Macmillan, Kennedy, and the Cuban Missile Crisis : political, military, and intelligence aspects

## Preface Writing in the early nineties, a leading scholar of the Cuban missile crisis observed that the events of 1962 had made a profound impact on those alive at the time. I was five years old in October 1962 and have no recollection whatsoever of the events described in this book. In the United States schoolchildren received instruction on surviving nuclear bombs from a cartoon character named Bert the Turtle, whose strategy for dealing with thermo-nuclear attack was to 'Duck and Cover'. Together with my contemporaries at Waterloo Road School, Blackpool, I received no such advice from cartoon amphibians or indeed any of the teachers. Notwithstanding the truly excellent education I received at junior school, had nuclear war engulfed Blackpool in October 1962, I would have been wholly unprepared. The genesis of this study lies not in memory, but in my later concern -academic and political -with nuclear weapons and British defence policy. Against a background of teaching on Cold War history, one specific moment focused my interests and energies. In 1991 Peter Hennessy delivered a lecture at Aberystwyth on the Special Relationship which inter alia described the role of Bomber Command's V-bomber squadrons during the Cuban missile crisis. It was this lecture that sparked the research that led both to this book, as well as to a separate study on the Command and Control of British Nuclear Weapons, 1945-64, conducted with my colleague, Stephen Twigge. Macmillan, Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis is therefore but one ripple from Peter Hennessy's well-aimed pebble. During the course of my ensuing research I have been helped by numerous individuals and institutions, and it is my pleasure as well as my duty to record my indebtedness to them. The Department of International Politics at Aberystwyth has provided an academic and professional environment that has sustained and motivated me in my endeavours. With the support of the Department I was able VIII In October 1962 the world went to the brink of Armageddon. This study provides an archive-based account of the Cuban missile crisis from the British perspective. The diplomatic, military and intelligence dimensions of British policy are scrutinised. New material is presented and existing interpretations of UK-US relations at this crucial moment are reassessed. The book contributes a new aspect to the literature on the Cuban missile crisis by exploring where the views of Washington and its closest ally converged and diverged. The Macmillan government's handling of the crisis is assessed, and various criticisms made then, and subsequently, are evaluated. Attention focuses on the domestic political context and the attitudes of the Labour Party and the anti-nuclear movement. Key British contributions, in particular that of Ambassador Ormsby-Gore in Washington, and the espionage of Oleg Penkovsky in Moscow, are examined. Finally, Harold Macmillan's cultivated reputation as 'Unflappable Mac' is appraised at his moment of supreme test In October 1962, the world went to the brink of Armageddon. This study provides a new archive-based account of the Cuban missile crisis, providing the first detailed and authoritative account from the British perspective. The book draws upon new British and US archival material and recent scholarship in the west and the former USSR. The diplomatic, military and intelligence dimensions of British policy are scrutinised. New material is presented and existing interpretations of UK-US relations at this crucial moment are reassessed. The book contributes a new aspect to the literature on the Cuban missile crisis, by exploring where the views of Washington and its closest ally converged and diverged. Front Matter....Pages i-xiii Improbable History....Pages 1-12 The Cuban Revolution and British-American Relations....Pages 13-36 Discovery and Blockade: Informing or Consulting?....Pages 37-57 Converging Perspectives and Divergent Views....Pages 58-76 Westminster and Hyde Park: British Politics and the Crisis....Pages 77-93 Diplomatic Initiatives and Devious Approaches....Pages 94-112 Ormsby-Gore and Penkovsky: British Contributions?....Pages 113-130 Thor and Vulcan: British Gods of War....Pages 131-152 ‘The Frightful Desire to Do Something’....Pages 153-178 Conclusion....Pages 179-189 Back Matter....Pages 190-251 "In October 1962 the world went to the brink of Armageddon. This study provides an archive-based account of the Cuban missile crisis from the British perspective. The diplomatic, military and intelligence dimensions of British policy are scrutinised. New material is presented and existing interpretations of UK-US relations at this crucial moment are reassessed. The book contributes a new aspect to the literature on the Cuban missile crisis by exploring where the views of Washington and its closest ally converged and diverged."--BOOK JACKET. "The essays collected here explore the popular press since 1896 - from Harmsworth's Daily Mail to Maxwell's Mirror. The history of the popular press has always been about more than big headlines and big profit margins. Personal ambition, partisan loyalty, institutional rivalry, and public accountability join commercial opportunism as the book's recurrent themes."--Jacket The essays in this collection explore the popular press from Harmsworth's Daily Mail to Maxwell's Mirror. Topics include: early dealings with the BBC; the role of photojournalism; the contribution of Reuters; and the roots of financial journalism