All language subtitles for S01E06 - Crisis (January 1962 - October 1962)

- I, John Fitzgerald
Kennedy, do solemnly swear

that I will faithfully execute

the Office of President
of the United States.

- He was instantly
overwhelmed by it.

There were crises mounting.

- The African
Americans are asking

the federal government
to do its job.

- With Bobby and John Kennedy,

if you don't have
the Freedom Rides,

they don't start moving
to a position where

they are going to support
the Civil Rights movement.

- The idea we could
get into a nuclear war

during the '60s was very real.

- And we shall be
remembered either

as part of the generation
that turned this planet

into a flaming funeral pyre,

or the generation
that met its vow

to save succeeding generations
from the scourge of war.

- To lead us to a
fruitful America

from the state of Massachusetts,

John F. Kennedy.

- John F. Kennedy lived
a life that would help

define an entire generation.

- Together we shall
save our planet,

or together we shall
perish in its flames.

- What was it about that guy?

- Looks, style,

empathy, he was
incredibly charming.

- Intellectual, and progressive.

- He was the
future. He was next.

- President for just
over 1,000 days,

Kennedy navigated events and
crises that changed the world.

- Kennedy is
feeling the pressure

from the Civil Rights activists.

- This was a country
on nuclear war footing.

- This could be the
last mistake that

anybody makes politically.

- He changed us in the
process of his own growth.

- We choose to go to
the moon in this decade

and do the other things,
not because they are easy,

but because they are hard.

- 60 years after
his assassination,

we are still fascinated
by the triumphs

and flaws of the youngest
president ever elected.

- I ask you to join us in all
the tomorrows yet to come,

in building America,
moving America,

taking this country of ours up,
and sending it into the '60s.

- After only one year, it
was clear the White House

had a new, modern, and
youthful atmosphere,

invigorated by music,

the arts, and the
contemporary style.

Jackie later admired
the unique atmosphere

of the Kennedy White House,
comparing it to Camelot.

- He and Jackie created a court.

There was a court of Camelot.

- Kennedy is young and handsome.

He dresses very well.

His wife is a beautiful woman,

dresses in designer
gowns and clothes.

They begin to throw
parties and soirees

and receptions that have
great wine and entertainment.

- I would go to the White
House if they had any sort

of an affair going on.

The room was full, and
the music was playing.

One of the senator's wives
walked over to the president,

said, Mr. President,
would you like to dance?

And he said, I would love to.

And so they walked away,

and I'm standing there
next to Jackie Kennedy.

And after about 30
seconds, she looks at me

and says, damn it, Lieutenant,
don't just stand there.

Dance with me.

And so I danced
with Jackie Kennedy.

- 31 is very young
to be first lady.

- She also understood that
culture was very important,

and she wanted to
make the White House

a center for these
great cultural events.

- The White House celebrated
American leadership

in the arts and sciences alike.

In 1962, they held events
whose guests ranged from

the father of the atomic
bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer,

to poet Robert Frost,
to singer Tony Bennett.

- Shakespeare's
plays are performed.

Jackie introduces a
French culinary menu

to White House state dinners.

There is a new appreciation
for the artist in society.

- If sometimes our great artists

have been the most
critical of our society,

it is because their sensitivity.

Their concern for
justice makes them aware

that our nation falls short
of its highest potential.

- Long before Camelot
is called Camelot,

they have created a
celebrity of their own.

- Upon moving into the
White House in January 1961,

Jackie began an
ambitious project,

working to renovate and
restore the historic building

she called home.

- She can't believe all
these ugly Victorian mirrors

and this kind of
ersatz furniture.

You know, where's
all the real stuff?

And she goes and finds a lot
of the pieces of furniture

were just laying on dirt
floors in a warehouse.

And it was appalling to her.

And so she made that
her life's work.

- This house will
always grow and should.

It just seemed to
me such a shame

when we came here to
find hardly anything

of the past in the house.

- And even today, much
of the White House

reflects Jackie's
redesign of it.

It reflects Jackie's
aesthetic in so many ways.

- You know, his wife was
this cultured, articulate,

multidimensional person,

who also happened to
be an incredible mom.

- John F. Kennedy's
love for his children

was a reflection of
his love for family.

The Kennedy family was tight.

- Jackie tried to protect
her children's privacy,

but photos of them were
often published in the media.

- They would occasionally come
running into the Oval Office.

- Good evening,
ladies and gentlemen.

I'm speaking to you
from the White House.

- Dad.
- Wait a minute, John.

Wait a sec.

Don't say anything, because
I've got to give this speech.

Would you just sit down over
there now and be a good boy?

Come on, now, be a good boy.

- While Kennedy continued to
enjoy the good-natured chaos

of his family in
the White House,

come February, the nation's eyes

were once again
focused on the skies.

- Behind this day stands
years of preparation.

- When NASA selected its
first group of astronauts,

the Mercury Seven, in
the spring of 1959,

only one of them was already
famous, and it was John Glenn.

He'd been a test pilot.

And he had become something of
a celebrity in the late 1950s

when he set a
transcontinental speed record

flying from Los
Angeles to New York

in a little over three hours.

The first two Americans
who went into space,

Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom,

flew on what were called

ballistic flights or
suborbital flights.

They went up, and they
came down, 15 minutes.

As it turned out, being
bypassed for the first flight

and the second flight
actually allowed

Glenn to become the first
American to orbit the Earth.

- Shepherd went up, came
down, and he became a hero.

And Kennedy now recognized,

any Mercury astronaut I put up,

it's going to be seen
as a Kennedy astronaut,

a Kennedy cadet.

And the public loves it, and
my public ratings go sky high.

By the time we're putting
up John Glenn in '62,

the world's leaning in,

watching what's going
on at Cape Canaveral.

- If I use the talents and
capabilities I happen to have

been given to the
best of my ability,

I think there is a
power greater than I am

that will certainly see
that I am taken care of,

if I do my part of the bargain.

- Fine to start VPI on...

- On February 20, 1962,

Kennedy and more than
100 million Americans

gathered around television
screens and radios,

awaiting news of Lieutenant
Colonel John Glenn,

the first American
to orbit the Earth.

- Mercury capsule, go.
All prestart power...

- Glenn, a Midwesterner,
who flew 150 combat missions

in World War II and Korea,

was about to make
history at age 40.

- All recorders to
fast T minus 18 seconds

and counting engine start.

- Good, Lord, ride all the way.

Godspeed, John Glenn.

- After circling the
Earth three times,

Glenn landed safely in
the ocean near Bermuda.

- John Glenn of
Ohio, he doesn't just

go to the White House
or have parades for him.

He'll go all over the
world as an ambassador.

His Friendship 7 capsule
tours the planet,

and people wait up
like they would to see

something rare in the Louvre.

- This is Colonel Glenn.

- Oh, listen, Colonel,
we're really proud of you.

And I must say, you
did a wonderful job.

- Thank you, Mr. President.

- Kennedy has turned
the space race

into what, in many ways, it is.

It's a great adventure.

- Glenn's flight was a
triumphant step for a nation

determined to go to the moon.

However, Kennedy knew
this accomplishment

did not lessen the looming
threat of the Cold War.

In 1962, he would
need to be vigilant

as the Soviet Union
attempted to best

the United States here on Earth.

- As he had in his
youth, Kennedy continued

to read feverishly during
his time in office.

In mid-1962, as excitement
over astronaut John Glenn's

achievement continued,
Kennedy's imagination

was caught by a
best-selling book,

Barbara Tuckman's
"The Guns of August."

The book chronicles the events

that led to World
War I and documents

how easily missteps
and miscalculations

spiraled out of control.

- If you're a president
burned in your first major

foreign policy initiative,

a book about how
little mistakes,

miscommunications,
or small steps

can lead into terrible mistakes,

it's going to be attractive.

I think that's why it was
attractive to Kennedy.

- Kennedy felt so
strongly about the book

and its analysis of
global conflicts,

that he distributed copies
to his staff and his generals

as a reading assignment.

To Kennedy, the themes
of "The Guns of August"

could not be more relevant.

On October 30, 1961,

the Soviet Union tested
the largest nuclear bomb

in history, at 58 megatons.

It was 4,000 times larger
than the bomb in Hiroshima.

The Soviet explosion
was so violent,

it shattered windows
over 500 miles away.

- The Soviet Union callously
broke the moratorium

with a two months' series of
tests of more than 40 weapons.

In response to the
escalating Soviet program,

Kennedy announced
the United States

would restart its
nuclear testing.

- I have today authorized
the Atomic Energy Commission

and the Department of Defense

to conduct a series
of nuclear tests.

- Both Kennedy and Khrushchev
controlled nuclear arsenals

capable of killing millions

and rendering the
world uninhabitable.

As this reality set
in, the themes from

"The Guns of August" rang clear.

The book made explicit that
patience and clear thinking

were key to preventing
another world war.

- In essence, there was no
way to fight a nuclear war

on a small scale.

Invariably, it was going to
lead to global destruction.

And by the mid-1950s,
that was the case.

So when Kennedy comes
into office as president,

he realizes that the moment

the first mushroom
cloud appears,

it's game over.

And I mean that for
all of civilization.

- The themes explored
in "The Guns of August"

would have a pivotal role in
the conflict on the horizon.

Dealing with the ongoing
threat of a nuclear disaster,

there was one place that
offered comfort and stability

to Kennedy, Hyannis Port.

Like many Americans, the
president and his family

eagerly awaited their vacation.

Because of her
equestrian background,

Jackie preferred
trips to Virginia,

with the scenic Blue
Ridge Mountains.

While Jackie rode her
horses or sunbathed,

and John Junior
explored the grounds,

four-year-old Caroline
played with Macaroni,

the Pony gifted to her by
Vice President Lyndon Johnson.

While Virginia was a
beautiful destination,

as far as Kennedy was concerned,

it was no Hyannis Port.

Hyannis Port was
where he had grown up,

where his family was situated,

and of course, there was water.

- He just loved the Atlantic
seaboard and the Coast.

Part of it, it soothed him.

It was like medicine for him.

And Jackie, his wife, knew that.

She'd drawn watercolors
of the Coast for him.

And even in key
moments of decision,

he would draw sailboats.

That seafaring tradition
of John F. Kennedy

is, I think, a big part of him.

- For him, being on the water
was natural and relaxing.

It was only so long before it
was back to the White House.

September 30, 1962,

another crisis
flared in the ongoing

American Civil Rights struggle.

James Meredith, an
African American man,

attempted to enroll
at the all white

University of Mississippi.

- I think Mississippi
is the hardest

of the hard-core
segregationist states.

- James Meredith applied to
the University of Mississippi

in January 1961, but
was denied admission.

With the help of the
NAACP Legal Defense Fund,

Meredith filed a lawsuit
against the University,

alleging racial discrimination.

In September 1962,
the U.S. Supreme Court

ruled in Meredith's favor.

- James Meredith had
talked about taking on

this whole barrier
of white supremacy

when he was a student
at Jackson State.

But it's a whole nother
thing different in terms of

filling out this application

and then going through
this entire process,

that he actually went
through to integrate

the University of Mississippi.

- Trying to integrate
a notoriously

all white University was a
life-threatening endeavor.

Meredith knew the danger
he was putting himself in,

but he was determined to
enroll at the University.

- And he understood
that from day one,

that you can't be
average to do this.

You've got to be willing to say,

hey, if I'm going to start
this, I cannot give up.

I've got to stick
through it the whole way.

And if it costs me my
life, it costs me my life.

- James Meredith had
been granted admission

to the University
of Mississippi.

But the process of
enrolling would not be easy.

In the fall of 1962,

Mississippi Governor
Ross Barnett

defied federal
rulings and personally

interfered with
Meredith's attempts

to register on campus.

- He was a die-hard
segregationist,

and he was militantly opposed
to Meredith's entrance.

- They say now they're
enthusiastically supporting

this platform, and
they're going to integrate

all of the schools by 1963.

And that's something
that we just can't take.

- Governor Barnett

and Attorney General
Robert Kennedy

reached a deal to allow
Meredith to enroll.

However, on September 30, 1962,

when Meredith arrived on campus,

escorted by U.S.
marshals who were sent

by the Kennedy administration,

a racist mob was
waiting for him.

- And it's a federal presence
on the campus at Ole Miss,

with people ready for this,
coming in from other states,

crowding the campus
to resist and fight

the entry of Meredith.

- Meredith was quickly
moved into a dormitory

for his own protection
as the conflicts

between the violent mob
and federal marshals

came to a head.

- Meredith's on campus.
He's gone in secretly.

He's in his dorm
room. He's safe.

And the order is
given to the marshals

not to shoot unless
it is to protect

the life of James Meredith.

So a full-scale riot breaks out,

with the mob targeting
the marshals.

- White mobs began
lobbing bricks and acid

at federal marshals stationed
outside the University's

Lyceum building.

The marshals
responded by throwing

tear gas into the crowds.

- It was as though they had

you know, swatted a beehive.

And once tear gas now is shot,
canisters are thrown back.

And then once it becomes dark,

and then people
began to shoot guns.

And the marshals now,
several marshals are wounded.

- Soon the mobs grew
to hundreds in size.

- State police had
blocked the campus.

Nobody could get on the
campus without an ID.

But hundreds of these
Klansmen, hate groups,

were masked here in
Oxford off campus,

ready to take up the fight.

- At the height of the riots,

the mob tried to gain
control of vehicles,

like fire trucks,
which they intended

to ram into the crowds
of demonstrators.

- 14, 13, 14-year-old kids
picking up concrete blocks,

throwing them at us.

- It was just crazy.

I stayed out there on the edge
of watching it from a distance

until I realized I could
get killed out here

because so many bullets
are flying around.

- And then Kennedy is
made aware of all of this.

- Kennedy worked to
bring about order,

speaking to Barnett on the
phone from the White House.

- The governor refused to
follow up with firm efforts

to help quell the
violence in Oxford.

Amidst the chaos,
Kennedy activated

the Mississippi National Guard.

The violence continued
unabated for hours

and well into the early
morning of October 1st,

when federal troops finally
arrived and crushed the riot.

Two people were killed,
hundreds were wounded,

and many were arrested
during the riots.

At last, on October 1, 1962,

Meredith was able to
register for courses.

He was the first
African American student

registered at the
University of Mississippi.

- When you have that
kind of tenacity,

and you've got
internal fortitude,

you've got this courage.

He's a tremendous model

for what it means
to be an American.

- James Meredith's integration

at the University of
Mississippi showed Kennedy

the deadly consequences

of trying to negotiate with
figures like Ross Barnett.

In the future,
his administration

would have to be
quicker, more vigilant,

and less patient

to prevent chaos
like that of Oxford.

- He was cautious.

I think on a lot of issues,

Kennedy was very hesitant
to take bold action.

He was scared of either overseas

causing a problem
that would turn

into a major and
deadly conflict.

And here in the States,
he was often scared

to use his political capital.

He was worried
about re-election.

He was worried about
angering conservatives

in his own party.

- Kennedy was not, by
nature, a big risk taker.

But he was by nature
a responsible leader.

He was one of those
that took a long time

to make a decision.

- You know, caution
has its limits,

and it can be
incredibly problematic.

But I think there is something
to it that's important,

even when the
stakes are intense,

and deadly, and
every minute counts.

- Over time, Kennedy would
learn the presidency could

only be a tool for change if
the one who held the office

had the courage to act.

And soon, a situation in
Cuba would force his hand.

- Just weeks after the crisis

at the University
of Mississippi,

the world was catapulted into

the most dangerous
chapter in its history.

As early as August 1962,

director of Central
Intelligence John McCone

began to receive unusual
intelligence reports.

These reports
described Russian ships

transporting Soviet soldiers
and technicians to Cuba,

which was governed by
dictator Fidel Castro.

- The Cuban Coast was only
90 miles from Florida.

- Many Soviet ships were
crossing the Atlantic.

That was, you
know, very obvious.

We were tracking the ships,
and it soon became clear

that they were not just
taking agricultural equipment

and food supplies to Cuba.

They were taking
military equipment.

And we picked up from
electronic intelligence

signals the fact that
they were deploying

a anti-aircraft system all
around the periphery of Cuba.

- On August 22, it
was reported that

as many as 20 Soviet
vessels may have arrived

in Cuba with military cargo.

- These new shipments
do not constitute

a serious threat to any other
part of this hemisphere.

If, at any time, the
Communist buildup in Cuba

were to endanger or interfere
with our security in any way

or become an offensive military
base of significant capacity

for the Soviet Union,
then this country

will do whatever must be done
to protect its own security

and that of its allies.

It is under our most
careful surveillance.

- That became a debate
in the U.S. government,

actually, largely between
the head of the CIA

and other people in
the government about

what the Soviets were up to.

And then the U.S. also
had people on the ground

who were sending reports
back to Washington

about these strange objects
that were trundling through

Cuban towns, you know,
long, tube-like things.

Career people in the
CIA didn't believe

that Khrushchev would
gamble so heavily

as to send nuclear
missiles to Cuba.

They thought this was some other
kind of military equipment.

- And the only way to
check its reliability

was by sending U-2 spy planes.

- The Americans, of
course, were flying

U-2 high altitude spy
aircraft over Cuba routinely.

- There's an area that's
not far from Havana,

where a spy has
provided information

that is very, very worrisome.

And so the intelligence
community convinces

Bobby Kennedy, who was the
president's representative

on the group that decides
these U-2 flights,

convinces him and convinces
the National Security Advisor

McGeorge Bundy to take the
risk of one more flight.

- They sent a U-2 over Cuba.

They took photographs and
were able to measure precisely

the length of these tubes.

And they discovered
that they were,

in fact, nuclear missiles.

This material was being
shipped to Cuba by the Soviets

for two main reasons...

to defend Castro and his
regime against another attack

like the Bay of Pigs,

and to retaliate against
the United States.

The U.S. had Jupiter
missiles stationed

in Turkey within firing
distance of the Soviet Union.

And the Soviet Premier decided
it was time to even the score.

- The missiles
looks like the way

to deal with both problems,
the issue of the losing

the arms race to
the United States

and establish his
position as the leader

of the Communist world.

- For the Soviet Union

to have a Communist government

90 miles from the United States

in the Western hemisphere

was a tremendous advantage.

- He was just simply fed
up with seeing America

kind of flex its muscles.

The way he thought
he would get even

was to station nuclear missiles

right next to the
United States in Cuba.

So he thought he could
push Kennedy around.

- The CIA estimated
that there were

10,000 Soviet troops in Cuba.

There were 42,000.

- Khrushchev saw his

secret deployment
of missiles to Cuba

as the most dramatic

and potentially
successful action

of his entire career.

- The United States government
now had definitive proof

from hundreds of photographs
taken by U.S. spy planes

that the Soviets were installing

missile launching sites in Cuba.

The photos showed a series
of newly-built installations

in the Cuban countryside.

The man who took these
photos, Major Richard Heiser,

later remarked that he was
worried his photographs

would start a war.

On October 15, the CIA
observed launchers, missiles,

and transport trucks
amid active construction

at the launching sites.

Shipments to the island
included nuclear weapons

within firing distance
of major U.S. cities,

like Washington, DC,
and New York City.

The might of Soviet
nuclear power

was now on America's doorstep.

- On the morning of the 16th,

Kennedy's National Security
Advisor McGeorge Bundy

knocks on his bedroom
door and says,

we've discovered
missiles in Cuba.

- What had seemed impossible
was now a stark reality.

- Kennedy creates a committee
of his closest advisors,

which they call the
Executive Committee

of the National Security
Council, or the EXCOMM.

- Too much aggression
could start a war,

but doing nothing
was not an option.

Kennedy had a choice to make...

attack the Soviet missile
sites, launch an invasion,

or install a blockade
around the island.

- There were some in the
Kennedy administration,

notably Curtis LeMay,
who was advocating,

we just need to bomb Cuba.

We need to attack and
wipe out these missiles

before they can
become operational.

- According to Ted Sorensen,
Vice President Lyndon Johnson

voiced his support for bombing.

- The Joint Chiefs of Staff are
unified in their determination

that we should bomb
and we should invade.

And they keep pressing
that position.

- Kennedy was worried
because the blockade

didn't remove the missiles
that were already there.

The blockade would only prevent

more missiles from coming there.

He's holding out the possibility

of launching an airstrike.

But he goes to the
Air Force and he says,

can you assure me that
you can get all of them?

And they say to him, we
have, for the records,

no, Mr. President, we can't.

Secondly, we don't know
if we will actually

hit all the targets in
our first airstrike.

And then Kennedy asked, well,
what happens if you don't?

And they say to him,
about 30 million people

in the southeast of the
United States are in jeopardy.

- The first thing
that I think about

when I think about the
Cuban Missile Crisis

is how much worse
the situation was

than the people
at the time knew.

- Kennedy's administration did
not know that Soviet missiles

were already prepared to fire.

- Now, can you imagine
our 90,000 troops

hitting the beaches,
parachuting in,

and being blown off the beaches

by tactical nuclear weapons?

How could the United States
not respond in some way?

And then how could the
Soviets not respond

to the United States' response?

- This was...

this was not just
the last mistake

he would make politically.

This was... could
be the last mistake

that anybody makes politically.

- It would have been very easy

for a "Guns of
August" situation,

where this escalates quickly
into a nuclear confrontation.

And there's lessons we can take,

even without romanticizing

how perfect Kennedy
was during this.

One is the importance
of deliberation.

I mean, it is remarkable
that the president,

in these moments of
heightened crisis,

doesn't always act first.

He thinks. He
listens. He analyzes.

- Had he been impatient,

he would have gone with
his first instinct,

which was the first
instinct of his advisors.

But he looked at
Khrushchev not as a madman,

but as a fellow politician

who has gotten himself
in a pretty rough spot.

And it is my job, Jack Kennedy,

president of the United States,

to help him get
out of this place.

And I need to do it patiently.

- I think we were very
lucky that it was Kennedy.

Because there's no
question in my mind

that whether it was Johnson
or Nixon or Eisenhower,

they would have invaded Cuba.

- And Kennedy was not
convinced that a blockade

would lead to the Soviets
withdrawing their missiles.

There was no reason
to believe that.

But he recognized, and
that's what makes him

such an interesting leader.

He recognized that he
had no better options.

- A blockade could be considered

a declaration of war.

But Kennedy saw it as
the best path forward.

With the president's decision
made and millions of lives

on the line, the two
most powerful countries

in the world stared each other
down at point blank range.

- We stood on the
brink of a nuclear war.

We could not be certain
what the Soviet response

would be to the actions
taken by the president.

There were times when it
looked as though it would be

a violent response,
in which case

he was determined to go
ahead, come what may.

- One of the problems, when
we think about nuclear war,

is the fact that we've only
ever seen nuclear bombs

used twice during war,

once in Hiroshima
and once in Nagasaki.

And the reality is, in 1945,
those were two comparatively

tiny, experimental
prototype weapons,

that did, yes, of course,
devastating amount of damage...

about a radius of four
miles of Hiroshima

was wiped off the map.

But 20 years later,
by the 1960s,

nuclear weapons had become
exponentially more powerful.

These weren't city
killers anymore,

as the Hiroshima bomb was.

These were country killers.

- Instead of 20,000
tons of TNT equivalent,

you're talking about 30
or 40 million tons of TNT.

So the destructive power
of this stuff was enormous.

The ability to deliver
it through missiles

meant that the warning
time was a matter

of minutes, not hours.

- If we begin this blockade,

then we will continue
the surveillance.

I would anticipate two
or three things... first,

that Khrushchev will make
a statement that any attack

upon Cuba will be
regarded as an attack

upon the Soviet Union
and be responded to

by all the weapons at
their command, number one.

Number two is we have to assume,

that as this surveillance
continues, with the U-2s,

that these SAM sites
may shoot one down.

At that point,
then, we were just

discussing what
action we will take

in attacking the SAM site.

So I would assume
that this will only

be the first of a rather...

of an increasing
number of steps.

We're not going to be in
any position to carry out

an invasion for
some days because

we have to move those troops
around from San Diego.

But we're going to do all
those things, and as I say,

we can anticipate that it
will be getting more intense.

- In the words of
writer Mark Twain,

history doesn't repeat
itself, but it often rhymes.

As speechwriter Ted Sorensen
prepared Kennedy's speech

on the Cuban Missile Crisis,
he referenced Woodrow Wilson's

World War I and Franklin
Roosevelt's World War II

declaration of war speeches.

Sorensen drafted each word
with the utmost caution.

Like the Bay of Pigs
the year before,

a dark cloud of
stress and anxiety

settled over the White House.

During discussions,

Kennedy turned to his old rival,

now Senate Majority
Whip Hubert Humphrey.

If I'd known the job was
this tough, said Kennedy,

I wouldn't have beaten
you in West Virginia.

After days of preparation,
including countless meetings

with his brother
Bobby, Ted Sorensen,

and other close advisors,
Kennedy decided it was time

to address the nation
as the country prepared

for a full-scale nuclear war.

- In terms of how
dangerous the situation is,

and at this point, we were at
one step from going to war.

- On the evening of October 22,

Kennedy sat behind his
desk in the Oval Office,

surrounded by cameras
and members of the press.

Finally, he spoke.

- Good evening, my
fellow citizens.

This government, as promised,
has maintained the closest

surveillance of the
Soviet military buildup

on the island of Cuba.

Within the past week,
unmistakable evidence

has established the
fact that a series

of offensive missile sites
is now in preparation

on that imprisoned island.

My fellow citizens,
let no one doubt

that this is a difficult
and dangerous effort

on which we have set out.

Many months of sacrifice and
self-discipline lie ahead,

months in which
both our patience

and our will will be tested.

- I have directed the
armed forces to prepare

for any eventuality.

- That's the only time I felt
as though it could be over.

- The two sides were
close to nuclear war.

- We must labor on,

not towards a strategy
of annihilation,

but towards a strategy of peace.

- Kennedy is
feeling the pressure

from the Civil Rights activists.

- I say, segregation now,

segregation tomorrow,

and segregation forever.

- George Wallace says,
I will bar James Hood

and Vivian Malone from this
citadel of white supremacy,

the University of Alabama.