Maximum Danger: Kennedy, the Missiles, and the Crisis of American Confidence [Hardcover]

Robert Weisbrot (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 9, 2001 | ISBN-10: 1566633923 | ISBN-13: 978-1566633925

In the early 1960s, as a youthful President Kennedy entered the White House, Americans braced for a period of "maximum danger" from the Soviet Union. This nearly universal alarm sprang from rising Soviet missile strength, Communist challenges around the world, and the shoe-thumping bluster of Premier Nikita Khrushchev. Yet popular fears also fed on exaggerated estimates of Russian military prowess, global ambitions, and readiness to risk or even begin a nuclear war. The Cuban missile crisis of 1962, the gravest collision of the cold war, occurred as these alarms were sounding loudest, generating pressures for bolder action to blunt Soviet advances. Historians and other observers persist in explaining President Kennedy's handling of the missile crisis in merely personal terms, as revealing either unique valor and resourcefulness or reckless machismo. In Maximum Danger, Robert Weisbrot moves beyond these now common interpretations to argue that JFK in fact explored no new policy frontiers but rather faithfully reflected a remarkable cold war consensus. Buffeted by partisan sniping, public opinion, and the force of inherited policies, the president pursued a variety of options while trying to minimize confrontation with the Soviets to a degree consistent with his political survival. By exploring the boundaries that national attitudes can impose on even the most popular leader, Maximum Danger bids to recover the historical figure of John F. Kennedy from the veils of myth.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The trouble with most historical examinations of the Cuban missile crisis, contends Colby College historian Weisbrot (Freedom Bound), is that they focus too much on the character, motivations and actions of one man, JFK. In this view, he was either a saint or a sinner, a wise and calm statesman or a reckless poseur driven by a neurotic machismo. Such interpretations miss the mark, however, as they do not consider the all-important context, "the framework of national values" within which Kennedy had to operate. By looking carefully at magazine articles, newspaper editorials, opinion polls and other sources produced during the late 1950s and early 1960s, Weisbrot shows that America at the time was both fearful and insecure. The arms race with the Soviets was at its height, dangerous confrontations with the Soviets were building in places like Berlin, Khrushchev was seen as a blustering bully, and then there was Cuba. Ninety miles from the U.S., Castro had installed a Communist regime, a dangerous and unacceptable part of what was then seen as the international Communist conspiracy. When Soviet missiles showed up in Cuba, Kennedy simply could not accept it, bound as he was by the dictates of the national mood and the inherited policy of the containment of Communism. Weisbrot concludes that JFK was "a moderate leader in a militant age," and if his willingness to risk nuclear war over missiles in Cuba now seems excessive, it expresses the excesses of an entire age. His story, then, is less about JFK and more a cautionary tale about the American people, who they were at the time, and the pressures they created that no democratically elected leader could ignore. (Oct. 19)Forecast: The 2000 movie Thirteen Days focused mass attention on the Cuban missile crisis, but it's not likely to spill over into large sales of this worthy book.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

President Kennedy was neither the solitary profile in courage nor the reckless, macho avenger claimed by those with either pro- or anti-Kennedy views who have investigated the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Instead, Weisbrot (Freedom Bound) portrays him as a sensible leader during a hair-trigger phase of the Cold War. Kennedy's conflict with Soviet Premier Khrushchev was motivated and limited by diplomatic rule established at the outset of the Cold War 15 years earlier: fighting Communist expansion, especially in the Western Hemisphere, without killing Soviet soldiers. This understanding made the President more cautious than his advisers, Congress, and the public, inflamed by major newspaper columnists, who would not tolerate at any cost Soviet missiles 90 miles from the United States. This intriguing appraisal of the Missile Crisis emphasizes foreign policies and public perceptions rather than fixations on Kennedy's character. Most enlightening is the dialog about the important but secret role the removal of the Jupiter missiles in Turkey played in the crisis's peaceful resolution. This stimulating complement to The Presidential Transcripts: John F. Kennedy; The Great Crises is recommended for public and academic collections. Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Ivan R. Dee (October 9, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566633923
• ISBN-13: 978-1566633925
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,531,413 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another cogent analysis of the Kennedy/Cuba crisis, January 8, 2002

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Maximum Danger: Kennedy, the Missiles, and the Crisis of American Confidence (Hardcover)

Robert Weisbrot's Maximum Danger provides another cogent analysis of the Kennedy/Cuba crisis: this from the viewpoint of Kennedy's overall attitude toward the Soviet Union's growing missile strength. Weisbrot argues that John Kennedy attempted to minimize confrontations with the Soviets, pursuing different options to avert the crisis. Maximum Danger provides an engaging, thoughtful series of different viewpoints about the missile crisis.

5.0 out of 5 stars Maximum Danger, January 7, 2002

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Ryan Close (Sewell, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Maximum Danger: Kennedy, the Missiles, and the Crisis of American Confidence (Hardcover)

"A powerful and provocative look at what the publics view was on the Cuban missile crisis. Maximum Danger reveals startling information from both Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill. Robert Weisbort tells the real story of what Kennedy and his administration endured through almost near nuclear holocaust."