cover image MAXIMUM DANGER: Kennedy, the Missiles, and the Crisis of American Confidence

MAXIMUM DANGER: Kennedy, the Missiles, and the Crisis of American Confidence

Robert Weisbrot, . . Ivan R. Dee, $27.50 (288pp) ISBN 978-1-56663-392-5

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.