tried not to show it. We began to brace for war.

[lovemyboys]

If you'd like to see some pictures (a whole history magazine) of what it was like just 90 miles from Havana, check out this pdf of the Key West History Magazine.

 

Thanks for this, I'm going to forward the link to my folks who lived there during this! They'll probably recognize a good bit of it.

 

Thanks, pqr, for the reminder. It's hard for us to realize or remember what a looming threat that posed with the power of the Soviet Union and their success in the "space race" (rockets/missiles) sitting virtually off our southern border.

 

I've heard people talk about what a tense time it was.

 

What a shame that our history classes are doing such a poor job of highlighting the truly significant events in our history regardless of the decade. Sadly, I think that if you hit any of the under-40 press secretaries of the last couple decades with the same question, you'd get a very similar reaction.

[Geo]

I remember this day! My parents were terrified and tried not to show it. We began to brace for war.

 

We lived in South Florida in during those days. There were Army tanks rolling down the streets! I overheard my mother telling a neighbor that "they could drop a bomb on us at any moment"....I remember looking up in the sky for them.

[Audrey]

It was on the evening of 22 Oct '62 that Kennedy announced the "quarantine" of Cuba.

 

We use dates like this as nice teaching opportunities for dinner table discussions.

 

 

This was a frequent discussion at our dinner table when I was growing up. My father was on the Independence during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He would say, "you will never know how close we were to World War III." He said was it was the finest, deadliest ship in the fleet and would likely be a major target. He firmly believed those were the last days of his life, as did everyone else on that aircraft carrier.

 

There are many other things he had to say about that time, but I'd be getting political if I related them.

[pqr]

Didn't the US do something similar at the time? I thought they put weapons on the border in Turkey?

 

.

 

You are speaking of the Jupiter medium range ballistic missiles that were deployed to Turkey in the early '60s and withdrawn soon after the Crisis ended.