“Considering the U.S. nuclear superiority over the Soviets at the time of the (so-called) Missile Crisis (five thousand nuclear warheads for us, three hundred for them) it’s hard to imagine a President Nixon — much less Reagan — quaking in front of Khrushchev’s transparent ruse a la Kennedy.”
It doesn’t work like that, no matter how much this Cuban author wants it to. The Russian officers sitting on those tactical nukes actually had launch authority if we attacked.
So 5000 vs 300 becomes meaningless if 4 or 5 of those 300 hit the eastern US, and then of course THAT leads to a general exchange.
Kennedy had deep flaws, but still was FAR more conservative than any GOP candidate in the last 6 elections. Disliking his is fine, but beating him up for not starting a full out war in Cuba is deranged.
And then he destroyed the country with the Immigration Bill, it just took a bit longer.