A
tense, 13-day political and military standoff in October 1962 over the
installation of nuclear-armed Soviet missiles on Cuba, just 90 miles from U.S.
shores.
____________________
When
Richard Nixon ran for president against John Kennedy in 1960, I was 9 years
old, but very involved in the election hoopla.
Everyone in Salt Lake was, as Kennedy, being catholic was seen as a religious threat to the Mormons. My parents let me stay up to watch the first
debate on our black and white television. It was a big deal. I remember my grandmother asking me who I thought won
and I told her Kennedy. “So did I,” she responded. When my classroom voted that November, Kennedy got two votes. I voted for Nixon. That was the first and only time, though this is not pertinent either.
In October 1962, President Kennedy was scheduled to come to Salt Lake and speak in the
Tabernacle. Because I begged, my father decided to take me to
hear him. Dressed up in my Sunday clothes, I was waiting for dad to fetch me
after work when he called and said Kennedy canceled the visit. It turned out
missiles had been installed on an island, Cuba, just 90 miles away from the
United States. The President had to stay in Washington and work this all out.
I
have not been able to verify that this really happened; maybe if I got into the
archives of the local papers I would know for sure, or maybe I dreamed it. I do know
there were a lot of nights I dreamt of missiles flying from Cuba and landing in my
backyard. That was growing up as a boomer. Kennedy did re-schedule and spoke in the Mormon Tabernacle on September 26th, 1963. I got a standing ovation for pledging to end the arms race, but I didn't get to go.
Two months later the President
was dead, Lyndon Johnson was in charge, and all the news shifted from Cuba, and
bombs to Viet Nam. With headlines focused on South Asia, it’s easy to
understand how I never noticed that the U.S. Army had installed a weapon testing
site in Green River, Utah and was firing Athena missiles down across areas of Arches
and Canyonlands to impact zones in White Sands, New Mexico.