One Hell of a Gamble: Khrushchev, Castro, and Kennedy, 1958-1964: The Secret History of the Cuban Missile Crisis

by Fursenko, Aleksandr; Naftali, Timothy

• ISBN13: 9780393317909
• ISBN10: 0393317900
• Edition: 00
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-08-17
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Summary

No other book offers this inside look at the strategies of the Soviet leadership. John F. Kennedy did not live to write his memoirs; Fidel Castro will not reveal what he knows; and the records of the Soviet Union have long been sealed from public view: Of the most frightening episode of the Cold War--the Cuban Missile Crisis--we have had an incomplete picture. When did Castro embrace the Soviet Union? What proposals were put before the Kremlin through Kennedy's back-channel diplomacy? How close did we come to nuclear war? These questions have now been answered for the first time. This important and controversial book draws the missing half of the story from secret Soviet archives revealed exclusively by the authors, including the files of Nikita Khrushchev and his leadership circle. Contained in these remarkable documents are the details of over forty secret meetings between Robert Kennedy and his Soviet contact, records of Castro's first solicitation of Soviet favor, and the plans, suspicions, and strategies of Khrushchev. This unique research opportunity has allowed the authors to tell the complete, fascinating, and terrifying story of the most dangerous days of the last half-century.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. vii
Introduction	p. ix
The Embrace	p. 3
Where Does Castro Stand regarding Russia?"	p. 5
Our Man in Havana	p. 20
La Coubre	p. 35
Cuba Si, Yankee No!"	p. 56
The Clash	p. 75
Bay of Pigs	p. 77
The Education of a President	p. 101
Condor and Mongoose	p. 132
Trouble in the Tropics	p. 149
The Nuclear Decision	p. 166
Anadyr	p. 184
Now We Can Swat Your Ass"	p. 198
Ex Comm	p. 216
Missile Crisis	p. 240
Climax of the Cold War	p. 257
Mikoyan's Mission	p. 290
The Aftermath	p. 317
To the American University Speech	p. 319
Dallas and Moscow	p. 339
Notes	p. 356
Select Bibliography	p. 405
Index	p. 409
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