In Our Back Yard?
In the current invasion of Ukraine, Russia has threatened to employ tactical nuclear weapons. The risk that Russia might launch nuclear missiles toward Ukraine, or one of its allies, reminds me of a time during the Cold War. In the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1963, the United States learned from satellite photos that the Soviet Union was building nuclear missile launch sites in Cuba.
Our President, John F. Kennedy, promptly dispatched navy ships to form a blockade around Cuba and prevent the Soviet ships from transporting their missiles. This resulted in a very tense ten-day stand-off between the US and Russia. No one knew how it would end, but nuclear war seemed like a strong possibility. My wife Jo Anne and I were 23 years old, and we, like many Americans, were scared.
We were so sacred that we packed our suitcases, left our one-bedroom apartment near Santa Monica, and drove North for greater safety. We had no destination in mind.
When COVID first appeared in 2020 I felt a similar need to escape. Of course, with COVID, there was nowhere to go but to shelter at home. Perhaps that was also true in 1963, but I always feel better when I’m taking action and not just worrying.
Jo Anne and I drove around aimlessly for a few hours, ending up in Oxnard, California, about forty miles from where we started. We spent the night at the same motel we had stayed in on our wedding night two years before.
The following day the Soviet Union blinked and turned their ships around. Crisis averted. Everyone returned home.
We did not know at the time that JFK had secretly agreed to a deal – in exchange for the removal of the missiles from Cuba, he would remove U.S. missiles threatening the Soviet Union from launch pads in Turkey.
But what I discovered after returning to our apartment in 1963 was even more scary.
The motel we had chosen to hide in for safety was located a few blocks from the Oxnard Air Force base that would have been a prime target for Soviet nuclear missiles, if any had actually been launched.
From this experience I learned that sometimes the best response to a threatening situation is not to react but to do nothing.
The trick, of course, is to know, without the benefit of hindsight, which alternative to choose.
Alan