When Fake News Becomes Fake History – the Cuban Missile Crisis, 58 Years Ago This Week

Townhall.com ^ | October 24, 2020 | Humberto Fontova

[Fiji Hill]

I recall those times, yes they had the nation scared. Remind anyone of anything? Kind of like if you don’t ware your mask you will die??

Where I lived in Southern California, there were big crowds at supermarkets, king of like the ones we saw when WuFlu struck back in March, 2020.

[Fiji Hill]

The Cuban Missile crisis turned out to be the Democrats' October surprise for 1962. The election took place less than two weeks after the crisis was "solved" and Democrats did well in many areas. Many Republicans claimed that the election had been "Cubanized."

Afterwards, one publication announced a "crisis contest," offering to award a prize to whomever could correctly predict what sort of crisis JFK would gin up before the 1964 election.

[dp0622]

Agreed, but that was a huge tax slash from 95 percent that came after an R president.

And at least he asked folks to stop asking what your country can do for you.

If someone said that to minorities today, they’d be ruined

[Gay State Conservative]

If you had seen any they certainly wouldn't have been aimed at Canada.Knowing that would you have given the Pentagon a “heads up”? ;-)

[Gay State Conservative]

See Post #17

[mware]

Indeed it was a scary time. I was in 3rd grade and remember my dad organizing the family homesteads basement into an shelter. Going as far as putting sand bags against the basement Windows.

My parents discussed sending us to school that day. They decided to, but mom told us that if anything happened she would come and get us. I didn't quite understand what she meant by "happened" but I do recall lots of duck and cover drills leading up to it.

[dfwgator]

JFK was the most overrated President ever. He looked good on TV and got shot. That’s the only reason why he is so highly regarded amongst Presidents.

[kanawa]

That was our primary purpose, to give an early warning to the US.
It was assumed any incoming missiles would be on route to US targets.

The radar base I was stationed at has long been closed.
Satellites took over our function.

[Gay State Conservative]

Good to hear. I wouldn’t want some Canadiens fan saying “hey,it’s headed to Boston...no need to worry”. ;-)

[Covenantor]

DEW Line?

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

I remember those days. We were on edge all that fall expecting nuclear war to break out at any moment! Then it all blew over, but we were still on edge.

Then on Dec 24, came an interruption on TV! News casters reported that the DEW Line in Canada had detected an incoming flying object of unknown origin! Was it a missile? Was it Russian nukes? Was this our last day on Earth? The pucker factor kicked in real quick!

Then they showed a cheap picture of Santa Claus and his sleigh with cotton ball clouds floating overhead.

I didn’t know whether to be PO’d for the scare or relieved as that was all it was.

I’ve never looked at Dec 24 in the same manner since.

[Covenantor]

...We had to give up Jupiter C missile bases in Turkey as well.

Worked with a guy that was stationed at one of those bases....his disgust with JFK and clan Kennedy was expressed in language unsuitable for posting here.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***He looked good on TV***

I remember the Presidential debate between Kennedy and Nixon back then.
On radio, everyone said Nixon won it hands down.

On TV, everyone said Kennedy won as Nixon looked “shifty”.

So now looks, and body language are more important than a good platform.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***to send tractors to Cuba as a good will gesture***

I don’t believe it was a “good will” gesture. Back then Castro demanded 500 tractors as a ransom for the men captured in the Bay of Pigs Invasion that Kennedy promised, then reneged on supplying air cover for the invasion.

The photos of the “tractors” turned out to be Bulldozers, not farm tractors.

[Fiji Hill]

And of all the Rat Presidents who've served during my lifetime Truman and JFK were,by far,the least repugnant.

If Truman had not run for a full term in 1948, he would probably be regarded today as one of our greatest presidents--for winning WWII with the A-bomb and then organizing the West to fight the Cold War. All the bad stuff--his socialist Fair Deal, the loss of China, the Korean debacle, the security breaches exposed by Joe McCarthy--came in his second term.

[Fiji Hill]

JFK was the most overrated President ever. He looked good on TV and got shot. That’s the only reason why he is so highly regarded amongst Presidents.

JFK was killed by a Communist, so he should have been considered a martyr in the West's struggle against Communist tyranny. However, in his book Camelot and the Cultural Revolution (New York: Encounter, 2007), James Pierson describes how leftists and liberals spun the story of the assassination to make Kennedy look like a martyr for liberal causes--and it's that version which has prevailed.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***We had to give up Jupiter C missile bases in Turkey as well.***

The missiles were declared to be “obsolete”, even though the cement for the launchers had just been poured.

[dfwgator]

I remember Cronkite, going on and on about how it just had to be a Right-Winger that shot JFK, pointing out how “Right-Wingers” had attacked Adlai Stevenson in Dallas, weeks before the assassination.

[Russ]

Thanks for the correction. I was 12 years old at the time so my recollection of it is sketchy.

[kanawa]

Dew Line was further north.

I was on the Pinetree Line.
#20 on the map...Ramore