NewsMax.com. UPI. Friday, Sept. 8, 2000
BOSTON – President John Kennedy considered invading Cuba in the weeks after the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, according to the latest tape recordings released by the JFK Library and Museum.
In the three weeks after the United States and the Soviet Union backed away from the brink of nuclear war, Kennedy and his advisers discussed under what conditions U.S. troops would be sent to the communist-ruled island in the Caribbean.
Kennedy, meeting with advisers in the Oval Office and the Cabinet Room at the White House, said he would invade if the Soviet Union refused to remove all of its nuclear weapons.
"If they're not out," the president said, referring to the missiles, "then our posture is going to be about our commitment to invasion."
The president also considered invading Cuba if there was a "major upheaval" – a civil war – on the island, or if Cuban dictator Fidel Castro threatened his neighbors, the Boston Herald reported Thursday.
The nine hours of tape recordings released Wednesday by the library are the latest from thousands of hours of tapes of meetings between Kennedy and his advisers. The library said 143 hours of tapes remain to be reviewed for declassification before release.
Sheldon Stern, a former historian at the library, told the Herald the tapes show Kennedy's decisiveness after Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev agreed to withdraw 100 missiles from Cuba on Oct. 28, 1962.
"He was subtle; he was rational; he was cautious," Stern said. "And he always had his eye on the fact that once the shooting started, there was a good chance no one would be able to stop it."
The library said the recorded conversations took place between Nov. 7 and 16, 1962, and dealt with the political situations in the Congo, Laos and Thailand, and Kennedy's coming meeting with West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer.
The tapes, with varied sound quality, were released without transcripts, and are available for research use or for sale at the library.
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