The Cuban Missile Crisis: The Struggle Over Policy

(Hardback)

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Description

This book tells the story of the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, the struggle that President Kennedy and his advisers (including the author, who was head of intelligence at the State Department) went through to try to understand why the Soviet Union had put nuclear missiles in Cuba, the alternative policies they debated to deal with the presence of the missiles, the aftermath of the crisis, and the lessons learned about defense and foreign policy in an age dominated by intercontinental missiles tipped with nuclear warheads capable of obliterating the northern hemisphere. The purpose of the book is to focus the world's attention on the fact that something must be done - and soon - if we are to avoid Armageddon.

Reviews

"Roger Hilsman's skills as a political scientist and historian and his experience as an eyewitness and key participant provide a unique and very readable perspective on the most dangerous Cold War confrontation. His insights about statecraft in the nuclear era are as relevant today as before the Berlin Wall came down."-Senator Edward M. Kennedy
"This crisp and forceful work portrays the most dangerous moment of the Cold War as seen by the State Department's Director of Intelligence in those tense days."-Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.
Hilsman offers an interesting interpretation of the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962. As a former aide to John F. Kennedy he admits his fondness for the former president...What is interesting is Hilsman's view of the reasons behind the crisis. He disputes the accusation that Soviet missiles were sent to Cuba to prop up Fidel Castro. Instead, he argues that missiles were sent to correct a strategic imbalance between the US and the Soviet Union....this is an interesting and well-documented account.-Choice
Writing as one of the principals in the crisis, his views are important in today's turbid state and uncertain future with increasing proliferation of nuclear weapons throughout the world.-Surveillant
"Writing as one of the principals in the crisis, his views are important in today's turbid state and uncertain future with increasing proliferation of nuclear weapons throughout the world."-Surveillant
"Hilsman offers an interesting interpretation of the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962. As a former aide to John F. Kennedy he admits his fondness for the former president...What is interesting is Hilsman's view of the reasons behind the crisis. He disputes the accusation that Soviet missiles were sent to Cuba to prop up Fidel Castro. Instead, he argues that missiles were sent to correct a strategic imbalance between the US and the Soviet Union....this is an interesting and well-documented account."-Choice

Author Bio

ROGER HILSMAN graduated from West Point in 1943, was severely wounded serving with Merrill's Marauders in Burma, and later commanded a battalion of guerrillas operating behind the enemy lines. He He earned masters and doctoral degrees in world politics at Yale, taught at Princeton, and then served as deputy director of the Congressional Research Service. In 1961 President Kennedy appointed him Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research and later Assistant Secretary for Far Eastern Affairs. In 1964, he resigned to accept a professorship at Columbia University. He has authored or coauthored 14 books examining American foreign policy and diplomatic and military affairs. His wartime memoir, American Guerrilla: My War Behind Japanese Lines was published in 1990.