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Robert Smith Thompson

The Missiles of October: The Declassified Story of John F. Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis Hardcover – October 1, 1992

by Robert Smith Thompson (Author)

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Recently declassified documents help recreate the Cuban missile crisis on the thirtieth anniversary of the world-shaking confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union

Print length

395 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Simon & Schuster
Publication date

October 1, 1992
Dimensions

6.5 x 1.25 x 9.75 inches
ISBN-10

0671768069
ISBN-13

978-0671768065
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Based on newly declassified material, Thompson's thoughtful reassessment confirms the Soviet claim that the Americans were preparing an all-out invasion of Cuba, that Khrushchev placed missiles in Cuba to forestall it and that President Kennedy, in order to resolve the ensuing crisis, made many more concessions than he publicly admitted. This is the first study to treat JFK's handling of the Cuban missile crisis primarily in terms of presidential weakness: "The Bay of Pigs was a failure. Laos was a failure. Vienna was a failure. JFK needed a victory, desperately." Thompson ( A Time for War: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Path to Pearl Harbor ) describes Kennedy's efforts to give the impression of standing up to the Russians and winning a great victory, when in fact he was forced to agree privately to the Soviet leader's terms--pledging not to invade Cuba and trading withdrawal of U.S. missiles in Turkey for withdrawal of Soviet missiles in Cuba--while hoping that his political enemies would not find out. The author concludes that Khruschev "beat Kennedy in Vienna" and "beat him again in Cuba." A controversial slant on one of the most dangerous moments in history. Photos.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Scholarship concerning the Cuban Missile Crisis has had a resurgence due to the recent declassification of pertinent government documents by the United States and the former Soviet Union. Thompson (international relations, Univ. of South Carolina; author of A Time for War , LJ 7/91) revisits what is now familiar territory in telling the story behind the Cuban Missile Crisis. The author begins with U.S. policies toward the Caribbean at the end of World War II and ends with the resolution of the crisis and an account of the key participants at the time of President Kennedy's assassination. Thompson's subtitle leads the reader to expect some new revelation, but the book delivers nothing of substance that hasn't been discussed in more detail by Michael Beschloss in The Crisis Years ( LJ 6/1/91) or by Dino Brugioni in Eyeball to Eyeball ( LJ 11/15/91). Still, this work will fit well into the collections of public and undergraduate academic libraries looking for a general history of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
- Robert Favini, Bentley Coll. Lib., Waltham, Mass.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster; 1st edition (October 1, 1992)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 395 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0671768069
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0671768065
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.5 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 1.25 x 9.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,890,500 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,033 in History of Cuba (Books)
- #103,303 in World History (Books)
- #145,568 in United States History (Books)

Customer Reviews:
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Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on October 3, 2014

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Alex Diaz-Granados

The Missiles of Revisionism?

Reviewed in the United States on November 10, 2003

The trouble with history, particularly modern history, is that events can be interpreted and presented in different ways. Consider, for instance, the assasination of President John F. Kennedy. Some books, such as Jim Bishop's The Day Kennedy Was Shot and Gerald Posner's Case Closed, point the finger at Lee Harvey Oswald as the lone gunman. Others, such as David Lifton's Best Evidence, claim there was a vast conspiracy to shoot Kennedy in Dallas, Texas and to cover this violent coup d'etat up so Lyndon Johnson could be President and escalate the Vietnam War. I don't believe the conspiracy theorists and they'll never get a dime from me, but nevertheless there are plenty of people who do believe Lifton and his other "there was a second gunman in the grassy knoll" compadres. By taking a fact here, adding a supposition there, and by presenting information selectively to make it fit an author's particular slant, any historical event can be revised...even making outrageous claims seem very credible.
Of all the events in President Kennedy's 1,000 day administration (other than the tragedy at Dealey Plaza 40 years ago), perhaps the one that everyone remembers is the 13-day Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962. In most accounts, JFK is taken by surprise when U-2 spy planes photograph Soviet intermediate range ballistic missiles (IRBM's) being set up on the island of Cuba, only 90 miles away from U.S. shores. Galvanized by this bit of Soviet sleight of hand, the President and his advisers courageously mobilize American forces, improvise a non-invasive strategy of "quarantining" the communist-ruled island and stare down the wily Khruschev and make the Soviet leader decide between removing the missiles or starting a nuclear war.
I admit that I am not a scholar on the Cold War. I am also not an expert on Cuba or even the Kennedy clan. But when I read Robert Smith Thompson's The Missiles of October: The Declassified Story of John F. Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis, it soon became apparent that the author is not a fan of JFK. Indeed, Thompson says the familiar accounts of the crisis (as presented in the recent film Thirteen Days and most histories) is a myth.
By cleverly mixing a certain amount of "dirty laundry" related to Kennedy's political career, U.S. foreign policy vis a vis the Soviet Union, the massive political influence of the United Fruit Company in Washington, and even the TFX scandal of the early 1960s, Thompson states that not only did American foreign policy from 1945 on force the Soviet Union to take defensive measures of its own, but that Kennedy (who apparently ran a dirty campaign in 1960 with the assistance of old Joe Kennedy) knew of the Soviet missile buildup far before October 1962. JFK then, Thompson says, used the crisis for domestic political reasons.
Admittedly, Thompson, a professor who teaches foreign policy at the University of South Carolina, is a good prose writer and at times The Missiles of October reads like a technothriller. In the end, though, this book leaves behind a bitter aftertaste with its half-baked conspiracy theories centering on a crisis which could have ended in nuclear war.

2 people found this helpful

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Julian King

So That's Why they assassinated him.

Reviewed in the United States on February 21, 2002

With the release of the movie 'Eleven Days' and the holding of Al Queda prisoners at Cuba's Gauntanamo Bay, this story is very timely, despite being 40 years old.
Robert Thompson Smith pieces together the story of how the Cuban missile crisis unfolded and how it became resolved and the resolution may not be the way many of us understand it to be. Thompson Smith uses reports from the time and also official U.S. Government documents released in 1992 to give as true an account as possible about the secretive meetings between politicians, diplomats and bureaucrats. What I found most interesting was the decline of the relationship between the U.S., U.S.S.R and Cuba post WW2, which explains why the crisis developed in the first place. It also gives an excellen history of U.S./Cuban relations.
His writing style is humorous, if at times a little disjointed, and he's not afraid to make quips about a public figure's weight, personality or sexual activity (JFK in particular). It's one of those stories where even though you know what happens in the end you still are held in suspense, a credit to the authors ability to maintain the intrigue. There are comments and interpretations which have to be questioned given that we, nor the author, were there, but on the whole the author keeps an objective view on the situation. The aggressive nature of some of the military heirarchy and their willingness to go to war is astounding. No matter what you may think of Kennedy his ability to resist these advisors is admirable.
The only down side is that he seems to drag the early part of the crisis out, where the reader is keen to get into the nitty gritty we're still in the preliminaries at page 200. As a reader I was running out of steam by the end as there are so many names, places, dates and times it's hard not to be confused.
I will hand it to Thompson Smith as he finishes the story of the crisis with JFK landing in Dallas on November 22, 1963. Without any comment he leaves us with that and given all that was presented before we're left to think there were plenty of people who had motives to take part in Kennedy's assassination.

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