:05:01
The American blockade against our country
:05:05
is an act of war.
:05:07
It is the use of force by a great power
:05:09
against the independence of our home.
:05:11
Also prohibited to Cuba are
any other class of material
:05:15
hereafter designated by
the Secretary of Defense
:05:17
for the purpose of effectuating
this proclamation.
:05:20
We shall resist these illegal measures
:05:22
of North American imperialism.
:05:25
The reply of our people and
of our government
:05:28
to the United States has been
general mobilization.
:05:46
What did Castro hope to gain
by having his country
:05:48
converted into a sitting duck
missile base?
:05:51
Maybe the Russians didn't
give him any choice.
:05:54
Or maybe he never knew
what they were planning.
:05:56
This crisis has very little to do
:05:58
with the Castro government.
:05:59
The bases are Russian,
the technicians are Russian,
:06:02
and the missiles are Russian.
:06:04
This is between Khrushchev and myself.
:06:07
The great danger here
is a miscalculation,
:06:09
a mistake in judgement.
:06:10
A few weeks ago I read
the Guns of August,
:06:12
by Barbara Tuchman, have you read that?
:06:15
In it she tells of
the staggering mistakes
:06:17
that the Europeans made
that led up to World War I.
:06:19
The Germans, the Austrians,
the Russians, the French
:06:22
and the British all stumbled into war;
:06:27
stupidities, personal idiosyncrasies,
:06:32
misunderstandings, prejudices, complexes.
:06:36
The First World War which
seemed so inevitable,
:06:38
was just a stupid mistake.
:06:40
Maybe thas true of most wars, all wars.
:06:42
Someone asked the German Chancellor,
:06:44
how the First World War got started,
and he said,
:06:46
if we only knew.
:06:49
I'd like to send a copy
of Tuckman's book to every officer
:06:52
on every ship in our Navy right now,
:06:56
not that they'd read it.
:06:58
Yes.