The Presidency: Hugh Sidey History on His Shoulder

The Presidency

Some time last Thursday the anniversary passed, and a memory etched 20 years ago came sharply back to mind. It was the day the Cuban missile crisis ended. Nikita Khrushchev's astonishing message about the weapons ("We instructed our officers to dismantle them, and to return them to the Soviet Union") lifted the clouds of crisis. John Kennedy, tired but quietly jubilant, stood in the bright October sun on the porch outside the Oval Office where he and his aides had fashioned a solution during 13 days of nail-biting cerebration. Kennedy thrust his hands deep into his coat pockets, a familiar...