I like RFK Jr. but this is a big “ouch”.
JFK secretly abandoned US bases in Turkey as part of the “deal”.
The Russians got a good deal.
Which bases? We still have bases In Turkey…
The deal certainly was what it was.
But of course Kennedy’s aim was to defuse conflict not to go to war.
His father Joe Kennedy was an Isolationist so that aspect of the Kennedy legacy came into play and maybe it was better in the end.
The Soviet Union was economically weak could not sustain its defenses in the face of Reagan’s buildup in the 1980’s.
Hi.
In the fwiw department, as of 1974-75 not only did we have bases in TU, we also had 10 kt Honest Johns. About 400 of them.
5.56mm
JFK secretly abandoned US bases in Turkey as part of the “deal”.
The Russians got a good deal.
The “bases” were Jupiter IRBM - which were obsolete and in above ground launch shelters and thus vulnerable to attack
They were scheduled to be decommissioned shortly
JFK basically traded nothing for something
He did not give up bases. He withdrew medium ranged missiles from Turkey.
bingo!
that half of the story is rarely included