Cuban Missile Crisis - Elise Herrmannsfeldt

INTRO: These interviews are based on three different peoples experience during the Cuban Missile Crisis; a conflict between the US, Russia, and Cuba in 1962. During the month of October, nuclear weapons from both Cuba and the US were on the brink of being fired. During this conflict, the world came the closest it ever had to a nuclear war. The problem was resolved by President Kennedy, resulting in the removal of the missiles.

Interviews
*EH-Elise Herrmannsfeldt

Interview with Don Moore:
EH: How old were you and what was going on in your life during the Cuban Missile Crisis?
DM: I was a senior in college living in Ohio, 30 miles from Cleveland.
EH: What do you remember about hearing about the start of the crisis?
DM: I remember everyone was terrified after Kennedy announced that Russians were bringing weapons into Cuba. Since Japan had been bombed, everyone was afraid that there would be a World War III. Everyone was really paranoid…It was hard to know what was going on, what was really happening. It was a frightening thought that while nuclear weapons were supposed to be a deterrent to a nuclear war, they really could be used.
EH: How did the crisis affect daily life?
DM: Everyone was constantly glued to the TV for news about the crisis, especially whenever Kennedy spoke. We got together in these big groups and just watched the screen.
EH: How did you feel personally affected by the crisis?
DM: It seemed that we could be hit hard since we lived near Cleveland. Everything could just be wiped out in a moment. A nuclear war compared to just a conventional war was a big difference though. But I was a student as well so of course life had to go on. We still had to learn, to do work.
EH: How do you feel after the war was over? Did it blow over and did everyone just forget about it?
DM: Everyone was definitely aware of what a close encounter it had been and what it could have done to the world but being so young, we weren’t tuned into that kind of stuff as much as we probably should have been. Russia always seemed to be this huge threat until they finally fell. But the Soviets were still the enemy and everyone had way more weapons than anyone would every need, so fear was not gone completely. It just wasn’t as up front as it was during that week of the crisis.
EH: Do you remember the Bay of Pigs invasion and how Kennedy was humiliated? And do you remember what your thoughts of him were after he resolved the crisis?
DM: Well, I don’t remember much but he sort of seemed to have been forced into it by all his military personnel and I didn’t really see him as any sort of failure for what happened during the Bay of Pigs invasion. When he fired a bunch of people and brought his brother Robert Kennedy in, he seemed to correct what had happened. Looking back, what happened them seemed to tune him up for when he had to deal with the missile crisis. I don’t think you can really know how a president will handle something before they actually do, and when Kennedy came out on top and dealt with the crisis successfully…well he certainly prepared himself even after his previous failure in Cuba.

Interview with Karen Lee
EH: How old were you when the crisis occurred?
KL: I was fifteen and I was living in Denmark, where I grew up.
EH: What do you remember?
KL: I didn’t usually read the news paper but there was such a huge headline that read “Will There Be War Now?” that was impossible to avoid. I read it and it talked about the United States and the USSR and their conflicts. What could happen.
EH: You lived in a country that was not directly involved in the crisis. How did that figure in?
KL: We weren’t so much afraid that we would be nuked like the Americans, that wasn’t what we were concerned about so much as being dragged into the war by the US because Denmark was a member of NATO. We didn’t want war, which is why it seemed to affect us as well.
How did you feel about the superpowers?
KL: We were ambivalent towards both Russia and the US because they both posed a risk to our country. Even a US response was frightening. In addition, we were located so close to Russia and they wanted to take land states to give them access to the Atlantic. It threatened the existence of Denmark, which was very small. Only five million people.
EH: How did you feel during the week of the crisis?
KL: I was not too old, but all the adults were talking about it. There was all this uncertainty but to me war seemed so impossible. I didn’t really think anything that big could happen.
EH: And then how did you feel at the end, when the crisis was over?
KL: It was a big sigh of relief for the world including Denmark.
EH: Did you have any sort of opinion of Kennedy? Did you know about his failure in the Bay of Pigs invasion and then see him as a hero after he resolved the missile crisis?
KL: We never saw him as a failure. Everyone in Denmark loved him and especially Jackie Kennedy. She made the US seem so sophisticated and cultured. More European. And even back when Kennedy was running against Nixon for presidency, we all loved Kennedy and wanted him to win.
EH: What was on your mind during the days before the crisis was resolved?
KL: We were just concerned for war. We weren’t actually in danger of being bombed like the US was but we were afraid of a World War III as well.

Interview with David Arms
EH: How old were you when the crisis occurred?
DA: I was sixteen, but I was a senior in high school. I was living in Washington DC though at the time…I remember sitting around the television…everyone was watching Kennedy on that screen. For his address to the nation.
EH: What else do you remember about finding out about the missile situation?
DA: Well, he gave this big long speech. But what was m ore interesting was that he laid out all the information. Everything. They had photos of the missiles and everything; they didn’t seem to be hiding anything back. It was really nice, though that they didn’t keep what was going on so hidden; all the information was laid out at once. It was neat, like the government wasn’t hiding any secrets from the public. I just remember everyone was really scared though. They told us about the blockade then too. It was so chaotic though, we really thought one day we would just be bombed.
EH: I read that some people moved away, further out of range from the missiles. Did you anyone that did something like that?
DA: No, not really. It wasn’t that kind of panic. Everyone was just really nervous. No running and screaming, just so much tension in the air. Lots of uncertainty.
EH: How did you feel personally effected?
DA: Well, of course I was really worried, and it seemed like if they would use the missiles, the first place they would target would be the capital. But I don’t know…the idea that there was really nothing we could do about it, the whole crisis was so far out of anyone’s control. Any citizen like me, anyway. But even though they laid out all the information about Cuba and all that, it was only years later that we realized how close the world really was to a nuclear war.
EH: What do you remember about the end of the crisis?
DA: Well, we were all really relived that they Russian ships didn’t try and get past the blockade. Because if they had, there would have been all these repercussions…it would have been bad. The US government would have to retaliate and all that. I mean, they had to enforce it but the stakes were just so high at the same time.
EH: Do you remember the Bay of Pigs invasion?
DA: Oh yeah. Well not as well really. That was the year before the Cuban crisis, so I was fifteen. I still lived in Washington DC…I don’t remember . It’s a bit vague.
EH: Do you remember that it was a failure? And Kennedy was brand new and he was a bit humiliated?
DA: Oh, I mean sure. Kennedy went through some rough times, but I never thought badly of him. I worked for him, you know? On his campaign. I stuffed his envelopes. And I saw him in parades. He was a pretty public figure.
EH: You saw the real Kennedy? First hand?
DA: Oh yeah, he was in tons of these parades, about once every week. I was rooting for him from the start. I always thought he was great, always. And then after he fixed the problems in Cuba, he was even better. If that was possible. But everyone loved Kennedy, he was so charismatic. And really young too, a great figurehead for the country.
EH: What were your views on Russia?
DA: They were…the bad guys. In those days, they were really…In the early sixties, they just had this huge, really massive empire. The United States wasn’t as big as it is today, now that Russia’s gone. But they just had this totalitarian regime.
EH: What was on your mind during the crisis?
DA: I mean, we still had to go to school and all that. We had all these air raid drills for nuclear bombs and all that.
EH: Like an earthquake drill?
DA: Well, not for an earthquake. For a nuclear bomb. We had to go under the desks and we’d all come into school dressed in uniforms. We’d be like the National Guard.
EH: You mean like military uniforms?
DA: Yeah, they had these parades and they prepared all these kids for going into the army. Because back then, that’s what we did. But we saw all these things, like in school. My vision of a nuclear bomb was where they put all these people into one really concentrated area and then dropped a bomb. I don’t know why, maybe I saw it on television or something like that. But at that time, nuclear war was very very real. Everyone thought about it in those days. They always did these bomb tests and it seemed like war could erupt at any minute. It was a really unstable time. Unstable relations between governments.