In 1961 at the Bay of Pigs, CIA-trained and -organized Cuban exiles
aiming to overthrow Fidel Castro were soundly defeated. Most were taken
prisoner by Cuban armed forces. Fearing another U.S. invasion of its new
ally, the Soviet Union sneaked into Cuba strategic missiles tipped with
nuclear warheads and Soviet troops armed with tactical nuclear weapons.
However, a U-2 spy plane flight would soon find the Soviet missile
sites, thus sparking the famous missile crisis. For thirteen terrifying
days, the world watched nervously as the two superpowers moved toward
escalation, holding the world's fate in their hands. Finally, Nikita
Khrushchev blinked. He agreed to withdraw the weapons from Cuba in
return for John F. Kennedy's pledge not to invade the island.
But what if it had not turned out this way? What if the U-2 flight had
been delayed? If the confrontation had set off a nuclear war, what would
have happened to the United States and Soviet Union in 1962? What kind
of account would a historian have written in a world scarred by nuclear
war?
Eric G. Swedin draws on research made available after the Soviet Union's
collapse to examine what could have happened. Top U.S. military officers
all urged stronger action against Cuba than the naval blockade,
including a bombing campaign and even a full-scale invasion. Unknown to
the Americans, meanwhile, the Soviet Union had tactical nuclear weapons
in Cuba and were prepared to use them.
The 1962 crisis had many possible outcomes. Positing an alternate
history helps us better appreciate the dangers of that tense time. Such
counterfactual speculation shows what the Cuban missile crisis could
have wrought and how it was truly one of the most important moments of
the twentieth century.
