:10:01
this triumph of Socialist solidarity
:10:04
and trade his missiles in Cuba
:10:06
for our status in West Berlin.
:10:08
Why should he settle for West Berlin?
:10:11
We're in the right place-
right down the line;
:10:13
NATO, Turkey, Greece, Italy.
:10:15
Just a moment, the missiles in Cuba
:10:17
will have some psychological effect, yes,
:10:19
I grant you that, but I don't see that
they profoundly threaten us,
:10:22
or our allies.
:10:23
We have the basic first strike
and the retaliatory superiority.
:10:27
A few missiles are not going to
change the basic balance of power.
:10:32
General Taylor?
:10:35
In fact, our nuclear deterrent
is in jeopardy and in range.
:10:41
I don't concede that.
:10:42
We have sack bombers,
missile sites all along
:10:44
our southern underbelly
within easy range of Cuba.
:10:47
A missile is a missile,
:10:48
it doesn't make much difference
whether you're killed
:10:50
by one fired from the Soviet Union
or from Cuba.
:10:53
Sir, the difference is
that our warning time
:10:54
is reduced from 15 minutes to 30 seconds.
:10:59
Now, nobody knows if they can
hit a target
:11:01
at a range of 6,000 miles,
but they can't miss from Cuba.
:11:06
Mr. President, we have to move quickly
:11:09
before the missiles become operational.
:11:11
Now, we have the capability to
deploy and hit with quick,
:11:13
accurate air strike.
:11:15
Hit them in Russia, or hit them in Cuba?
:11:16
Hit Cuba, with surgical air strikes.
:11:20
This communist move
is directly threatening
:11:23
the security of the
United States of America.
:11:29
I don't see that there's any alternative.
:11:32
Mac?
:11:33
Is difficult to construct a scenario
:11:35
in which you compromise with
nuclear warheads.
:11:41
Mr. President, I don't know that I can
:11:43
contribute anything except my feeling
:11:47
that there must be an alternative
to bombing,
:11:50
an alternative to war.
:11:53
Mr. Attorney General.
:11:55
Khrushchev promised we had nothing
to fear in Cuba.
:11:57
Gromyko echoed him,
and Dobrynin told me privately
:11:59
he reiterated, we need not be concerned.